It stands to reason that when some people have time on their hands they spend it committing more crimes. If that’s the case in the coronacirus shutdown there will be more crime. Offsetting that is that fewer stores are open and fewer people are out and about. That means some bad people have more time on their hands with nothing to do. Zip…Up goes crime…
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER — Even as the coronavirus pandemic has led officials to shut down Philadelphia and left its streets and subways nearly empty, violent crime has continued unabated.
From Monday — when schools closed and most public and private sector employees began working from home — through midday Friday, the city had recorded three homicides, nine shootings, three stabbings, and one police-involved shooting of a man with a gun, according to the Philadelphia Police Department.
That violence follows an even deadlier three-day period from last Friday through Sunday during which seven people were killed, including Sgt. James O’Connor IV, 46, fatally shot in Frankford while his SWAT unit was trying to arrest a man wanted for murder. That man, Hassan Elliott, 21, now also is charged with murder and other counts in the officer’s death.
As of Friday, police said, the city’s homicide total for the year stood at 86, compared to 66 at the same point last year — a 26% increase.
City officials are “extremely concerned about the level of violence that is taking place” while residents should be staying home, Managing Director Brian Abernathy said Friday.
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