Political Cartoon: Sweeping up Philadelphia’s murder and mayhem

Philadelphia Police Department’s “Crime Mapper” on Thursday helpfully let Philadelphians know that the city has had 23 homicides in January 2020, a mere 156% rise from the same date in 2019 when we had 9 murders. The people pulling the triggers are directly responsible for the carnage. Still, other cities like New York, which had fewer murders overall than we did though they have six times our population, and Chicago, whose crime drop has been outlined in Inquirer editorials, have focused their resources to get ahead of the gunmen. As Mike Newall pointed out earlier this week, Philadelphia’s efforts have been scattered and unfocused. If the city can’t focus on deterrence, there will be a lot of street sweeping in the coming year.

Editorial cartoons from this week include: