One story overlooked in yesterday’s press conference with new managing director Camille Barnett was her promise of delivering a 311 phone system by year’s end. “We don’t have to invent it,” Barnett said. “We just have to install it.” (more…)

This week Philadelphia Weekly unveiled a half-reported, half-anecdotal “Here’s what to expect” article from writer Jonathon York, a D.C. transfer, about new top Philadelphia cop Charles Ramsey. The verdict may be best summed up in his last quote:

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Finally! Some interesting news on this lackluster Election Day, courtesy of the Next Mayor blog: Apparently, a veritable Upper Darby donnybrook erupted at the Highland Park Fire Co. polling place in Delaware County this morning. According to the Daily News’s Bill Bender, Upper Darby councilman Jack Shingle was hospitalized after Democratic leader Steve Smith “thumped him.” Other Democratic leaders, however, are saying that Shingle was the one who started it, and they’re accusing Eastwoodian Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood Sr. of “partisan policing”:

“When the police arrive, of course they arrest the Democrat and don’t arrest the Republican,” said Ed Bradley, campaign coordinator for the Upper Darby Democrats. “This is Chitwood’s police department.”

It’s not election day in Delco unless someone gets his face smashed.

Fisticuffs at the polls in DelCo [The Next Mayor]
Not in My Town, Scumbag [Phillymag]

At a news conference yesterday announcing the “thwarted Columbine-style attack” on Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School, Montgomery County district attorney Bruce Castor addressed the media in front of giant oak table covered with the 14-year-old suspect’s “cache” of weapons — most of which, it turns out, were merely authentic-looking air guns and BB rifles. (Click on the image for a closer look.)

Once Columbine was invoked, of course, the story quickly went national. But is it really fair to make a comparison between this kid’s “arsenal” and the Columbine massacre? Let’s take a look at the weapons used by murderous duo Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris:

Dylan: Intratec TEC-DC9 attached to a strap slung over his shoulder, Stevens 12-gauge double-barrel shotgun.

Plus: 48 Carbon Dioxide bombs, 27 pipe bombs, 11 1.5-gallon propane bombs, seven napalm bombs and two 20-pound propane bombs.

By way of contrast, the Montco boy had one real gun in his possession — a 9mm carbine for which he had no ammo. The seven “grenades” he was putting together were apparently toy plastic shells with BBs and black powder — more likely to have hurt the boy himself than any bystanders had they been lit. And, granted, you could do some very serious eye damage with the quantity of the air guns he had stashed away, but he’d have been hard pressed to kill a raccoon with any of them, let alone dozens of people.

Castor admitted at the press conference that he didn’t think an attack was “imminent,” or even that it would ever have been attempted — but still he saw fit to lay out a platter of plastic guns. Given the recent shootings in Virginia, Ohio, et al., it seems a media circus is necessary in order to make parents feel safe — and to make it look like a showboating D.A. is doing his job.

So, once again, tell your teens: Black trenchcoats are out of style, stop playing “Doom,” and keep your morbid thoughts of brutality to yourself.

Mother charged, son to get psychiatric evaluation [philly.com]
Boy, 14, Seized in Plot to Open Fire at School [NY Times]
P.A. Student Arrested in “Columbine”-Style Plot [MSNBC]

Former Philadelphia police commissioner John Timoney is not feeling as worshipped in Miami as he did here. His no-nonsense top-copping has, to put it mildly, rubbed pretty much every Miami police officer the wrong way.

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Stevie “S-Five” Johnson, grandson of Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson, continues to promote his horrifying hip-hop career, oblivious to its undermining effects on his family and the city. Last night on FOX News’ “The Big Story With John Gibson,” S-Five explained once again why his sometimes anti-snitchin’, pro-violence lyrics shouldn’t be misconstrued by the city or his law-enforcement family.

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