AILSA CHANG, HOST:
In Philadelphia this year, it has been harder to get away with murder. Violent crime has fallen sharply, like it has in many other cities, and Philadelphia police are now solving homicides at the highest rate since 1984. Ellie Rushing reports on crime for The Philadelphia Inquirer and has been digging into this story and joins us now. Welcome.
ELLIE RUSHING: Thank you so much for having me. I'm really happy to be here.
CHANG: Oh, happy to have you. So let me ask you this. This year, the homicide clearance rate in Philadelphia has fluctuated between 86- to 91% month to month. This is the percentage of homicides that are solved - right? - which sounds impressive. Like, how does that compare to recent years?
RUSHING: Yeah. This is a welcome improvement from serious challenges that the police department had in solving homicides, particularly between 2015 and 2022. During those seven years, the rate of solved homicides hovered around 50% or less. And in 2021, when the city was experiencing its most significant gun violence crisis, it dropped to a historic low of 41.8%.
CHANG: Wow.
RUSHING: So only...
CHANG: Less than half of homicides were getting solved.
RUSHING: Right. Less than half of the city's murders were being solved.
CHANG: And talk about - what are the consequences when there are lower homicide clearance rates? What are the ripple effects?
RUSHING: Well, when shootings and particularly violent crimes and homicides go unaddressed, it can put a real strain on the police department's relationship with the community. In Philadelphia, most people who are affected by gun violence are Black and brown residents, particularly young men. And so their families can feel like - that their killings don't matter and that the police aren't putting enough effort into solving these crimes. And so then, you know, they won't help them with these cases. And experts have also said that, basically, arresting shooters prevents them from committing more violence and from ending up even as victims of retaliatory shootings themselves. And it can really deter others of committing other shootings by sending a message of accountability.
CHANG: Well, could one big factor driving improvements in clearance rates be because there are fewer killings in general for police to deal with, so they just have more time to solve murder cases?
RUSHING: Definitely. Philadelphia right now is on track to record the fewest number of homicides since the 1960s. And so this has given detectives dramatically more time to investigate the cases in front of them. I mean, during the pandemic, detectives were handling 10 to 15 cases per year, which is more than twice the workload recommended by the U.S. Department of Justice. And this year, it's half that. And some of this also just comes down to simple math. I want to make sure that's clear, right? When we have dramatically fewer killings this year, even fewer total arrests overall can boost that clearance rate.
CHANG: Totally. Well, your article - it also goes deep into technological improvements within the police department, like better cameras, forensics equipment. How good are those cameras, by the way?
RUSHING: These cameras are incredible. I mean, they can zoom in on the name of a candy bar wrapper that's on the ground or the fine lines of someone's...
CHANG: Wow.
RUSHING: ...Tattoos on their arms or neck. And so in 2024, police said there were about, like, 3,600 of these...
CHANG: Wow.
RUSHING: ...Across the city. This year, there are 7,300, and that doesn't even include...
CHANG: Wow.
RUSHING: ...All of the tens of thousands of other cameras across public transit, private businesses, residents' own, like, Ring cameras. And so more often than not, police now are catching these shootings on camera.
CHANG: Wow. So these technological innovations are definitely helping police solve cases.
RUSHING: Definitely. And the police department has also installed hundreds of license plate readers across the city. And so if police are looking for a getaway car, they can trace the path of that car and then get that getaway car more quickly and secure really important evidence.
CHANG: Well, despite the positive developments in homicide clearance rates, it's not that murders are now down to zero. It's not that poverty, gang activity, illegal guns, the drug trade - it's not like all of that is gone. So I am wondering, are residents in Philadelphia perceiving this improvement in clearance rates, at least the people you've been talking to? Do they feel safer?
RUSHING: It's hard to say. Because when we looked at this data, it showed that there are nearly 800 killings that occurred between 2021 and 2023 that have yet to result in an arrest. And so these are hundreds of families, thousands of people across the city that are, you know, left in this purgatory of...
CHANG: Yeah.
RUSHING: ...Grief, who are longing for answers and accountability. And, you know, I think the families this year who have seen arrests, obviously, you know, their relationship with their detectives and the police department have improved. But there is a lot of work to be done.
CHANG: Indeed. Reporter Ellie Rushing from The Philadelphia Inquirer. Thank you so much for your really fascinating reporting.
RUSHING: Thank you so much for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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