District prosecutor Larry Krasner and religious leaders of the city condemned President Donald Trump’s plan to effectively take over local law enforcement agencies in Washington as rooted in racism and fear. And although Trump did not express interest in a similar approach to combating crime in Philadelphia, every attempt to do it would probably face significant logistics and legal challenges.
Krasner, next to Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders of faith, said that Trump has no legal grounds to make such a plan in other cities and warned that he should avoid Philadelphia.
“You are not going to DC, La and New York and you do not come here because we intend to preserve the constitution and the law of the United States,” he said.
Carolyn Cavaness, a pastor of the Historical Church of Mother Bethel Ame, said that Trump’s administration “has no heart.”
“We will be trampling the oppressors who are trying to take over our rights,” she said.
Krasner called on residents to organize protests against activities that he called illegal and unconstitutional. And he and Cavaness said that Trump was aimed at the city with most of black and brown residents and conjured up the fears that the crime got out of control when he actually fell violently from Pandemia.
On Monday, Trump’s announcement will lie down on Trump’s announcement that he will place DC police forces under federal control and place hundreds of national guard soldiers to protect the streets of the district and residents from “hematomas criminals” and “wandering mobs of wild youth”.
Trump talked about the distribution of DC as a test – one he suggested that he would have a “huge success” and should be a model for cities run by democratic officials. The Republican president said that his administration would consider taking similar actions in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles “if they don’t get to know their lesson.”
“If we are, we’ll do the same in Chicago,” he said.
But Trump would meet with significant obstacles if he tried to repeat the federal strategy of law enforcement agencies in other cities such as Philadelphia – and there is no legal avenue for him in the same way as DC
Perhaps the most critical are structural differences, including jurisdictions and the capital.
Because DC is a federal district, Trump has wide rights to control its affairs, in this police for 30 days – something that the mayor of the city, Muriel Bowser, confirmed on Monday. Washington National Guard is the only unit of all American countries and territories that approaches the president directly.
In Pennsylvania, Governor Josh Shapiro is the commander of the Supreme National Guard of State, which means that he would have to allow any soldiers to be placed. But this authority is questioned in court after Trump sent soldiers to Los Angeles in June without the consent of California Gavin Newsom. AND The Federal Court of Appeal said last month that Trump was lively in his authority and The trial in this case began this week.
Peter Andrews, a former federal prosecutor, and now the head of the federal court unit of Krasner, said that the creation or significant conflict on the streets would be necessary so that Trump could bypass Shapiro’s powers. Until then, Krasner noticed a huge reduction in crime and weapons in Philadelphia in the last two years – a trend that reflects other cities, including DC
“This is not only hypocrisy, it reveals that the president does not understand the rule of law,” said Andrews.
There is no precedent – or law – which would allow the federal takeover of the city police in another city. The justice system in criminal matters in Philadelphia is mainly conducted by local officials: a police commissioner is appointed by a local mayor, and the District Prosecutor is elected by local residents, as did judges in the city’s criminal court.
Federal agencies, including FBI and DEA, have local field offices in Philadelphia, but agents usually complement and cooperate with local law enforcement agencies – providing additional resources or specialist specialist knowledge in areas such as cybercrime or criminal studies.
Trump could try to direct federal prosecutors to play a greater role in the reception and prosecution of local criminal matters. The office of the US prosecutor’s office of the Eastern District Pennsylvania has broad investigative and prosecutor’s rights in Philadelphia and eight nearby poviats, and the office – like dozens of others in the whole country – usually adapts its priorities to the goals of the leaders of the Department of Justice in Washington.
During the first term of Trump, the then lawyer William Mcswain served as a powder example, positioning as an aged school, tough prosecutor. Sometimes his office even undertook an unusual stage of accepting matters that have already been accused by Krasner, whom McSwain has repeatedly accused of too soft.
But the current US prosecutor David Metcalf has preserved a low profile so far and avoided similarly controversial attitudes. His office refused to comment on Tuesday, asked if Trump’s administration asked for any change in prosecutor’s priorities.
Any desire for the White House of adopting more brutal cases of crime would probably also encounter logistic challenges. Federal prosecutors in Philadelphia traditionally brought less cases than their local counterparts, and the US prosecutor’s office has fewer lawyers than the prosecutor’s office.
Trump’s administration was also open, trying to enhance the role of federal law enforcement agencies in pursuing another priority: focusing on immigration crimes to support his obligations to mass deportations – creating at his disposal another competitive concentration area for federal agencies.
