Phila. To Clean Up City, Starting With Pot

Hey, remember Charles Ramsey’s hot crime plan that was going to send Pac-Man to restore the city’s crime wave? Well, apparently not.

According to a column in the Inquirer, the police are going to arrested every black pot smoker in town until they finally have no more KKK posters in the department and the city is free and clear of crime.

No, really! The Inky article follows Officer Henry Schoch, who has arrested four people for drugs and one for bootleg DVDs in recent days. Oh, the residents of the 35th no longer have to deal with drugs or copyright infringement in their neighborhood, praise the Lord. Proven-to-work no-arrest drug crackdowns? Pshaw!

Some officers say the effort invested in making a case like this - Schoch and Leva spent two hours processing paperwork and evidence - removes officers from the street to hunt for worse offenders. But Schoch said such arrests sent a strong message of intolerance for all crime. And it’s impossible to say, until the arrest is made, when a minor stop might yield a bigger fish - somebody with a warrant for a violent crime, or somebody carrying an illegal weapon.

Sometimes these small arrests lead to information about bigger crimes, Schoch added.

“Some cops tell me I’m wasting my time with these arrests,” he said. “I say I wouldn’t want that stuff going on in my neighborhood.”

And if he keeps arresting people over and over, maybe drugs will no longer be sold in North Philly. Busting people for pot will surely make this city safer.

See also: Broken windows, broken record, Young Philly Politics