PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia's police commissioner says the district attorney has pulled all prosecutors who were working in police detective divisions to get illegal guns off the street — and it happened without warning. The city's top cop says she and the district attorney don't see "eye-to-eye," and they do not have the same priorities when it comes to curbing gun violence.
In the summer of 2020, District Attorney Larry Krasner stationed prosecutors inside the detective units as they worked together on illegal gun cases. Other DAs in the past, including Seth Williams, have done the same. But now the DA has pulled those prosecutors back.
A spokesperson for the District Attorney's Office says the prosecutors have been "temporarily reassigned" because of a backlog of cases, and pandemic challenges.
Commissioner Danielle Outlaw says she was never told.
"Those DAs are no longer here, and we realized over the past several weeks they have been pulled without any communication," she said.
Outlaw says the Philadelphia Police Department has analyzed what drives the violence. They say much of it is based in drug trade and arguments — both in person and on social media — but many who illegally have guns are in and out of the courthouse.
She says she and Krasner are cordial and professional, but they are not on the same page.
"Professionally, we communicate regularly, yes, but fundamentally there are very key disconnects there as far as which crime we prioritize and who believes what are the main drivers of the violent crime we are seeing," Outlaw said.
"We have to agree on what the priorities are, but quite frankly we are just not there."
Jane Roh, representing the District Attorney's Office, says their top priority is making sure people who shoot people are "removed from the community and held accountable by the criminal justice systems." She released this statement:
