During an exclusive interview on WHYY’s live talk show Studio 2, Mayor Cherelle Parker discussed policing Kensington’s open-air drug market and said the May 8 encampment sweep didn’t go exactly as planned.
Local health experts emphasized system-wide challenges, ranging from 16-hour assessment wait times to a lack of coordination among service providers, shortages of medically monitored treatment beds, and insurance policy limitations.
The state trust that oversees the disbursement of opioid settlement dollars says Philadelphia improperly used $7.5 million on eviction prevention, home repair, and improvements to schools and parks.
Prison staff say the staffing shortage makes it impossible to deliver timely, high-quality care for the approximately 4,700 people incarcerated in Philadelphia’s jails daily – a majority of whom present with substance use disorder.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Bethel named gun violence and illegal drug activity as top priorities, plus other crimes “that have kept that community pretty much imprisoned for a long time.”
The Philadelphia Police Academy’s entire graduating class – a total of 78 new officers – will patrol Kensington “24/7” starting June 18. Their deployment will increase the neighborhood’s police force by almost 200%.
In the weeks since the city dismantled the Kensington Avenue encampment, legal observers, harm reduction advocates, and service providers are wondering why the police gave Christian volunteers more access than others.
While open drug use in Kensington continues to make national headlines, Philadelphia health workers say the city’s Black residents are quietly overdosing from cocaine, opiates, and other substances at unprecedented rates inside their homes.
Following an encampment sweep on the 3000 and 3100 blocks of Kensington Avenue Wednesday, police have flooded the area, leading residents and activists to wonder when a law enforcement crackdown is coming
