Carjacked Congresswoman Winning Swift Justice

Democratic Congresswoman and police critic Mary Gay Scanlon was carjacked near a Philly park. Within 24 hours, 5 teens were arrested and charged. If only other Philly crime victims were as well served

That was fast.

Less than 24 hours after Democratic US Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) and an aide were carjacked and robbed outside Philadelphia’s FDR Park, five teenagers were arrested and charged with the crime. She’s the second pro-police reform Democratic elected official to be carjacked this week.

There’s an apparent reason why law enforcement acted so quickly. The teens were from nearby Wilmington, Delaware, and arrested after Scanlon’s Acura MDX was found at Christiana Mall, just off I-95 in neighboring Newark.

So much for that shopping spree. As soon as they crossed into Delaware from Pennsylvania, it became a federal offense.

So instead of relying on Philly’s soft-on-crime prosecutor, Larry Krasner, and his badly depleted office - hundreds of prosecutors have quit over Krasner’s haphazard tenure - the FBI and federal prosecutors are at work. Stupid criminals probably made the job pretty easy.

In a rare moment of appreciation for law enforcement, Scanlon thanked the police for their quick response. That’s interesting, coming from a left-wing Congresswoman who was critical of the culture of policing in February. “In order to address their needs, and change the culture of policing in this country, we must direct resources to meet those needs in a way that provides alternatives to and diversion from arrest, abuse, and incarceration.” She’s the co-sponsor of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act that many argue would defund police.

According to justthenews.com, “She also is one of 125 representatives to cosponsor the Mental Health Justice Act, which would give grants to communities to send ‘mental health professionals’ to crisis situations instead of police officers.”

No word yet if Scanlon asked for a social worker instead of police when she and an aide were victimized. We should all be grateful that neither she nor her aide was harmed. Other crime victims in Philly are not so lucky.

Crime is rampant in almost every major jurisdiction - Baltimore, Chicago, and San Francisco, along with Philadelphia, come to mind - with Soros-funded “progressive” prosecutors.

Had the criminals demonstrated a bit more smarts (they took her government cell phone as part of the heist) and dumped the car in Philly or a nearby community, Scanlon would fall to the tender mercies of Krasner’s depleted office. The US Capitol Police would have also assisted.

There’s a saying that a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged by reality. No word yet if Scanlon is contemplating a change of heart regarding her criticism of police. But congratulations to her for getting faster action than most other southeast Pennsylvania crime victims. From a Wall Street Journal editorial this week:

Philadelphia has seen a record 544 homicides so far this year, up from 347 in the entirety of 2019. Police have recorded some 1,785 nonfatal shootings this year. More than 84% of the victims of the gun violence in 2021 were black, according to the Philadelphia Office of the Controller.

Police data also shows some 2,283 gun robberies as of Dec. 19, a 28.6% increase over the same period last year. Retail theft is up more than 20% this year, and auto theft more than 15%, with nearly 11,000 vehicles stolen.

The Journal credits Krasner for much of the increase in crime.

The crime surge is a direct result of Mr. Krasner’s soft-on-criminals policy. He has bragged that the county jail population decreased 40% in his first three years in office. Police data show property crime is up nearly 7% for 2021 compared to 2017, the year before Mr. Krasner became district attorney. But Mr. Krasner’s office has charged only some 3,740 people for property crimes this year, down from 7,500 over the same period of 2017. No wonder criminals feel it’s urban hunting season.

After a public backlash, Mr. Krasner walked back his claim that there was no crime crisis in Philadelphia. “I know that some inarticulate things I said earlier this week have offended people,” he said on Dec. 9. “I did not acknowledge the pain and the hurt that people feel in the city of Philadelphia,” he said on Dec. 13.

That half-apology means little as criminals now treat Philadelphia streets as if they have free rein to rob anyone at any time of the day. Wedding parties may soon need their own security in the City of Brotherly Mayhem.

The story isn’t over yet, as the “alleged” criminals have only been charged. We’ll see what happens next, but as for me, I’ll be waiting and watching to see how my former representative in Congress responds—not betting much on a change of heart, politically or policywise. After all, Krasner was just overwhelmingly reelected to a second four-year term.

As for the rest of us, we’d be far better off not testing our luck to see if the criminal justice system would treat us as well as it has a Democratic Congresswoman thus far. I’ll be avoiding Philadelphia city limits for the foreseeable future, as much as I love visiting Independence Mall.