Chester under State of Emergency due to shootings

Chester under State of Emergency due to shootings

abclocal.go.com

In response to the ongoing deadly violence, the city of Chester is declaring a State of Emergency.

The State of Emergency will take effect beginning at 9:00 p.m. tonight.

From 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. each day in the five areas of the city, no person without a legitimate reason is allowed in any public street or place, no assembling of three or more people is allowed without a permit, and all vacation and personal days by members of the Chester Police Department have been cancelled immediatel

(visit the link for the full news article)



Mod edit in title: (Martial Law) is not part of the story title

[edit on Mon Jun 21 2010 by DontTreadOnMe]

The State of Emergency is set to last five days.

Mayor Butler says he is going to City Council to ask for an extra 30 days.

I don't know the area... but this looks like an over reaction from the mayor...

This fatal shooting was the fourth homicide in 8 days. Chester's 11th of 2010.

This is ridiculous... if this was the standard for the whole USA, Chicago, Washington DC, Detroit and many other cities would be under CONSTANT MARTIAL LAW.

abclocal.go.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Mod edit in titleMartial Law) is not part of the title

[edit on Mon Jun 21 2010 by DontTreadOnMe]

This is a yes/no kind of situation. If I understand what all is going on, the last 4 killings have happened in less time than is normal, so the Mayor is wanting to make the streets safe for everyone, and to give the police the backing to serve and protect the general population. If the citizens of that city are afraid at night, what would you do in the Mayors place?

This mayor is an idiot.

This is when you have citizen patrols out. give the power TO the people!

Dont TAKE it from them!

Deputize them!

He said he wants to "take guns off of the street".

hell, put more out there in the hands of the PEOPLE!

This is what happens when the bottom 1/5 of the class is in control.

They know where these gangs and drug houses are. Go military ops on their but and KILL EVERYONE IN THE HOUSE!

THAT will send a message....NOT IN MY TOWN!

Originally posted by Vitchilo

if this was the standard for the whole USA, Chicago, Washington DC, Detroit and many other cities would be under CONSTANT MARTIAL LAW.

Good.

I think it's needed for this crap the cities of the US have turned into.

I wouldn't mind bringing back all US forces from around the world - shutting down all bases overseas in these countries that cry about the US even though we're dumping billions into foreign aid and putting full armored divisions in the streets until these sad little groups of morons called "gangs" were completely and utterly wiped from the face of the Earth for good.

[edit on 19-6-2010 by mf_luder]

laxd2001
6/19/10 8:40 PM EDT
MAO7765 I agree but I just did a little research and for every 11000 residents there is a murder in Philadelphia. In Chester there is a murder for every 3350 residents.

From the comments section of the OP's link.


That is a really high per capita murder rate, if true.

A State of Emergency is not Martial Law.

Martial Law would mean the US military had taken over administration and management of the city. The Uniform Code of Military Justice would be enforced by Military Police. Trials would be done through Military Tribunals.

There is no martial law in Chester.

Originally posted by MikeboydUS
A State of Emergency is not Martial Law.

Martial Law would mean the US military had taken over administration and management of the city. The Uniform Code of Military Justice would be enforced by Military Police. Trials would be done through Military Tribunals.

There is no martial law in Chester.

Thanks for bringing that up. I would really appreciate it if the OP changed that in his title.

The whole city isn't going into lock down mode, only certain sections and streets will have the curfew.

The State of Emergency affects the following areas:
All areas bounded by the west side of Lamokin Street to the city's western boundary

All areas of the city bounded by 9th Street, Morton Avenue, and the city's eastern boundary.

All areas bounded by the east side of Egdemont Avenue to Upland Street between 20th Street and 2701 Madison Street.

All areas bounded by Crosby Street and the city's boundary with Upland Borough between 12th and 14th streets.

All areas bounded by Penn Street and Parker Street between 3rd and 6th streets.

It is open to interpretation, there is ambiguity in the terminology, and the military could be present in both situations, and have been, rightly or wrongly in the past. Neither a state of emergency, or martial law necessarily mean a curfew either.

reply to post by Vitchilo

This is ridiculous... if this was the standard for the whole USA, Chicago, Washington DC, Detroit and many other cities would be under CONSTANT MARTIAL LAW.

As a citizen of Chicago, I have to say that sometimes I wish they would impose a curfew on certain parts of this city for awhile. I can understand why this Mayor is taking this action, and at least he is taking action.


My neighborhood has been hit with an influx of newly recruited (very young) gang members. As a result we have had two shootings directly on my block in the last month. It's crazy, 13/14 year old boys running down the street shooting at people. The last shooting was this past Monday, they actually had a gang fight in front of the school after they graduated, and then it escalated to a shooting.

It's no fun having to keep your kids locked in the house, and gather them up when these kids start running around like a bunch of mindless fools. It sucks sitting around wondering if and when it's gonna be one of your windows that a bullet comes flying through.

We met with our local police and they told us their hands are tied because of supreme court rulings, and the Mayor's apathy toward the whole situation. They are severely understaffed and the Mayor refuses to hire any more police officers, knowing that many are about to retire.

I give that Mayor a for caring enough about his city and citizens to at least make an effort to get things under control there, which is way more than my Mayor does.

And I give him a big for this right here.....

"I'm not worried about money, if I have to break the bank, I'll break the bank," Butler said, "The residents and visitors to my town are just vitally important to me, you can't put a dollar amount on that."

He should be commended for that alone.



abclocal.go.com.../local&id=7507954

I used to live at an apartment complex in Chester, PA.
It's a very small town, with a black american population over 80%. I'm black american, and although the cops didn't harm me or initiate an encounter with me, they would slow down and look at me funny as they drove past. I kinda got the impression that I should limit my late night strolls toward downtown to the fish fry place for fear of the cops.
I didn't have any issues with anyone else while I was out late nights making a stroll to get a bite to eat. The streets were typically pretty empty. And even though it's a very, very tiny "city" (It couldn't be more than 10 blocks square), it was quite a walk.
It's a tiny town with a casino and that's it. It's definitely safer than living under the El in Northeast Killadelphia, though!
My late night commutes from Killadelphia were without incident. It's a long ride on the bus, and the Chester train station was a bit far from where I lived at.
I saw more shootings and swat cops in plain cars in Northeast Philadelphia than in Chester.
Yeah, there was one incident just before I moved I think, where someone shot at a cop during a traffic stop, and the cops fired back and hit all 4 people in the car.. but Chester has a high black population with lots of white cops driving around, so stuff like that will happen.
As far as implementing martial law and preventing people to make a stroll to one of the 3 restaurants they have (there's a chinese place, a fish place, and a pizza place.. the other one is a motel, so I didn't count that one) is a bit overkill. But my overall impression of Chester was that they had more illegal immigrants than brainiacs..

For those not familiar with the area, Chester is a cesspool. Technically it's own 'city' (40k is not a small town) but it's just part of the greater Philadelphia area. They could level it to the ground for all I care.

[edit on 6/21/2010 by minute2midnight]