Philly Answers Youth Flash Mobs With Curfew Enforcement

Not that it's the first city to enforce a youth curfew, and not that kids on a crime-spree is the only variety of moral panic offered as a rationale, but Philadelphia is cracking down through increased enforcement of a youth curfew law after children and teenagers attacked two people in the Center City district — attacks which, according to police, were coordinated via text messaging.

Comments

Re:Uh...

[insertwackynamehere]

In Philadelphia, a flash mob is literally a mob of disenfranchised, angry youth rioting violently for a short amount of time. They run through stores destroying things, they beat people up, they carjack people for a block, hundreds of these kids (if not pushing 1000 sometimes). They are quite literally flash riots.

Re:Uh...

[insertwackynamehere]

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/171638/20110629/philadelphia-flash-mob-2011.htm As a source (but I'm from there and know this personally to be true as well)

Who just happen to be black

[ArchieBunker]

Google black flash mob and you'll see this is becoming a more frequent and frightening phenomenon. The one previous to this was at the Wisconsin State Fair. Here's the link if you think I'm lying http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/126828998.html

Philly Flash Mob != Flash Mob

[The O Rly Factor]

As a Philadelphian, I can vouch that a flash mob in Philly is not the same thing as a flash mob that you see on AT&T advertising campaigns. While a flash mob may make you think of a bunch of people dancing in unison to some obscure pop culture reference in a large public area, a Philadelphia flash mob is a band of nearly feral minority teenagers whose parent wants to get their drink on and expels them for the night from their section 8 houses in North Philadelphia. They then flood down in droves to the Center City business district and Old City/South Street area, where they attack people at random.

I am sorry if that comes off as bitter and slightly racist. I was involved in one of these on South Street a few months ago...the fear you feel is absolutely indescribable when you realize that kids as young as 10 were raised in a way where they feel assaulting and robbing people at random is an acceptable Saturday night activity.

Re:Philly Flash Mob != Flash Mob

[LoRdTAW]

...and even now some of these kids apparently were on their way to college but they decide to just participate in this violence?

Its part of growing up in the hood. You either fit in with the wolf pack or become prey. Many of those kids do want to get the fuck out of their situation but they have choice but to live with the rest of the dreck. So when a kid trying to be good is asked by his thug friend to go out, he goes and does whatever he can to fit in. Otherwise he will be called a pussy and get his ass beaten (or even killed) on a daily basis.

  I remember a mini spurt of wilding one day after school while walking to the bus station. I was walking down when one kid comes running across the street with a big chunk of concrete. I thought I was a goner but it turns out he hurled it through the back window of a parked mini van right in front of me. The group of youths he was with proceeded to cheer and smash a few other car windows on the block. Then they all took off running. This was in broad daylight in front of dozens of other school kids.

I always find that the first whites to call someone a racist are (as you said) far removed from inner city life. They never went to a high school (that was in a bad neighborhood) where they were the only white person in class. They never walked through a bad neighborhood to a friends house and get mugged at gun point by four black youths. They never witnessed a gang of eight youths beating one helpless kid to the point that he had to go to the hospital. Fuck those people.

I am white and I went through this kind of crap. I was mugged a few times on my way to school during my freshman year (all of the muggers were black teens). After that year, the muggings stopped only because I think the police presence was jacked up in that area. I reported every incident to the school, they work with the police on the report.

Growing up with no money and considered a boat anchor sized nuisance by your own parents (usually a single mother with 3+ kids) who turns you loose to get their fuck/crack/drink/whatever on does not produce well behaved members of society. They are literally wild animals. Never loved or taught right from wrong and never learned about consequences. They fear nothing. Some make it through that mess but they are few and far between.

If you want an idea of how bad it gets for poor minority youths, watch the TV show called "The First 48" (Its on A&E). Its a reality cop show based on a few homicide units in various cities. Most of the cases involve black youths and adults senselessly murdering one another over NOTHING. You see the shit conditions they live in and how their parents or lack thereof shaped their short and hellish lives. Its terrible.

Re:Problems...

[brit74]

> But I lived overseas where I could walk the streets at 3am without a care in the world... But the fact is the United States is suffering from serious cultural issues that perpetuates things like crime.
I think it depends on where you are. As a tourist, you're probably travelling in safe places - in part because dangerous places aren't the places that get a lot of tourist traffic. (I know, for example, that the tourist areas of Mexico are generally safe, but Mexico has a lot more problems with crime, drug cartels, and 3-4x the homicide rate than the US.) Also, you might be perceiving the US as very dangerous thanks to news reports, while you're judging other countries based on personal experience.

Assaults (per capita) http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_ass_percap-crime-assaults-per-capita
# 1 South Africa: 12.0752 per 1,000 people
# 6 United States: 7.56923 per 1,000 people
# 7 New Zealand: 7.47881 per 1,000 people
# 8 United Kingdom: 7.45959 per 1,000 people
# 9 Canada: 7.11834 per 1,000 people
# 10 Australia: 7.02459 per 1,000 people
So, you're only 1%-8% more likely to be assaulted in the US than you are in New Zealand, the UK, Canada, and Australia.

Burglaries (per capita) http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_bur_percap-crime-burglaries-per-capita
# 1 Australia: 21.7454 per 1,000 people
# 3 Denmark: 18.3299 per 1,000 people
# 4 Estonia: 17.4576 per 1,000 people
# 5 Finland: 16.7697 per 1,000 people
# 6 New Zealand: 16.2763 per 1,000 people
# 7 United Kingdom: 13.8321 per 1,000 people
# 8 Poland: 9.46071 per 1,000 people
# 9 Canada: 8.94425 per 1,000 people
# 17 United States: 7.09996 per 1,000 people
You're quite a bit less likely to have a burglary in the US than you are in Australia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, New Zealand, the UK, Poland, or Canada.

Total crimes (per capita) http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_tot_cri_percap-crime-total-crimes-per-capita
# 2 New Zealand: 105.881 per 1,000 people
# 3 Finland: 101.526 per 1,000 people
# 4 Denmark: 92.8277 per 1,000 people
# 6 United Kingdom: 85.5517 per 1,000 people
# 8 United States: 80.0645 per 1,000 people
# 9 Netherlands: 79.5779 per 1,000 people
# 11 Germany: 75.9996 per 1,000 people
# 12 Canada: 75.4921 per 1,000 people
# 13 Norway: 71.8639 per 1,000 people
The US ranks in the same ballpark as these other countries when it comes to total crimes per capita.

Car thefts (per capita) http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_car_the_percap-crime-car-thefts-per-capita
# 1 Australia: 6.92354 per 1,000 people
# 2 Denmark: 5.92839 per 1,000 people
# 3 United Kingdom: 5.6054 per 1,000 people
# 4 New Zealand: 5.45031 per 1,000 people
# 5 Norway: 5.08143 per 1,000 people
# 6 France: 4.9713 per 1,000 people
# 7 Canada: 4.88547 per 1,000 people
# 8 Italy: 4.19755 per 1,000 people
# 9 United States: 3.8795 per 1,000 people
Car theft is quite a bit less common in the US than these other developed countries.

Rapes (per capita) http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_rap_percap-crime-rapes-per-capita
# 3 Australia: 0.777999 per 1,000 people
# 5 Canada: 0.733089 per 1,000 people
# 9 United States: 0.301318 per 1,000 people
# 10 Iceland: 0.246009 per 1,000 people
# 12 New

I am forced to agree

[Anonymous Coward]

I live in a neighborhood that's going through that kind of thing & I am also in process evicting some blacks from properties I own for being late on payments and destroying my property piece by piece, as well as trespassing & attempted robberies of my neighbors' homes too in this particular property.

They called me a "cracker m'f'er" when I told them to move their things from that home's basement (not in rental agreement, was just a nicety I offered), & EVEN threatened me while I was on the phone with "911" saying:

"I am going to f up your shit" and "I am going to f you up"

(How STUPID can you be? This occurred while I am on the phone with 911 & this is being recorded by the police while it happened... I could not believe it! My neighbors to that property also heard & witnessed to the same thing, calling 911 as well. Nothing was done because it's a "civil matter").

Then, they destroyed a garden of mine in "retaliation" (to which I followed my attorney's instructions to the letter, called the police & filed a report for felony criminal mischief). This was expected by my attorney in fact, I did not think it would happen. It did. He has experience here. He has the report filed & is filing/pressing criminal mischief felony charges.

They took off for days now, & have not been back in fact.

(I.E.-> Once they were spotted wrecking my gardens, they yanked their air conditioners & ran it seems thusfar!)

The city marshall came by today and posted the eviction notices on the property, etc./ et al, & told me:

"Get them out as fast as you can, you have a nice place here".

He was a nice man. All the police have been thusfar and told me pretty much the same. They also tell me that landlord-tenant laws ties their hands and they would have removed them if not for that.

See, the same officers showed up as before who filed the report when one of the "children" of the tenants was caught by myself breaking into another place I own, as well as my finding out he had done the same to a neighboring home also, and attempted to do so to yet another neighbors' home as well.

This prompted child protective services calls on the advisement of the police for a "lack of supervision" (as well as child abuse because I hear them getting beaten quite regularly as well). I don't mean little spankings either, I mean full blown BEATINGS (I can hear them screaming from another residence in fact).

Still, what bothers ME the MOST?

Well - My hands are tied, and I cannot use "other means" to stop them, until the eviction court date, as they destroy things in retaliation and I am not allowed to do anything DIRECTLY about it.

That, is bullshit.

I told the police if anything were to happen here, in them attempting to attack my person (with others they know also most likely), then, I would have to 'defend myself to the fullest extent' & they said "Feel free to do so" (clearly meaning they know what I am dealing with and what I would like to do in response).

My entire neighborhood wants them gone in fact, and are heading into court with me on the date of it soon... I am also pressing felony criminal mischief charges, but it's a shame I cannot do to they what they are doing to my properties & getting away with it (destroying things). I am not kidding. They do it, get away with it, & until that court date? My hands ARE TIED.

It's total bullshit.

APK

P.S.=> So, as you can see? Well - I am with you, 100%, from REAL EXPERIENCE, right now, hairyfeet... it's happening around me right now as I write this to you. I am fully insured thank goodness at least and all the property & taxes are paid up in full, so, the police are more than willing to help & park their vehicles here now not even a few feet away from the properties in fact @ night... it's insane!

Now, I know what I'd LIKE to do, to stop this, but the law ties my hands, the police's hands, & even child protective services' hands (