Month: June 2009

THE VIEW FROM THE POLICE The officers of the South Street police detail, located at Ninth and South streets, attended a Friday evening roll call in preparation to head out to serve and protect the

On a spring afternoon in 1992, Sultan Jihad Ahmad got into a fight with two youths close to his age. With a shotgun in their possession, the opposing youth shot 15-year-old Ahmad six times–once in

Philadelphia’s 35th Police District is as busy as a police district can get. Covering from Cheltenham Avenue to Wingohocking Street and from Wister Street to Roosevelt Boulevard, it entails the areas of East Oak Lane, parts

Nine years ago, Michael Hayward knew that the neighborhood around his home at 12th and Wingohocking streets was facing tough times.  The “sinking homes” disaster had caused many responsible homeowners to move out of the

Inside the courtroom at the 35th Police District, Officer Barbara Blackford opens the double doors and calls out to the two people waiting in the hallway. “You can come back in,” she says as she

The streets of Kensington can be unsafe and uncertain. Police sirens often blare as they race down Kensington Avenue. Drug deals occur on many corners, and worst of all, children are often left unattended on

Greg Bucceroni sat down in his office chair and insisted he describe where his life’s path has led him. In the 1970s, Bucceroni was a juvenile delinquent in the Brooklyn and Manhattan. “I was very violent