City leaders tout progress in Kensington, but some residents remain skeptical

Philadelphia law enforcement officials gathered in Kensington on Monday to tout the progress they say they’ve made in the beleaguered neighborhood — the reduction in shootings and homicides, the somewhat cleaner streets, the uptick in arrests of drug users and dealers.

Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said the data is clear — Kensington is safer now than it was two years ago. Even though shootings are down overall in Philly, he said, Kensington has seen one of the largest reductions in violence in the city.

“Having men and women on the ground has had a direct impact,” the commissioner said.

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Residents say they’ve noticed the marked decline in shootings, and though folks from some blocks have seen less trash on the sidewalks and fewer drug dealers and users on the corners, they wonder whether it’s the winter weather keeping crowds at bay, rather than the increased police presence.

“Already this morning, it was a nice day from the start, and I see twice as many people walking outside my house to score,” said Alfred Klosterman, 73, who lives near Kensington Avenue and Venango Street.

Klosterman was among a group of residents who attended Monday’s event at Impact Services, a community action group off Allegheny Avenue, to hear city leaders’ progress and promises to continue the work in 2025.

“The first thing we said when we walked outside was, ‘This was nonsense,’” Klosterman said. “It was too self-congratulatory. It’s just too much of a road ahead. Way too much.”

Sandra Wells, who lives near Harrowgate Park, said she and her neighbors have been grateful for the nuisance fire task force the city launched this fall to put out the trash fires on the streets. And she and Klosterman credited the police department’s East Division Services Unit for being responsive to their calls about towing abandoned cars and sealing up vacant homes.

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But the drug activity in the neighborhood persists, they said, and dealers and users appear to be moving onto side streets and evading police by moving just outside of their targeted enforcement zones.

In the triangular section of the neighborhood where police have devoted most of their resources — and where the drug market has traditionally been most concentrated — homicides dropped 45% in 2024 compared to the previous year, according to data released by the city on Monday.

In the same time frame, the number of reported rapes dropped 46%, and gun-point robberies reduced by 27%, the data showed.

Bethel said that within the department’s focus boundary, arrests for drug possession were up 136% and arrests for drug dealing were up about 55% in 2024 compared to 2023.

Citywide, though, arrests for drug sales went up nominally year-over-year, and police recorded one of the lowest rates of arrests for the crime since at least 2011, according to data from the district attorney’s office.

Bethel said he focused much of his narcotics policing resources in Kensington, where most of the city’s drug activity is concentrated, so a majority of the city’s drug-related arrests take place there.

And challenges persist in getting people who use drugs into treatment because of their compounding physical and mental health crises. Withdrawal can begin within hours, and many users living on the street have open wounds, psychiatric troubles, and open criminal court cases that prevent them from seeking and receiving help.

The city earlier this year launched Neighborhood Wellness Court as a way to try to get drug users into treatment more quickly. So far, the court — which runs for only a few hours one day per week — has seen about a dozen cases come through. Only five people have accepted treatment, and three immediately withdrew from such programs within 24 hours.

Public Safety Director Adam Geer said his office is evaluating the court, which remains in its pilot phase and hopes to ramp it up to more days per week before the summer.

Meanwhile, Guillermo Garcia, who lives near Indiana Avenue, said he has seen a vast difference in his block since Mayor Cherelle L. Parker announced her commitment to revitalize the area.

“I can see up and down Indiana Avenue and up my street, and I see children riding their bikes, families barbecuing, and old-timers playing dominoes,” he said. “... That’s something that we haven’t seen in this area in 30 years.”