The National Guard will be ‘part of the solution’ in Kensington, Cherelle Parker says

Democratic mayoral candidate Cherelle Parker may seek help from the National Guard to shut down the open-air drug market in Kensington, saying Monday that the Guard “will be a part of the solution” in the neighborhood long plagued by the opioid crisis and violence it fuels.

During a town hall event hosted by 6ABC, a city resident asked Parker how she plans to quell crime and wondered if she would ask for assistance from the National Guard, a part of the U.S. military tasked with responding to domestic emergencies.

Parker responded by speaking positively about the Guard’s presence in Philadelphia amid civil unrest in 2020 following multiple high-profile killings by police, saying people who live and do business in the city “respected the peaceful nature in which we partnered with the National Guard.”

“Will I call on them to help us, for example, shut down the open-air drug market in Kensington that’s being allowed to prevail? They will be a part of the solution,” Parker said. “What that looks like, I’m going to have an experienced police commissioner who’s going to define what that plan is.”

In a statement Tuesday, Parker added that her public health and safety plan includes “a strong intergovernmental approach to address the crisis ongoing in Kensington” and that she will convene a variety of agencies “to ensure we put an end to the open-air drug market and drug use residents are being forced to live with.”

Parker’s comments came two weeks before the Nov. 7 general election, when she’ll take on Republican David Oh. Parker is heavily favored to become the next mayor, given that Democrats hold a nearly 7-1 voter registration advantage in the city.

The remarks were the latest example of the tough-on-crime tone she has taken throughout the campaign. Dispatching the National Guard to Philadelphia would represent a shift in how the city addresses drug sales and violence, and shows Parker is open to using more aggressive tactics than Mayor Jim Kenney.

» READ MORE: What is the Pennsylvania National Guard, and what does it do?

Parker has also said she supports the use of stop and frisk, a controversial law enforcement tactic that Kenney campaigned against. And she has rejected some progressive approaches that Kenney has supported, including the idea of supervised drug consumption sites, where people can use drugs in front of health providers and be revived if they overdose.

Kenney has firmly rejected activists and some elected officials who pushed his administration to call in the Guard amid record levels of gun violence, saying guardsmen are “not capable or trained to do urban policing.” Members of the Guard can’t make arrests, and they are generally called upon to protect property or coordinate emergency response logistics.

Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, would need to authorize any mobilization of the National Guard. An administration spokesperson said Shapiro and Parker have broadly discussed partnering to address public safety in Philadelphia but are continuing to discuss specific strategies.

Parker would also need buy-in from her police commissioner, who has not yet been named. Interim Police Commissioner John Stanford took over the force last month after Commissioner Danielle Outlaw resigned. Parker is said to be considering Stanford and a handful of other candidates to be her top cop.

» READ MORE: Philadelphia residents reject using war-on-drugs-era policies to treat the opioid crisis, according to poll

National guardsmen in military fatigues and carrying rifles patrolled Philadelphia twice in 2020. The Guard was stationed in the city for about two weeks in June 2020 after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, which led to several days of intense civil unrest. Kenney said at the time that Philadelphia was “in the middle of one of the biggest crises in the city’s history.”

More than 1,000 guardsmen came again in October 2020 after Philadelphia police fatally shot Walter Wallace Jr. They were stationed at about a dozen locations throughout the city, including in Kensington, and stayed for 10 days until after the November presidential election.

On Monday, Parker said it’s one of her key priorities to address the crisis in Kensington, which has long been the epicenter of the city’s opioid crisis. Law enforcement officials have estimated that the drug trade in the neighborhood is a $1 billion enterprise.

Kenney’s administration has tried a variety of strategies to alleviate overdoses, homelessness, and shootings in the neighborhood, including establishing a cross-departmental Opioid Response Unit and increasing quality-of-life investments in the neighborhood.

Parker said her administration would focus on “long-term care, long-term treatment, and long-term housing.”

“If you give me the opportunity, Philadelphia,” she said, “I’m going to use every ounce of my academic prowess, my lived life experience, along with my intergovernmental experience, to convene the right stakeholders together to make sure we address this issue in our city.”