‘DP’ rides along with Penn Police

As we navigate the streets within Penn Police’s patrol zone — which spans from 30th Street to 43rd Street and from Baltimore Avenue to Market Street — Sergeant Casey Busch observes that the night has been unusually quiet in spite of the good weather.

Busch, who has spent nearly seven years at the Division of Public Safety, tells me it is often impossible to predict when crime will be heaviest. However, she mentions that warm evenings like this one are generally more conducive to criminal activity.

This doesn’t appear to be the case tonight. With the exception of a radio message concerning a shooting at 58th Street — well beyond the DPS patrol zone — the evening has been fairly uneventful.

“It’s really hit or miss,” Busch says. “You can have one day that’s really busy, and the next day — nothing.”

At 8:45 p.m., however, the radio crackles to life as Busch receives a report of a robbery near 43rd and Market streets.

When we arrive at the Upbeat Deli, on the corner of 43rd and Market streets, an officer is already on the scene, along with three security guards on bicycles. They are interviewing the complainant, a man in a red cap and oversized jacket, who is gesticulating forcefully.

After talking to the other officer and security guards, Busch gets back behind the wheel.

Apparently, the complainant offered conflicting accounts about the robbery: he first informed guards that he had been on his way to visit a friend when another man stole $20 out of his hand.

He then said the perpetrator went into the store after robbing him. However, security guards were unable to confirm the entrance of anyone matching the robber’s description with store employees.

A mere five minutes later, Busch is informed that officers have apprehended a man on 44th and Sansom streets who fits the complainant’s description: wearing a black hoodie and blue jeans.

The complainant is then driven to the scene to identify the suspect, who is loudly protesting, cornered by two police cars.

Busch tells me that once identified, the alleged robber will be taken to the 18th District at 55th and Pine streets to be processed and taken to a cell, while the complainant will be transported to Southwest Detective Division to fill out the requisite paperwork and ti be interviewed.

After visiting the site of arrest briefly, we continue on Busch’s patrol. At around 9:30 p.m., as we drive past the 7-Eleven store at 42nd and Walnut streets, we hear a man yell “Officer!” from the parking lot.

Busch pulls into the parking lot and approaches a well-dressed man, who looks to be in his 50s.

He tells her that he purchased a pre-paid cell phone card from the store, discovered it was faulty and was denied a refund by the store clerk. The clerk told him that only the manager, who worked during the day, could grant refunds.

Busch informs the man that his complaint is “not a police matter,” and that as an officer she lacks the authority to force the clerk to provide a refund.

“It’s a police matter when they won’t give you back your money!” the man shouts, visibly distraught.

A Philadelphia Police Department cruiser swings into the parking lot, evidently in response to a 911 call the man placed earlier with the same complaint.

After receiving the same response from the other officer, the man leaves.

“People have this misconception that the PPD can do more than Penn Police,” Busch says. “We respond to the same jobs and have all the same powers.”

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