PHILADELPHIA (June 8, 2026) — Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner releases open letter to Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker:
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June 8, 2026
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker
Via Hand-delivery and email at
215 City Hall
1400 JFK Blvd.
Philadelphia, PA 19107
….
Madame Mayor Cherelle Parker:
Greetings! I hope this letter reaches you in good health and spirit. I want to first begin by thanking you for your leadership, vision and goals to make Philadelphia the safest, cleanest and greenest big city in the nation, with access to economic opportunity for all.
Since your first day as Mayor of the city of Philadelphia, it has been my goal and desire to be a true partner in collaboration around increasing safety and freedom for all Philadelphians through modern enforcement, violence prevention, supporting crime victims and survivors, while freeing those who don’t belong in custody, including people who are wrongfully convicted. Over the last 5 years, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, in collaboration with our grass roots, community-based, faith-based, government and law enforcement partners, have achieved remarkable and historic progress in reducing violence, trauma and the extreme over-incarceration of Philadelphians in our city jails and state prisons. Philadelphia is now safer and freer.
The purpose of this letter is to request your reconsideration of key areas of the DAO’s FY27 budget submission, as we seek to build on our collaborative progress in support of survivors and co-survivors of violent crime and vulnerable communities impacted by trauma.
The FY27 budget request for the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office is moderate, fair and consistent with your current enforcement priorities as Mayor of the City of Philadelphia and the work you historically helped to achieve as a member of City Council, leading the 9th Council District. More importantly, our budget request is aimed at supporting new, critical initiatives and strengthening existing modern enforcement operations within the DAO. The work of those DAO operations directly impacts constituents both of us are sworn to protect and serve.
Mayor Parker, on behalf of the hundreds of excellent professionals working in the DAO, we humbly ask for your reconsideration of our FY27 Budget Request (in the amount of $5,617,833) for the following DAO operations:
- Launch of the DAO’s Repeat Domestic Violence Offenders Unit
- Hiring Law Enforcement to Support Investigations & Prosecution of Crimes Against Senior Citizens
- Strengthening the Gun Violence Task Force Operations
- Victim & Witness Relocation Funding
- Supporting External Contracted Victim Services Providers
We want to thank you for approving support for the DAO’s basic and critical technology programs and infrastructure – namely Microsoft Licenses and Axon Evidence.com. As I have explained, that expense was previously provided outside our budget by the city. After the expense was shifted onto our budget more recently, it effectively resulted in a form of de-funding for our office that I believe was unintended. I am grateful that you corrected this substantial problem by restoring support for foundational software.
However, if the Parker Administration de-funds the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office by not supporting our other FY27 Budget Request and our aforementioned modern enforcement programs, our team will not have critical resources needed to provide the necessary prosecutorial support and victim services to residents, victims, witnesses and communities impacted by crime, particularly violent crime during the summer of 2026 and the remainder of the FY27 fiscal year.
Madame Mayor, please reconsider our FY27 Budget Request as we seek to build on progress, while improving our services and support of victims and survivors of domestic violence, elder abuse and gun violence. The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office continues to hire diverse and talented prosecutors, sworn law enforcement officers and support staff to achieve our mission and goals. With your support, we will continue to move Philadelphia forward, reduce violence and support families on their journey of healing.
In closing, for more than two years I’ve requested in person monthly meetings with you of an hour at least so we can share ideas, data and identify areas where we can partner more effectively in support of Philadelphia’s safety and freedom. While our teams speak and collaborate daily, I believe we owe it to our residents as two of the highest-ranking city elected officials to meet monthly to discuss ways we can continue to improve the quality of life in Philadelphia. Our three scheduled meetings and limited phone communication since January 2024 were all constructive, but the residents of Philadelphia deserve as much as we can do together to serve them.
Let us truly model the peace and unity we hope to see within our communities, especially amongst our young people. We can achieve more together! And we can achieve more public safety with the critical funding of our enforcement priorities requested in our FY27 Budget submission.
Thank you, Madame Mayor, for reconsidering our request. Attached you will find letters of support from local Victim Advocacy groups. We look forward to your timely response.
Larry Krasner
Elected Philadelphia District Attorney
Cc:
Kenyatta Johnson, Philadelphia City Council President
Katherine Gilmore-Richardson, Philadelphia City Councilmember & Majority Leader
Kendra Brooks, Philadelphia City Councilmember & Minority Leader
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Below are letters of support from the DAO’s nine contracted Victim Services Providers.
Northeast Victim Services
Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia
Central Division Victim Services
Concilio
Northwest Victim Services
Philadelphia Center Against Sexual Violence (WOAR)
Support Center for Child Advocates
Victim/Witness Services of South Philadelphia
Women Against Abuse
CONTACT:
Marisa Palmer, [email protected]