“This summer, some disgruntled, retired Philadelphia police officers formed the Protect Our Police PAC,” Larry Krasner wrote in a fundraising letter for his reelection campaign as Philadelphia’s District Attorney in the upcoming Democratic primary.
“This group believes no one should ever challenge the thin blue line, no matter the abuse and discrimination that occurs in our communities. Since early July, they’ve raised $750,000, and they are recruiting candidates to run against progressives all over the country.
“But the PAC has been clear. Their number one target is Larry Krasner.”
Nick Gerace, the founder and president of the Protect Our Police PAC, is a 12-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department who retired after sustaining an on-the-job injury.
I reached out to Gerace and asked him why he formed the PAC.
I want to turn the tide and humanize the police officer and let the public know that nobody hates a dirty cop more than a good cop.
– Nick Gerace
“There are a lot of false narratives going on across the country that state cops are all racists, pigs, and corrupt. I’m a third-generation police officer and I’ve grown up in the culture and watched it grow and become more community active. I want to turn the tide and humanize the police officer and let the public know that nobody hates a dirty cop more than a good cop. The majority of police officers, 99.99 percent, are good police officers.”
Gerace said the PAC helps to identify pro-police candidates and helps get them elected. They are bucking the national defund the police movement. He said that the PAC supports selected candidates through direct contributions, mailers, and media campaigns.
“Our focus in the beginning was Philadelphia, but we saw that Philadelphia was a microcosm for the country. Big city, little city, small county, large county, we see these radicals being backed by billionaire George Soros and the destruction of law and order.
“It’s really a grass-root movement. It resonates with people. The majority of people, regardless of their race or ethnicity, believe in law and order and the police.”
I asked Gerace about a recent Philadelphia Inquirer story that stated that the PAC received $500,000 from Timothy Mellon, and the newspaper offered some of Mellon’s controversial views. Gerace said he was unaware of Mellon’s comments and he didn’t necessarily agree with them.
“But the important thing is the money he donated helped us establish our organization quickly and we were able to build a foundation and infrastructure and grow a national footprint, which ultimately helped us get 38 police officials elected.
“With this new election cycle, we’re hyper-focused on Krasner. He is running on a saving Black lives platform, but it is quite the opposite, he is destroying Black lives and the Black community. Look at the homicide victims – 86 percent of them are Black. It is critically important to the Black community that Krasner is removed from office.
“Our focus right now is exposing how radical and dangerous Krasner is for Philadelphia and how his failed social experiment is getting people killed.”
I asked Gerace if he felt that Philadelphia’s mayor and DA are supportive of the rank-and-file cops.
“They are doing the opposite of supporting rank-and-file cops, specifically, the District Attorney. Krasner sued the police department 75 times prior to becoming a prosecutor.”
It is critically important to the Black community that Krasner is removed from office.
– Nick Gerace
Gerace noted that during the violent protests, looting, arsons and assaults on police officers in Philadelphia after the death of George Floyd, 700 criminal citations were eliminated with the wave of a hand by Mayor Kenney and Krasner. He said the mayor and DA were more concerned about the conduct of the police officers, pouring over hours of videotape looking for a reason to arrest a police officer.
“Just look at the case of Joe Bologna. You have a dedicated city official who has given his all for this city, and he was affecting a legal arrest and was assaulted. When he went to court, the judge threw it out. A guy violently pointed a gun and carjacked an Uber driver, then while in prison for that, he assaulted a corrections officer, and Krasner let him out with $3,200 combined bail, doesn’t appeal, doesn’t call the probation office, and doesn’t do what he’s supposed to do to keep a violent criminal like that off the streets. But he’s hardcore focused on retrying Joe Bologna.”
Gerace said Krasner was an ambulance chaser as a defense attorney and he’s a headline chaser as a prosecutor.
“Law and order should not be defined by an R, a D, or an I. It should be something we all agree on. I believe the majority of Democrats now see that Krasner is a radical.”
You can visit the Protect Our Police PAC website at protectourpolicepac.org.
Paul Davis’ Crime Beat column appears here each week. You can contact him via pauldavisoncrime.com.
