State House Republicans say they’ll introduce a package of bills to curb crime — and while there are only a handful of session days before the legislature’s current session ends Nov. 30, state Rep. Valerie Gaydos told reporters Monday that it’s not too late to “get back to law and order.”
Gaydos, who represents Allegheny County's western suburbs, appeared at a morning press conference alongside House Republican leader Bryan Cutler and Delaware Rep. Craig Williams. The three said persistent crime has exhausted law enforcement.
Statistics and researchers suggest that crime in Pennsylvania has decreased in the years following a spike during the COVID-19 pandemic, a trend confirmed by a 2023 report from the state's Commission on Crime and Delinquency.
Federal data offers a murky picture nationwide. The FBI found incidents of nationwide violent crime dropped in 2023, with a caveat that not all agencies participated. But in a victimization study released in September by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the agency found victims reported that they experienced more instances of violent crime in 2023 than in 2020 (22 people in 1,000, up from 16.5 in 2020, but little changed from the year prior to that).
Williams said state crime numbers don't reflect reality.
“One of the greatest political falsehoods … is that crime is down,” Williams said. “It's the reporting of crime that is down. People are worried about that retaliation when their names appear in police reports.”
Fear of retaliation means drug- and sex-related offenses sometimes go unreported, agreed Gaydos. She said she wants to strengthen community crime watch groups and make it harder for those accused of violent offenses to make bail.
“The first thing is we have to stop allowing these people to just have a revolving door,” Gaydos said.
Other legislative proposals include: the creation of a database of “severe violent offenders” in a state registry similar to sex offenders under Megan’s Law; efforts to provide county district attorneys with additional support from the state Attorney General’s Office; and the creation of a new offense for criminals who wear face-concealing masks.
The bills are unlikely to get traction any time soon, outside of staking out positions prior to a high-stakes election. Democrats currently have a narrow majority in the House, and control of the chamber is up for grabs this fall. Cutler says Republicans will reintroduce the package at the start of next session.
Gaydos, who is herself facing a spirited opponent in Democrat Hadley Haas, said Monday that she previously sponsored legislation (HB 1147) to reduce sex crimes tied to human trafficking. The bill, later passed as Act 45 of 2021, required mandatory treatment for incarcerated sex offenders prior to release from state prisons.
“We want to give people due process, but public safety comes first,” she said.
