BY ERRIN HAINES WHACK, ASSOCIATED
PRESS
In a remarkable turnaround,
federal officials on Tuesday praised the Philadelphia Police Department as a
potential role model for better policing in the post-Ferguson era just months
after citing it as a troubled agency that needed major changes in its culture
and policy.
In May, the Justice Department
issued a scathing report that found the police department's use of deadly force
was motivated by fear and was overwhelmingly affecting black citizens. Since
then, officials say the police department, the fourth largest in the country
with 6,600 sworn officers, has completed or is making progress on 90 percent of
the 91 recommendations listed.
"If you look at what has
been done for an agency this size, for the amount of recommendations that were
provided ... their progress is nothing less than amazing," said Ronald
Davis, director of the Justice Department's Office of Community Oriented
Policing Services.
Among the changes that could soon
be implemented is the use of the Pennsylvania State Police as lead
investigative agency on officer-involved shootings resulting in injury or
death, as well as on in-custody deaths of suspects. City Police Commissioner
Charles Ramsey said the two agencies are working on a memorandum of
understanding.
The police department has already
completed 21 of the recommendations. Several of them address use-of-force
methods:
— After finding that the
department's policy did not specifically limit how many times a person could be
shocked by an officer's stun gun, the policy was changed to require officers to
consider whether a stun gun should be used repeatedly and limited its use to
three five-second cycles. Also, stun guns cannot be used on protesters who are
"passively resisting" an officer's demands or on people who are
handcuffed except to prevent harm to themselves or others.
— After finding that the
department's policy was unclear on training regarding chokeholds, the policy
was changed to ban them.
— The department created an award
to recognize officers who use "exceptional tactical or verbal skills to
avoid a deadly force situation."
Ramsey requested the federal
probe in 2013 after an increase in officer-involved shootings that year. Among
the findings in the report were that of the nearly 400 officer-involved
shootings from 2007 to 2013, 81 percent of the suspects involved were black,
and 59 percent of the officers involved were white.
Philadelphia as a whole is 43
percent black and 41 percent white. The police department is 34 percent black
and 56 percent white.
The shootings included 96 deaths.
In the report, the Justice Department said the shootings contributed to
"significant strife and distrust" between the department and the
community. The probe's recommendations included intensive training in use of
force and community-oriented policing.
Mayor Michael Nutter said that
the self-examination process was meant to bring the legitimacy and credibility
of an outside review to the agency and that it gives the department a clear
plan to move forward.
Philadelphia's probe began before
the national conversation and unrest around community policing disparities
sparked by deaths of unarmed black males in Ferguson, Missouri; Cleveland; New
York City; Charleston, South Carolina; and Chicago. Since then, the Justice
Department has announced investigations into departments around the country and
has uncovered patterns and practices disproportionately affecting
African-Americans.
Ramsey, who is retiring next
month after Nutter leaves office, said he will encourage other jurisdictions to
be proactive about seeking federal help.
"As far as police chiefs go,
the goal has to be to stay out of the crosshairs of (the Justice Department) to
begin with," said Ramsey, who added that he sought help after reading a
similar report issued about another department. "It may not be your issue
today, but it could be tomorrow."
No comments:
Post a Comment