COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING BEFORE the COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, 12/12/2000 10:05 a.m. - - - RESOLUTION NO. 000044 - Authorizing the City Council's Committee on Public Safety to hold public hearings to monitor the progress made in improving the handling of sexual assault complaints as set forth in the recommendations adopted by the entire City Council on December 16, 1999. PRESENT: COUNCILMAN ANGEL L. ORTIZ, Chair COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILMAN DAVID COHEN COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS-BROWN COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO - - - VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters Eleven Penn Center, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 2 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY I N D E X Police Commissioner John Timoney. . . . . . . Special Assistant Brad Richman. . . . . . . . 5 Joe Mooney, Commanding Officer. . . . . . . . 12 Special Victims Unit Richard Tustin, Acting Director . . . . . . . 73 Capital Program Office Carol Johnson, Women Organized Against Rape 95 Carol Tracy, Executive Director, Law Project 96 Chris Kirchner, Executive Director. . . . . . 138 Philadelphia Children's Alliance 3 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 P R O C E E D I N G S
Good morning. I can see by the people flowing off the rafters, by the huge crowd we have that this is of great concern to the multimillionaires that reside in the City here. And you can see that we have a multitude of interest, 'cause we're talking about -- we're not talking about new stadiums; we're relocating a Special Victims Unit. And maybe we -- maybe, maybe, maybe we might be able to find some money for a Special Victims Unit out of those crumbs that fall off the stadium deal, you know what I mean? Those little things that come off, because we have certain priorities. But good morning. This is a hearing of the Public Safety Committee. Could you read the text of the resolution, please, the title.
Resolution No. 000044, authorizing the City Council's Committee on Public Safety to hold public hearings to monitor the progress made in improving the handling of sexual assault complaints as set forth in the recommendations adopted by the entire City Council on December 16, 1999. 4 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044
Thank you. Commissioner Timoney, we've been through this before. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yes, sir.
There's a continuing saga of the Special Victims Unit and we're going to keep on going until we get it right. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Hopefully, Mr. Councilman, we're headed in the right direction and I can optimistically say, you know, I think we're more than 90 percent there, but we should always strive for improvement. Good morning, sir, and thank you for the invitation to come before your committee to testify. We received in the mail from your office, sir, a series of questions. I believe there are ten questions; however, there wasn't a number 3, really, I think it boils down to nine questions. (Councilman Rizzo enters chambers.) COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Good morning, Councilman Rizzo.
Good morning, Commissioner. 5 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: So I thought it would be easier if I went through all ten questions and responded to them, and then if there are --
That would be very, very good. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: The very first question has to do with the relocation of the Special Victims Unit. And you should be aware that the Department then, in particular the Special Victims Unit, has been fully cooperating with the capital department for our city, and there's a representative here. They have been up to the Special Victims Unit, they have interviewed Captain Mooney. And by the way, sir, I should have introduced my two colleagues with me -- Captain Joe Mooney, who is the Commanding Officer of the Special Victims Unit; and, of course, Special Assistant Brad Richman.
Good morning. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: In any event, those folks from the Capital Office have been up.
The NRA is looking 6 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 for him, but it's all right. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: I know. I see, actually, the NRA, I saw it in this morning's paper that Smith & Wesson settled with Boston so there's some hope yet. But in any event, they were up there to take measures. They've interviewed Captain Mooney regarding staffing levels, and I guess they need all of those numbers to kind of factor in what size of an office that will finally encompass the new Special Victims Unit. The one area of -- not concern, but of dispute, or the one area that's still hanging out there is this issue of collocation with the Children's Advocates Center. And we're all for that. As you're aware, I initiated the one up in New York in Brooklyn, and so we think that's a win-win, and so we're on board with that collocation.
So we had meetings with the different departments and the Police Department for those details. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Well, I can't speak for -- 7 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 (Unintelligible, parties talking over each other.) COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: We are fully committed towards that; others may have different opinions.
Well, I understand your commitment, but we have other departments and I figure that maybe we could have a meeting to explore -- COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah.
-- the feasibility of that thing coming about -- COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah.
-- with Health and the Department of Human Services. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah. I mean, I've had myself personal meetings with some folks from the Child Advocate Center. I've actually visited the one up on Chestnut Street, and so we are committed to that endeavor. And so I would be more than willing, as would Captain Mooney, to sit down and speak to HRA or any other agencies that are --
Well, we'll try to 8 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 expedited that through my office and we will see how we can do that. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: The second question --
Do you have costs, by the way? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Pardon?
An analysis of the costs -- COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: No. 12
-- in terms of the relocation of the Special Victims Unit. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: No. Our understanding, when I first met with these folks, that the -- there were two issues for us. One, we made the commitment as far as personnel. We would provide sufficient investigators. And the only other caveat is that I didn't want -- make sure that if it's -- that we did not want our investigators to get involved in issues such as counseling that they are not trained or qualified for. And I've been led to believe that the issues, the monetary issues, were being taken care 9 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 of by private agencies.
Okay. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Now, if that's not the case, you know, I don't have a penny in my budget, but --
Well, we just gave you $350,000 for a crossing guard. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yes, sir. And I appreciate that, and the citizens of Philadelphia appreciate that.
Okay. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: You inquired regarding the steps taken to improve the treatment of victims of sexual assault. As you're well aware, sir, there's been documented, particularly in the Inquirer, that our past history has not been the best in this area, for a whole variety of reasons. I don't agree that police officers were ill-intentioned; I just think they were not trained properly, and it may not have been a number-one priority. However, the area of treating victims with special sensitivity has been stressed and re-stressed over the last two years, and we've set 10 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 up a command structure within the Special Victims Unit to make sure that no matter what the private beliefs of an investigator are, is that those private beliefs in no way should impact on how a victim is treated. And we've set up a review process. The supervisor command oversight helps to ensure that the requirements that we've laid out are met. Also, what had happened in the past, if there was doubt regarding a victim, that victim may have been asked to submit to a polygraph. That is not the case anymore. If, in fact, there may arise a need for a polygraph, that can only be approved by Captain Mooney himself. And those are very, very rare. We also have a prompt response to complaints, which is reflective. If you look at the activity over the last years, there's been an 80 percent increase in search warrants obtained by investigators. The Special Victims Unit investigators have served almost 500 search warrants. This means that the investigators are responding immediately to crime scenes, gathering evidence, and arresting suspects in a timely 11 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 fashion. There has also been a significant increase in overtime expenditures, which also indicates an aura of aggressive and proper pursuit to leads and suspects. In the area of communications to complainants, every victim receives a letter from the Special Victims Unit offering the assistance of the Special Victims Unit officer. The letter also lists four different advocacy groups and their phone numbers, as well as the DC numbers for easy referral back should the complainant need it and also the Special Victims control number and the name of the investigator in each case. The Special Victims Unit recently initiated a quality control survey, whereby a victim assistance officer telephones victims and asks them to respond to a series of questions about their experiences with the police. Additionally, when possible, while it's not on a regular schedule, victims, as much as humanly possible -- sometimes you can't get in touch with them. You know, they make a complaint and then we never hear from them again and we can't locate them. But as much as possible, when we can locate 12 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 victims, we try to keep them updated on the status of the case and any recent developments. Regarding investigators -- and we're looking -- we look to see if we're getting complaints regarding investigators. And when we review that discipline process, no investigator has received any discipline over -- for the year 2000. We have had five kind of minor complaints that we have addressed, and those investigators have been counseled. But we also let victims know, If you're not satisfied with your investigators, we will happily reassign that to another investigator.
Is this protocol in writing? Is this protocol in writing? And is it a part of the overall training that takes place? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Well, we'll get to in a second, but go ahead as far as the protocol. CAPTAIN MOONEY: The protocol for investigating and handling sexual assault complaints in the Philadelphia Police Department really doesn't appear on one single document, like the Florida model policy that the Women's Law 13 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 Center gave me to review. Our policies -- there's crossovers with police radio. In terms of how the uniformed police officer are dispatched would be in a different document, say, than what would guide our investigators in the steps they're taking. So it's written down. Much of that Florida protocol, when I reviewed it, much of it is already in place here, and it is written down, but it's not written down in one document that says, This is the sexual assault protocol. It's written in different directives and in different memos that appear throughout the, you know, the police duty manuals and directives that all the policemen have.
Did you see any utility in perhaps bringing all of those different directives into one in terms of the Special Victims Unit and so on, so that an officer does not have to be going through many different places to look at what it is and how they should be able to proceed? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: If I could just jump in there. I mean, there are a variety of responses, even within the Philadelphia Police 14 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 Department, for example, to a sexual assault. Generally what happens is, the person or friends or relatives will call 9-1-1, and there's a response by uniformed personnel. We -- and that's contained in one document, how the initial responding officers treat victims of special assault or something like that. There are also within the district uniformed victims assistant officers. The pegboard that's prepared, 48 then goes up to the Special Victims Unit, and they have their own protocols that they have developed. And they have, you know, including a case management system, but increased supervision, the whole -- and I think we went over this the last time. For example, to unfound the case, it requires the signature and approval of two supervisors. And so we have a double-tier review process to make sure, as much as humanly possible, that cases are handled correctly. In addition, as you're well aware, Captain Mooney and his folks meet on a regular basis with the various women's groups that you will hear from today, reviewing case folders, 15 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 again, where these women's groups have the ability of requesting further investigation, another look-see at the case. And if there is a disagreement, that disagreement is brought to me as the final arbiter of what should take place. By the way, nothing has been brought to me yet, so somehow, if there are disagreements, then we have to work through them, but I'll leave that up to the Law Project and to some other folks to talk about later.
Go ahead, Commissioner. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: The question of number 3, there is no number 3, so we'll go right to number 4, which has to do with the training. If I might bring you back to about a year and a half ago, as you're well aware, the people that -- the folks that were assigned to Special Victims Unit were, by and large, police officers. There had been a belief, not just in this city, but I think in most cities across the country, that to be assigned to Special Victims or rape squads, it was preferable if you were female, if you came from a unit such as the juvenile age unit or some 16 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 community relations unit, as if somehow, by virtue of being a woman or being a part of those units, that gave evidence, prima facia evidence of necessary sensitivity. I think it's been documented that that's not the case. I think it's been documented by that series in the Inquirer that you're better off, no matter who they are, you're better off having people who are well-trained. And so we have been about the business of basically changing the operation there and putting in well-trained investigators and detective-investigators into the Special Victims Unit. In addition, there's been increased training across the board. So, for example, just this June, in the last six months, there have been over different seminar courses that a variety 19 of our officers and bosses have attended. In July 20 of this year, the Southern Police Institute brought a four-day sex crime course to the Philadelphia Police Department -- at the Department's invitation, by the way. We brought 'em in, we paid for them. And 23 of our investigators and a few sergeants and lieutenants 17 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 attended that course. There's also both formal and informal training going on on a regular basis. It's been incorporated -- for example, this week, I believe it's Thursday, we will be doing our year-end promotions, and I believe it's or of those 8 promotions will be detectives. Those detectives 9 now will go to the Academy. They get extensive 10 training, a full three weeks of training. In 11 addition, they, upon graduating from the Academy, 12 from the training courses, in three weeks will be 13 assigned to centralized units for further field 14 training. Some will go to the Special Victims 15 Unit, some will go to the Homicide Unit. They'll 16 spend a few weeks and they'll flip back to the 17 Homicide and the ones will go to Special Victims 18 and Special Victims will go to Homicide. 19 And what we're trying to do, you know, 20 as part of this training process is to have 21 detectives fully trained on how the entire 22 Detective Bureau operates within this department 23 so that they don't come out of the Academy, and 24 you send them, you know, to the East Police 25 Detectives, and that's where they spend the rest 18 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 of their life, and they know nothing more than the 24th, 25th, and 26th District. We want them to have a well-rounded overview of the entire detective operation, and then we'll, you know, at some later date, given the needs of the various detective divisions, they'll be reassigned.
Does the training encompass the attitudes that were brought into the system prior to all of this investigation? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Oh, yeah. I mean, I --
And the male-directed attitudes towards women that have been abused and so on and -- COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Well, I mean, let's be fair about this. Some of the more surprising statements that I read in the Inquirer were made by females, so I don't care who makes them. If they're --
It's a cultural aspect. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Who knows. (Unintelligible.) You can have your private 19 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 views. I can't do anything about your private views on gender, on race, but in most circumstances, we tolerate you acting out your private views, and so I make it a point myself to make sure that when they get promoted and they're at the Academy, I attend all training sessions -- not just for detectives but for sergeants and lieutenants and captains, letting them know what we're expecting from them. So as I say -- and any other opportunities that we have for training, and Captain Mooney is always browsing the literature, looking for other opportunities, we'll take advantage of them because -- and not just the Special Victims; in other units of the Department, there has been, I think, a greater push towards training the entire department as much as possible. And we've gotten quite a bit of additional funds in this area, both from grants and then from private contributions. The request -- you have an interesting request from demographics regarding the race, gender, and age and neighborhoods of the victims. And while I have nothing but respect and deference 20 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 for this committee, we have purposely not looked into that area right now because you may have seen a report by the ACLU last week regarding racial profiling in this city. That report --
Very disturbing, by the way. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Pardon?
Very disturbing. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Well, I'm more disturbed than you are because that report is -- I will address that in a separate press conference tomorrow. But let me just tell you something. That report is so far removed from what is going in this city, that the authors August to be ashamed of themselves, and we will address that report point by point tomorrow, but it's evidence that when you give supposedly responsible people information, particularly of a racial nature, that this information could be manipulated and, in the long run, exacerbate racial tensions in this city. And so, I would be glad, sir, to meet privately with you regarding this and my concerns. 21 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 It's not that I'm withholding information from the Council; I just need to have some concerns addressed as far as what is that information being used for. In light of what the ACLU did, I really have second thoughts to say anything of a racial nature in this city.
I will be glad to do that. But in essence, I'm trying to, and I believe the Council's trying to, get an understanding of to whom the assault happened to and the numbers and neighborhoods. Is it from the African-American community, what numbers in the Latino community, and what has been the historical, obviously, because we have gone through that as a result of open investigation. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Mm-hmm.
And the changes that we're bringing about through the process that we're going through. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Mm-hmm.
We understand, and I've gotten a lot of complaints in my office, phone calls. If something happens in Center City to a female and if she is Caucasian -- 22 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah.
-- we have all sorts of news, we have all sorts of incredible amount of staff power -- COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah.
-- put into play in order because we can't allow this to happen. Maybe it's because Center City where the focus of the tourists and we have -- this goes out, but it doesn't play well when the same type of assault occurs somewhere else in the City -- COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Mm-hmm.
-- where Latinos are or African-American women are, and the same sort of attention is not given. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah.
And people begin to feel in the neighborhoods that the same type of an investigation is not taking place. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah.
That the resources are not being put into place, that, Oh, well, it's 23 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 another Latino that got it, you know, what's the problem? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Well, I can promise you, I can guarantee you as much as humanly possible that we treat all investigations equally in this city. Now, I may in fact agree with you, but I won't say I agree with you in regards to the attention. And so I think the questions regarding the attention, you would have been better off if you brought in, you know, Mr. Rosenthal or Mr. Hall, you know, or some people that run the media business in this town in regards to attention. I mean, I can't control that -- what's reported or what's carried on TV, Mr. Dave Davies. I mean, you can bring them in and find out why if it happens in Center City that it's a daily drumbeat in the newspapers and on television, but if it happens in the 25th District, you know, who cares?
That happens. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: By the way, it's not just in Philadelphia. I just did a book review for a paper up in New York regarding the 24 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 history of the NYPD and, of course, the reporters up in New York are -- you know, there are four other boroughs besides Manhattan, but they spend all of their time in Manhattan because -- and so that's what gets written about.
'Cause Manhattan is the city, right? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Exactly. Forget the Bronx and Brooklyn and all the rest of them.
Don't say that to my wife. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: The Special Victims staffing, you were looking for the numbers, and you mentioned that they are in a state of flux. And by the way, that's on purpose that we have not come up with any --
Well, numbers and composition. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah. But let me just give you as of today what they are. Now, by the way, they will increase next week or in a couple weeks, when that class comes out of the Academy. And they'll get goosed up for a short time, and then when those people get the training, 25 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 they'll move on. Suffice it to say -- and we'll get to it later -- there are extra people up there, there have been, and we'll beef them up again. Going back for those three years that we're doing the investigations on old cases, which I'll address shortly. But right now, there are -- there are two captains; there had been always been one. There are captains (Captain Mooney and his executive officer), lieutenants, sergeants, 4 corporals, 35 detectives, and 37 police officers, for a grand total of 89 assigned to the Special Victims Unit. And that's as of 12/12 of this year. Again, I --
What's the composition? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Well, what does that mean?
(Inaudible, off mic.) and the racial makeup. And who's on track 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 for leadership in that department?
And how many women are in -- COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Oh, I didn't understand.
How many Latinos and African-Americans and so on. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah, yeah.
And like Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds said -- (Unintelligible, parties talking over each other.) COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah. You didn't mention -- you just mentioned the staffing levels; I thought you were talking about the numbers themselves, because there had been a complaint, probably a legitimate complaint, that the -- and this is the only complaint I saw -- was that the case law was inordinately high, the staffing levels were insufficient, and so we have put additional people in there. But more importantly, the people that we've put in there are detectives, as opposed to police officers. They are trained investigators. 27 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 But this is an ongoing process because, as you're well aware, there are labor implications. And so while there are still 37 police officers there, we cannot remove them just 'cause we want to replace them with a detective. And, you know, to be -- we would get an arbitration, and if we didn't -- if we couldn't show just cause, we'd lose that arbitration, and then we'd be forced to send them back with all the potential overtime that they would have made had they still been there.
A follow-up question on that point. Since at this hour you're not able to share with us the composition, let's look to the captains in the department and the composition there. What is the total number of captains currently in the Police Department? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: I believe -- well, we're doing -- I think we're promoting 6 or 7 at the end of the week, which will bring us up to about 116. But I can get you all of those staffing levels. 28 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044
I'm sorry? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: I can get you all of those staffing levels for the entire Department.
Okay. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: I don't have them in my head; I just happen to know on the captains 'cause we'll be up around 116.
Okay. How many of those are women, approximately? Five, ten -- COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Oh, no, probably a little bit more than ten.
And how many of those are minority -- African-American or Latino, approximately? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: I have -- I have no idea. For example, this week, we're doing, I believe, it's seven captains, and we're quite fortunate. I didn't know you were going to get into this, but out of the seven captains this week, I believe -- out of the top seven, I believe four of them are African-American, including the person who's number one. Now, since you brought it up, we might 29 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 as well -- I didn't know you were going to get into this. We made a move last year. As the lieutenants list was finishing off, there was an ability to promote some of the lieutenants last December. And normally about would have been 7 promoted. 8 But when we looked at the list, it was 9 civil service list, we saw what you often see in 10 the civil service list, that African-Americans 11 were grouped in the middle of the list, and had we 12 done things as you normally do them, they would 13 have died on the list. And so we made a special 14 effort to make sure we got them in there and we 15 approved them. 16 And so we were able to promote indeed 17 that class nine African-Americans to lieutenants, 18 which allowed them to be eligible for the 19 capital's exam a few months ago. Out of the top 20 14 candidates on the captains list that just came out, 7 are African-Americans. That's a new high for this department. It's not perfect yet.
Sure. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: But those are the first -- including the number-one candidate, 30 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 who happens to work me. He's (unintelligible), he's a lawyer, he came out number one. And so this has not happened in the history of the Philadelphia Police Department.
Thank you for that. I will not belabor it because I've been alerted that you are on a clock, but we will revisit this at some later juncture. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah, absolutely.
With a particular look at women who are on track, who may then be trained to work in a Special Sex Crimes Unit, because there's such a direct correlation between those who are doing the training and those who are the victims. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Well, here -- it isn't quite that easy.
Okay. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: And there other things that come into play. For example, I was talking to Captain Mooney over the last couple of days preparatory to this hearing. You would be amazed at how many even women that get burnt out 31 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 of this type of work that just -- when you start to get into the area of child abuse and the whole business, there are not too many people that want to do it. And so if people don't want to do it, they're not going to force them into that, no 7 matter who they are and no matter how qualified they are. And we've started seeing some burnout, that they just can't take it, that they've got kids at home, and this is just -- it's too damaging to the psyche.
Any attorney that has worked in the family court -- COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah.
It is a -- I worked in family court and my wife has worked in family court. And it is one of the most -- COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: It's tough.
-- emotionally draining areas of the law to work in. 32 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah.
And you can see that judges -- judges can't keep up their function in those courts. But go ahead. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah. On the -- you had requested a review of the old cases for 1998 and 1997 and back of the unfounded cases. In the year 1998, there were 191 cases reviewed; 34 were changed from unfounded to active. So out of those 191 that were labeled as unfounded, they were then rechanged to active. In 1999, 111 cases were reviewed.
I didn't get that, Commissioner Timoney. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: I can supply these numbers to you.
Okay. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: These are the cases that were initially classified as unfounded.
Right. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: In 1998, 191 were reviewed; 34 changed from unfounded to active status. 33 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 In 1999, 111 cases were reviewed; were recoded and 19 were changed from unfounded to active. So for a total out of those 111, 29 were changed in some shape or fashion. What's important, I'm sure, is the -- which is the one that caused the great consternation and the series in the Inquirer, had to do with the 2701s and the 2625s. That's question number 8. And so in the 2701 review project, all of the 1995 cases -- as you're well aware, we went back five years and we went to the oldest years because there were concerns about the statute of limitations and we kind of worked our way forward. All of the cases of 1999 have been completed. The review is -- let me see here if I got this -- the total review for all of those years is 91 percent completed. There are still 175 cases remain active. There have been 78 cases cleared by arrest, 259 cases have been exceptionally cleared, and 388 have been labeled as unfounded cases.
The 259 -- what did 34 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 you say, it has been cleared? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: I didn't hear you.
The 259 you said -- COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Exceptionally cleared.
Exceptionally cleared. What does that mean? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Can you give the definition. CAPTAIN MOONEY: What that means is that the person who is the accused in the case was not arrested or charged, for a variety of reasons; either the District Attorney didn't want to pursue it, the complainant, the victim did not want to pursue it, whatever. But it indicates that we solved the case, we know who did it, and that, you know, but there's just been no arrest of the person.
And so the 259 are cases in which you have arrested the perpetrator. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Have identified the -- CAPTAIN MOONEY: Have identified -- 35 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044
Have identified the perpetrator. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah. CAPTAIN MOONEY: Yes. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: And many cases were cleared by arrest.
And the D.A. refused to follow up, follow through? CAPTAIN MOONEY: Not necessarily. In conference with the D.A., we confer with him regarding when a victim -- many times the victim doesn't want to proceed. So if the victim doesn't want to proceed --
How many of those -- CAPTAIN MOONEY: -- that would be --
How many of those 259 -- CAPTAIN MOONEY: I don't have that.
-- victims didn't want to proceed? And how many of those were the judgment of the D.A. -- CAPTAIN MOONEY: I don't have that information.
-- that there was 36 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 not sufficient evidence? CAPTAIN MOONEY: I don't have that information.
Do you have the numbers? CAPTAIN MOONEY: I don't know if we have them broke down. I guess we'd have to look at each individual case.
Yes, thank you. Do you have -- and I'm sure in any type of an investigation, not an investigation like this, when a person makes an accusation, a complaint, and it is an unfounded complaint, untrue, it's just someone making up a story that's not founded, how do you -- how do you deal with those? When a person just says -- changes their mind, are you able in some cases to see that it's just that they don't want to be bothered or they're just afraid to proceed? Or what happens when you legitimately get a person that's made an accusation just to be mean or revengeful; how do you deal with that? Is there anything you can do about that? Either of you. 37 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 CAPTAIN MOONEY: Is this a question for me?
The captain probably, since you're the first-line guy. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Well, I actually lay down the policy, and this really is a policy issue here. It really depends on the situation. People refuse to press charges for a variety of reasons. Maybe they just want it to go away. And so you try and encourage them as much as possible to go along with the program and to press charges but they don't. There are others that may be maliciously reported. And that runs the gamut. For example, we often -- a lot more than you would expect. You have a 14-year-old young lady who went out with her boyfriend and ran away from home for two days and then is afraid to go home and then comes home with a tall tale to tell the mother. In a case like that, when we uncover the truth, it's, you know, kind of no harm, no foul. There's been some loss of investigative resources, but you kind of understand that it's a young kid 38 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 who may be afraid, or who knows what? But then there are other areas, and this can work both ways. It can be where a man propositions a prostitute and then now makes an allegation of a robbery. If we investigated that and we find that it's a false report, we'll arrest him. Similarly, if you get a case where somebody is maliciously falsely reporting a rape, then we will present that to the D.A. to see if it's appropriate to make an arrest for falsely reporting an incident. But it's an extremely sensitive area and so you've got to go with great sensitivity, but it happens every once in a while.
Commissioner, you have other numbers that you were giving. The 2701 and -- COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah, the 2701 cases. All right, the review is 91 percent completed. Of the -- it's almost 2000 cases; it's one or two shy of 2000 cases. 175 remain active. 78 cases were cleared by arrest, 259 were exceptionally cleared. 39 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 And by the way, "exceptionally cleared" doesn't just mean that the person declined to prosecute or the D.A. didn't go forward. There's a whole host of reasons, including the guy who did it could be dead. You know, you've identified this guy Timoney and he's dead now, and that's considered an exceptionally cleared case.
We'd like to know what -- we'd like to find that out. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah.
I'd like to have that detail. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: There are 9 active arrest warrants out. We've identified 9 now. We got the arrest warrants; we just haven't been able to execute 'em for a variety of reasons. This is an interesting one. Twenty of the arrests occurred in the year where the case happened, but it wasn't properly recoded. In other words, it laid in the files as a 2701. They actually went out and did everything right and made an arrest, but for whatever reason, either because of laziness or sloppiness, did not go back into the files and recode it, for example, as a 40 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 rape cleared by arrest. So it runs the gamut but we can. . . And then the cases initially coded as 2625 for 1994 through 1999 are as follows. And do you want to explain what 2625 is? CAPTAIN MOONEY: To explain the 2625 code, in the code book, it says investigation, medical, and protection. It's kind of a catchall code for cases that do not have any clear criminality in them or any clear -- other type of behavior. We use them for third-party reports, we use them when the third party, say, makes a report that a father is sexually abusing a daughter but the daughter doesn't necessarily make the initial report. Well, if that gets reported to us initially, that may be coded 2625. If a person goes -- a victim goes to Jefferson Hospital and, unbeknownst to the police, gets a rape kit performed by Jefferson Hospital and leaves and never makes a report, and now Jefferson Hospital hands that rape kit over to us, we investigate that, we try to get a hold of that person and try to find out why they had that rape kit done, but we code that as a 2625, as a medical 41 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 investigation. If a young baby, say, is taken to -- comes back for a visit --
Captain Mooney and Commissioner, we have asked -- and I know that you're making an effort to try to achieve this -- for a complete report detailing all of these things in which the definitions are very clear in terms of even the exceptionally cleared ones and so on, so that we have a very good understanding of what the cases have been, what has transpired, what has been the results, how many have been open, how many have been closed, how many are currently under investigation, et cetera, so that we can have -- so that we can clear the deck and then we can move forward as we try to achieve the relocation of the unit, maybe the collocation of the different services and so on. So that we don't have to be continuously having to respond to the Inquirer, you know, bringing up some stories here and there. So that we can have it, and we can say all of the information that is needed has been given, is there, the groups are satisfied and everybody 42 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 else. So as we go -- and we have spoken about this -- a report in which all of these details are put down, given to us, so we can, as a Council, review it and publish that report. So we can say to the people of Philadelphia, Look, we had a problem. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Right.
There are all of these stories out there, and we dealt with that problem openly and clearly, and this has been the results. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Mm-hmm.
We were over here; now we're over here. We have a staff, we have professional people working, we have a diverse group of people. And the Unit, although mal-administered prior to this, now we have professional people, with Captain Mooney and other folks in there, and this is a process that has been established. And Women Against Rape and all of the other things that have been put into place, so that citizens of the City and that the treatment 43 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 of Center City and the Barrio and people in the Barrio can feel that if something happens up there, you're going to go get the same type of resources and the same type of an investigation done. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: We will get you in graph form by the end of the week just a year by year, you know, here's the number, here's the disposition. Let me just say, I mean, we spend an awful lot of time on this, including the COMPSTAT. There are some cases that you actually don't know how to classify 'em, that they -- and I can't think offhand, but often, we're at COMPSTAT, it's a kind of a public debate, and you're not sure exactly what you have. It requires further investigation. And sometimes -- not all the time, but sometimes there are cases that just kind of defy being put in any specific category. And by the way, you can -- and I'm sure you will when the women's groups get up and testify, you can question them regarding what they're finding and get -- I mean, what you have the ability now is to query some independent 44 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 auditors to what's going on.
That's one of positive things that has happened through this process. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah.
I mean, that's a huge positive. I don't know of any other city that has been able to accomplish this sort of thing. So we have been -- but we've got to let people know, and I think the confidence in the system will increase as the people know that these things are happening. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah. Again, as the captain said, we were responding to the letter.
Yeah, but we had -- in the last hearing, we said a report -- we were promised a report by a certain date; we don't have the report. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: No. 23
And I can understand, you know, reasons why not. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yes, but excuse 45 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 me for interrupting, sir. We haven't finished it. It's 91 percent. There are still, whatever it is, 178 cases that remain active. We can give you a report on what we've done on 91 percent of the time and leave out the remaining 178 that still remain.
Like I said, Commissioner, I'm fully understanding. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah.
We can understand each other. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah.
And that's why I wrote the letter. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah.
In order to get those responses, because we had not gotten the report. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: I mean, with all the things that -- and I'll take full blame here because I was the one that said, Well, we should be finished, you know, in six or seven months. 46 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 Well, it turns out, you know, once we started going back, and you can well imagine, we're trying to give every case a fair shake, a good investigation. You're chasing down leads that are going nowhere, you're trying to find complainants that may have moved. Even though we put the resources into it, it was a much more difficult process to than I even had envisioned. And then even when you reach the complainant, there was a (unintelligible) involved in this stuff for, you know, just leave me alone. And so the process was much more labor-intensive, sir, than I had imagined when I made those statements fully a year ago. I thought in six months, we should have cleared this up because we put the additional resources in. We're 91 percent cleared.
Councilman Clarke, you had a question? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Let me -- I'm sorry. Yes, sir?
Good morning. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Good morning, 47 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 sir.
I was recently at a meeting of a social service providers organization, and some disturbing information came up with respects to the levels of incest and sexual assault from live-in mates. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah.
And it talked about a particular section of my district being one of the highest rates within the City of Philadelphia, but they didn't have any information to substantiate that, and I'm wondering, in your categorization of the various assaults, are you categorizing them by police district, by Council district, by neighborhood? CAPTAIN MOONEY: We keep our statistics based upon the police district and division in terms of the, you know, the neighborhood. We don't bring it down any finer than that. You know, like, we don't say, like, Logan versus Olney or something like that; that would all be in the 35th District. That's the way we would keep 'em. 48 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044
I'm familiar with my police districts. That would be -- you have that information? CAPTAIN MOONEY: What information is it that you need, Councilman?
Well, I was trying to get a breakdown per police district or division. I was just wondering if you were doing an analysis on the areas of reports, levels of incidents in those particular areas. CAPTAIN MOONEY: We -- I don't have that right here with me, but I can find that information.
And has there been -- and I'm assuming that this is probably not job of the Police Department, so I may have to ask this question later on. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah.
Has there been an analysis in terms of any socioeconomic basis for why it happens more in other areas, assuming that the information that I received was correct? 49 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 Sometimes -- (Unintelligible, parties talking over each other.) COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: What I can tell from you my readings of what comes across my desk, 'cause I get the investigator sheets, the lodging of the complaint, it seems to me -- and I may be wrong, but it seems to me that we get them as third-party referrals from Human Services? CAPTAIN MOONEY: Right, from Human Services. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: And a lot of times, it wouldn't even be incest in the general sense that we think of incest, where it's a blood relative, but it may be like a live-in boyfriend.
Right, right. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: That's what seems to me, that it's predominant is live-in boyfriend or a visitor coming into the woman's apartment, and she goes out and then he sexually abuses the child. That's what I keep seeing.
Okay. And -- COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: But we usually get those as referrals from Human Resources. 50 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044
So the information, the detailed information, with respects to those cases probably would lie with the Department of Human Services, more so than the Police Department. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: What happens is, if we get 'em, we'll have 'em. What I'm saying, sir, is that --
But the analysis aren't -- okay. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: It's very, very rare where we'll have a mother and a seven-year-old or eight-year-old kid show up in a district and say, you know, the boyfriend -- we'll get that as a result of some kind of a consultation with the Human Resource folks or Health Department, where they may have gone for a check for syphilis, or God knows what.
Mm-hmm. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: And that's how it comes to us, through a third-party referral. That's how I see it come across my desk at least.
All right. Do you have a sense of during the process of 51 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 investigation by a DHS worker or by some other social service workers, at what point are they required to, or are they in fact required to notify the Police Department if there's any thought that there could potentially be some problems associated with that? Is it first visit or -- CAPTAIN MOONEY: Well, they're required to notify us in all cases, sexual. Anytime they get a report of a sexual abuse of a child, they're required to notify us.
Upon reported or upon verification? CAPTAIN MOONEY: Not necessarily, no, not necessarily verified. If they get a third -- if they get a report from a sibling, say --
Mm-hmm. CAPTAIN MOONEY: -- that, you know, the other sibling is being sexually abused --
Immediately? CAPTAIN MOONEY: Yeah. 52 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044
Okay, all right, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: I have got a chart here which we could share with you. You had requested all of the data for 2000, a year-to-date, and we have it broken down in a series, you know, from rape on, all the way down to the 3100 series. There are a little over 5,000 cases. My sense is that probably by the end of the year, it will probably be up around 52, 5400 cases. But as of December 6th, on the 200 series, which are the rapes, there have been 1,013, and then it goes on and so on and so forth. However, let me just give you kind of a point of reference. We know for a fact that, you know, you'll see again this year in Philadelphia, as you did see last year, a significant increase in reported rapes, and my sense is that the reporting here is better than ever, that we've captured more data than we've ever captured before.
Which means there's an increase in rapes. 53 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: I don't think it's an increase.
In reporting, I understand. But it's mainly that's it's been reported at this point. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: But it's even more than that, because, you know, I'm not going to disparage other police departments, but I can tell you that we are taking everything and anything. And let me just give you one, and you may be able to use this as a point of reference. This year, for argument's sake, in Philadelphia, there will be 1,050 rapes that will be reported, in a city of about 1.5 million. Compare that to up in New York, compare it to Manhattan. In Manhattan, there are about 1.5 million people, hours a day, night life, 19 you've got all sorts of neighborhoods, you've got 20 all sorts of clubs going on, 6 to 8 million people 21 come in on a daily basis to work, restaurants, 22 nightclubs, 33 million tourists a year come in and 23 spend most of their time in Manhattan. You've got 24 all of this activity, nightclubs 24 hours a day. We only report about 1,050 rapes. How 54 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 many rapes do you think will be reported in Manhattan this year? Given all of the activity that's going on up there, date rape activity, all of --
500. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: About 250. You know, so it looked like, when you look at the -- when the final UCR statistics come out next April or May, it will look like that Philadelphia is off the chart, that -- (Unintelligible, parties talking over each other.)
-- done over the last two years. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Not too many cities have, sir.
Okay. They haven't done what we've done, we've gone through this investigative process, you have started to reform and asked for real data instead of -- I think if we had left the old system in place, we would be -- we'd be basically reporting probably the same 55 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 as New York. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah.
If the old system was still in place. So -- but, you know, you said you had 78 arrests. How many of those were rapes or attempted rapes and so on? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Captain Mooney will. . . CAPTAIN MOONEY: It's 39 for rape or attempted rape.
And the others were what, attempted rape, assault? CAPTAIN MOONEY: No, it was 39 for rape or attempt to rape.
Right. CAPTAIN MOONEY: The other arrests run the gamut through sexual assaults, various kind of sexual assaults, involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, corrupting the morals of a minor, public indecency. That's where the bulk of them 56 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 lie. The rest they arrest.
And the 259 exceptionally cleared, do you have a breakdown, though, of those also along rapes, sexual assaults, and so on? CAPTAIN MOONEY: Yes. And then the vast majority of them are, again, in the sexual assault category. And in terms of rapes, it was -- just let me go do the math here real quick.
Of those that remain, Commissioner, how many of those are projected as rapes and so on? CAPTAIN MOONEY: That --
Or are classified as -- CAPTAIN MOONEY: Of the actives? I -- again, if you -- I had my calculator here, I'd be all right. About 370 are rapes, or attempt rapes, in that category are active.
Mm-hmm. CAPTAIN MOONEY: And then, again, there's a breakdown of the various sexual assaults. 57 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044
You're going to give us that information? CAPTAIN MOONEY: I have 'em here. It's (unintelligible).
Yeah, yeah. CAPTAIN MOONEY: But I didn't add 'em together.
Thank you. Captain, so I understand, and I think it's important that everyone understand what your unit's charged with, the entire responsibility. It's obvious that there are certain responsibilities, but could you just take a second, so I understand. The Special Victims Unit, the entire environment, what exactly do you do other than the things that we mentioned here today? A 9-1-1 call comes in and there's a report of a rape, the uniformed people immediately draw your people in. Could you just take a second and go beyond and how the uniformed police, police radio, know when to draw you into an incident? CAPTAIN MOONEY: If 911 calls me and 58 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 the victim states that they're raped, a uniformed police officer responds immediately and takes a report from the victim as to the nature of what happened to them. If the victim indicates that they were raped, they are taken to either Jefferson or Episcopal Hospital, depending on their location in the City when they make the report. If it's a crime of another nature, say, an indecent exposure or something, they may be brought directly to the Special Victims Unit. But in the case of a rape, they're taken to either Jefferson or Episcopal Hospital. At that point, the uniformed officer will notify Special Victims Unit by telephone. If we endeavor to send an investigator out to either -- right directly to the hospital and/or to the crime scene, if possible, if -- we are not able to do that sometimes because of other pressing things. The victim's there at the hospital, is examined. The uniformed officer stays with them the whole time, and if the (unintelligible) investigator does not get down there before that 59 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 process is over, the victim's brought up to the Special Victims Unit and an investigator's assigned to the case, and they interview the victim, and we proceed from there.
But there is -- there is many instances where your people, beyond what you've just described, are drawn into an investigation. Are there some things that aren't obvious to us here today that your unit does, that we may not know about? CAPTAIN MOONEY: Well, we -- COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Before he explains, let me just give you the workload activity for this year.
That's -- COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah. For example, about one-fifth of the workload is rapes. There area about 1,000 rapes, but there are over 5,000 cases that he investigates. CAPTAIN MOONEY: Right. And then it -- and it runs the gamut. I mean, even when we've investigated robberies, aggravated assaults many times because there's maybe a sexual component involved in that -- 60 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044
Councilman Clarke said, you know, some incest aspects and so on. CAPTAIN MOONEY: All sexual -- we investigate all sexual crimes, regardless of whether they're incest or stranger or -- COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: For example, if some guy went up and robbed a woman and then grabbed her and felt her up, he would do the investigation then, even though, on the priority list of crimes, the top crime would be robbery, but because of the sexual abuse component of it, the Special Victims Unit has it. CAPTAIN MOONEY: It would show as a robbery on the stats, but the sexual end of it may not be as obvious when you look at the numbers, but there's a sexual component to the robbery. We also handle physical abuse of children under the age of 18 that's committed by caretakers which is also a good portion of our workload and is responsible for a lot of our aggravated assaults and simple assaults that you'll see in the statistics here.
Mr. Chairman, would you prefer I wait? I have a question about 61 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 facility that they work with.
The coding aspect. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Again, the question, number 10, has to do with the coding manual and I thought I'd never see the day, but we finally finished it. This was a laborious task, we had the women's groups involved to try and make it more simple. We finally signed off in about a week or two ago, and it's in the hands of Commissioner Brennan, who's trying to incorporate it into his system 'cause he's charged with --
So what happens to 2701, what happens to 2625? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Well, they're still there.
They're still there, right? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah. But the system, the coding book, I mean, Einstein couldn't 62 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 have figured it out. He may have figured it out, but it's so complex, and for the life of me, I don't know why it existed, but it does exist and we've tried to clean it up and simplify with, I mean, a lot of time and effort. And different sets of eyes have looked over this to try and make sense out of it and --
And everything under 2625 and 2701, they remain under investigation and they're ongoing? CAPTAIN MOONEY: Yes, yeah. You know, we get many, many cases, many cases, that initially come into our unit that do not lend themselves to a clear-cut crime coding. You know, women come in sometimes and say they were out drinking and they passed out and they were in a different house than they thought they were; they thought they were going home and they woke up in somebody's house. They don't know that anything happened to them, but they want us to investigate it, and we do investigate, but it we don't put a crime classification on that, an investigation like that, until we determine that there's actually been a crime committed. And that's the 63 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 reason for those codes.
And the unfounded category, what are we doing with that? CAPTAIN MOONEY: Well, again, there are unfounded cases. There always will be. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: People --
Yeah, but we were putting a lot of cases in the unfounded category. CAPTAIN MOONEY: Well, this year, there's -- 7 percent of our reported rapes are unfounded. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah. CAPTAIN MOONEY: 7 percent. And the national average is 6 or 7. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: You know, part of the problem, we would be betwixt and be -- and quite literally getting yanked around left and right, and so 2701, for example, as best as I can tell, was kind of used as kind of a catch basis.
A catchall. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: But the problem when you start to doing it, there is also -- you're putting things in there that rightfully didn't belong there, that they warrant -- it 64 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 wasn't an investigation person; it was hospital case. By the way, if this was New York, everything is 2701; it's an investigated person, and then it's determined later on, once the investigation is conducted, what crime category. We have been trying to force ourselves into picking a category, and even then, it's extraordinarily difficult. When we made the decision.
Carol has helped you focus that -- COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Absolutely, absolutely. But by virtue of the fact -- and just think about this for a second. By virtue of the fact that we were going to take all comers and classify whatever the person said, you know, and if the person said, "I just drove a space ship from Mars and I was raped," fine, we're going to categorize it as a rape, until we do the investigation. By virtue of the fact that you're taking more in, you're taking more also in a case that may not have happened, you wind up getting 65 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 higher founded's. Well, when we had the higher founded's, then we were criticized, and I think the quote in the Inquirer was, Oh, Timoney found a new way to hide 'em. We're not trying to hide anything; we're trying to figure it out. This is extraordinarily difficult. And what I would suggest, again, is to speak to the outside monitors, the women's groups, because they find the same experience that we find, that our investigators find. It's not often as clear-cut as people would like to make it. Sometimes -- obviously, sometimes it is, and there are no excuses, but an awful lot of times, man, it is just -- it is extraordinarily difficult to figure out what happened -- if, in fact, anything happened.
So the coding manual's almost finished or finished? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: It's finished. I signed off about two weeks ago. It's now -- Commissioner Brennan's got it and he is now integrating it into his -- with his computer system.
Could we get a copy 66 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 of it? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: You can have a hundred copies of it.
A follow-up question. Commissioner, would it be fair to say that the complexity of the coding book and the fact that it was so cumbersome may have contributed to the manner in which sex crimes were reported or under-reported or not reported? And this was hindsight talking now. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah. I'm not going to make any -- it certainly -- truth, it certainly didn't help. And then with the officers all untrained, it didn't help. You know, I can speak, coming from New York, and there's no such crime manual up there. It's pretty simple. There are two classifications: You've got the crimes code, penal law, that you charge somebody with; and then you've got the UCR. And often, they don't quite match up. 67 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 That's their -- there are certain -- there's been certain reforms to the coding manual. However, there are other reforms that can only come through the Justice Department when it comes to the UCR coding. Because the one great area on crime coding is the UCR, which drives everything else. And, for example, in the area of aggravated assault and what constitutes an aggravated assault, there has been a committee that's been headed up with former Chief Patrick Fitzsimons from Seattle, who's been studying this issue for years, and they can't make a decision on what 14 constitutes aggravated assault. 15
The butterfly ballot is aggravated assault. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Pardon?
The butterfly ballot is aggravated assault. (Laughter.) COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Only to the conscience.
Any other questions? Councilman Rizzo? 68 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044
Commissioner, there was some criticism about the facility up at the armory. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Right.
Are we any -- where are we with -- COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: That was the very first question.
I apologize. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Right. No, no. 12 And there are people here from the Capital Office; they've been up to visit Captain Mooney, they've taken measurements, the size of the staff, what's the mission, what's the caseload. I guess they're trying to figure out the square footage, and they are much more expert at that, and I think they can give you a status of where we are in that. Let me -- and this is in no way to impinge on this gentleman behind me. But I was telling the story to Joe Mooney yesterday, when I was a rookie cop, I was a trainee -- I became a rookie cop in 1969 in the (unintelligible) area, and so we were parked, having a sandwich and coffee. At 169th Street and Jerome Avenue, across 69 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 from the Post Office, and the old-time cop was (unintelligible), and he says, See that Timoney? That's where the new precinct's going, it will be up there next year. That was in 1969. I opened that precinct in 1994 as the four-star chief of the department. It only took years. 9 (Laughter.) 10 COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: I'm sure they're 11 a lot better off in Philadelphia. 12
Just to finish, I 15 visited -- and I have to get used to this -- 16 police headquarters? 17 COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yes, sir. 18
And that building 19 there in itself isn't a bowl of cherries; I don't 20 know how you do what you do with the space that 21 you have, and I keep looking at that big building 22 across the street that's got the sale sign on it. 23 COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Right. 24
And saying to 25 myself, I just wish we could afford that. 70 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah. I was a voice in the wilderness. I was offering that whole location up for the new stadium, but no -- there were no takers.
Don't talk stadiums here, please, okay? We've been through that, done that. (Laughter.)
Commissioner, the report, can we expect it? Give me a date. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Joe?
Friday? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Well, we'll get -- yeah, we'll get you the notes of what we've done today, recognizing there are still --
But the overall report, you know, you're working on it, you're 91 percent finished? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yes, sir. So we'll give you the 91 percent report come Friday (unintelligible) where they are, including this --
And then the overall report a couple of weeks later or -- CAPTAIN MOONEY: Yeah. 71 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: I guess so, yeah.
Around -- for Three Kings Day, a present. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: On January 6th, if I remember right.
That's right, that's January 6th. (Laughter.) COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: We'll (unintelligible), then we'll come over and give it to you.
Definitely. Anywhere close to that? Can we expect it, you know, during the beginning of the year or very soon after that? CAPTAIN MOONEY: The completion of the review, you mean?
Yeah, right. CAPTAIN MOONEY: Yeah, yes, sir. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Mm-hmm. 72 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah, that will be completed by then, yeah.
Okay. Commissioner, I appreciate your attendance as always. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: All right.
And we'll see you in the new stadium when the Yankees and the Mets come to play. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Very good. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. Carol? Carol Johnson, Chris Kirchner Carol Tracy.
Can we hear from Public Property first, Carol, so that we can react, okay? It's very brief. It's -- why don't we do that. It's about whether we can relocate the unit or not and I'd rather you get that information on the record so that. . . 73 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 Richard Tustin, yes, sir. Identify yourself for the record.
My name is Richard Tustin, and I'm the Acting Director for the City's Capital Program Office. We were only notified yesterday of the hearing today.
You're acquainted with the Victims Unit, where it's located?
It is worse today, yes. 74 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044
I don't know whether I can qualify it that way, Councilman, but --
I can, I've been there. It is a slum. Well, a "slum" may be, actually, too kind a word to describe it. It is bad. Working conditions are not conducive to -- I mean, the type of work that gets done there is depressing as it is.
You should not be working in a depressive environment when the work that you do is depressing and emotionally draining. And I think we're subjecting a lot of our people to that -- to that type of situation. What I'd like to find out from you, just to make it much easier, is, what are we contemplating? We -- I think the groups that have testified, the Police Department, would like to relocate the Special Victims Unit. The issue is if the Administration looking to relocate the Special Victims Unit. And if not, why not? And if we are, how much is it going to take to 75 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 relocate it, where it's going to be relocated to? Annotate, as Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds-Brown whispers me to.