What I thought, if it would be okay with both yourself, is I did prepare a very, very brief statement as to what we are and what we do, and maybe it will explain our role in the process.
I think we -- we -- I don't -- we don't need an explanation on what the Capital Program is and what you do and so on.
Okay? We need -- the Special Victims Unit needs extensive reworking. Let's compare the Special Victims Unit to Vets Stadium. Vets Stadium is nonfunctional as a sporting facility. We, the City, decided to do something about Vets Stadium: we decided these millionaires should not play in these facilities because they were very bad. Pipes were leaking, 76 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 the walls were crumbling, lighting didn't function, the toilets and the bathrooms were in disrepair. So I think the Special Victims Unit was located -- is in the same condition.
Then let's find for the solution that we found for the stadium issue. Let's begin looking as to how much money it is that we need to spend in order to relocate this, in order to make it a facility where civilized activity can take place.
You're agreeing with me constantly. I want -- I want --
To that end, our office has been meeting with Commissioner Timoney and the Police Department over the last two months, 77 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 reviewing what their needs are, the condition of their existing space, looking at their expansion, and also how they use their existing space. They're -- and they are nowhere the same as a typical office type of environment, where we plan every day, whether it be the Municipal Service Building or One Parkway Building or City Hall. They do have unique needs that we have now been able to quantify, and we know -- we feel we know much better the kind of new space they should be in to better do their job. We are in the process -- we have a draft report that we have put together that we are prepared to share with the City's Space Allocation Committee. That Space Allocation Committee consists of members of Finance, the Managing Director's Office, the Department of Public Property, and the Law Department. And our recommendations to them -- we'll work with the Department of Public Property, for instance, to try to identify possible new locations to where that can be moved to, somewhere that's more centrally located, easier to get to, less intimidating than the existing space is. We'll 78 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 work with the Law Department to help craft a new lease agreement for a new space so that we make sure within that lease agreement, we get the kind of fit-out and the improvements we need to make the new space.
Well, right now, we're in the process of submitting the preliminary to the Space Allocation Committee for their review, and we --
Is a new Special Victims Unit location included in that?
Yes, it is. That report will be submitted to the Space Allocation Committee. They will use -- and at the same time, we'll submit that to the Police Department for their review, since they have not had an opportunity to review the draft report yet. We will get comments back from them and then we will finalize the report, which we will certainly share with City Council. In that report, in addition to identifying the problems with their existing space, we will make recommendations as to what 79 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 should be in their new space as well as how many squire feet they need in order to occupy the space, any special services they would need, whether they be isolated waiting rooms that they don't have now, whether they be isolated holding areas for offenders that they don't have now, whether it be a locker room added to the place.
I want to be able to say -- and I think the people that are here that are interested would like to see this done in a very expeditious timeframe. So what I would like to get from you today is the timeline. And if you cannot give me that, when are you going to be able to give me that within a very short period of time?
I should be able to get back to you by the end of the week with a definite date and time that that report will be available. At this point in time --
Will that report have a specific date upon which you are moving 80 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 towards the relocation of the Special Victims Unit?
And will it have a date as to when you finalize the lease and the move?
It will contain our recommendations as to when those dates should be. The Law Department needs to be involved in actually preparing those leases, the Finance Department needs to be involved in actually identifying the funds for those leases, but we will, within our report, make the recommendations as to when this should occur, and it will be sooner rather than later.
And then once you make the report and you say you will have that report in by the end of the week --
We should have the report -- the draft report will be ready by the end of the week. After it's reviewed by the Space 81 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 Allocation Committee and the Police Department and we finalize any changes that they would like, we should have the report done within 30 days after that date. So no later than the end of January, a final report should be done, completed, with all of our recommendations. And at that point, a decision will have to be made as to how quickly those recommendations can be implemented.
Because so far, you're talking about looking at it and then recommending.
What we want is, one, is the recommendation is done, when is the decision made.
The decision needs to be made by the Finance Department because they'll have to provide the funding to implement it. I can tell you that the present lease that they have right now is a year-to-year lease, and it is up, I believe, August the 1st. 82 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 So if we're not going to renew the lease -- and that's the Department of Public Department and Finance's decision -- we would have to be out of that space, into a new space prior to August the 1st.
Prior to August 1st, you're going to be out of that space? It's a long time.
Our existing lease -- our existing lease only runs through August the 1st, where they are right now. So unless a decision is not made, we would either have to renew that lease for another year or vacate the space. Our recommendation would be to vacate the space and go somewhere else that better suits their needs.
We've been talking about this now for over a few years, and we've had these hearings going on right now for close to a year, and this is not the first request we've made 83 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 about this. We wanted it last year, to be able to start moving into this. It is not what we're looking for, August 1st.
It's very unfortunate, but our office was only informed of this request even this past July, and then we acted as quickly as we could to prepare the interviews with the Police Department, to develop an assessment study of the space. I can guarantee that we will do everything we can do from our office to expedite not only the report but our recommendations, as I just said, no 13 later than the end of January, and work with Finance, Law, and Public Property to plan new space and to relocate this unit as quickly as possible. I was just trying to provide August 1st as a date upon which the present lease terminates. So it has to be no later than --
We don't want to be in the same situation of Commissioner Timoney and his first job in 1969 and going on, and maybe in the year 2020, you know, this thing happening. August 1st is a long time. We've been at this now for a very long time. I would like to 84 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 bring this committee hearing to a conclusion sometime within my existence, and I would like to wrap it up, and that's one of the parts of wrapping it up. August 1st is -- I suggest you go back and you tell the folks that this needs to be expedited. It is not -- it is not a priority that can be ignored. Children, women go through this building. When they go through that building, they already have been subjected to an incredible amount of pain; they should not be subjected to any more by the very environment that they're in. So I suggest that, one, you keep this Chair informed so that I can keep the committee informed and the Council. And you give me a timeline that is conducive to ending this thing much before August 1st. All right? Councilwoman?
Are you new to the Capital Program Office? How long have you been there? 85 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044
I've been with the Capital Program Office since its creation, three years ago I've only been in this position since March, as Acting Director.
How many staff persons make up the Capital Program Office?
78. We -- our primary purpose is to help the Finance Department manage the Capital Budget for the City of Philadelphia -- for all City departments and agencies -- as well as help 13 City agencies actually manage their capital projects, which would be the design and construction of either renovations or new facilities. We have approximately 300 active projects we're working on right now.
How are priorities determined with the existing projects? How are 86 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 priorities determined?
We have -- we're broken down into four project teams to handle the 5 agencies that we work for. One of those project 6 teams, which is our facilities teams, handles 7 these specific type of requests. 8
Both Harold Aponte, who is 10 the project director of that team, and myself are 11 members of the Space Allocation Committee, and 12 they're the ones that give us our priorities as to 13 which projects are the most important and which ones we should work on sooner rather than later. So we work with that agency, with that committee to develop the priorities of projects that we should work on. As I stated earlier, we were informed of this particular project in the summer, you know, in August, and we started our interview process in September, and that process includes looking at the existing lease agreement, doing a full analysis of their existing condition, surveying that, photographing that, taking a full list of the staff that occupy the space, to try to 87 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 determine the type of space they really should be in to do their job right.
Yes, there is. His name Harold Aponte, and he is our project team leader for this project.
And so then it's his responsibility to keep -- to be in regular contact with the departments that you've mentioned that play a role in this particular project; that is, the Finance Department, the Law Department, and Budget.
I'm trying -- I'm also trying to get an understanding. August 1 does seem like --- effectively, it become a year, 12 months, does it not, from the August we requested it to the August --
It does, it does. And I just would like to state again, that's the term of the present lease. In other words, the leases run from year to year, and the City is committed on a yearly basis for that lease. We have to give 88 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 notice of our intent to leave 90 days prior to that, which, I believe, would be May the 1st. So -- but we can stay there no later than August the 1st. So our intention is to complete the report, get everybody so sign off and approve it so that -- and get -- actually have the Finance Department hopefully identify the funds that we need to do the relocation and the fit-out of the space, have a lease drafted -- if it is for a lease space, have a lease drafted with the new owner of the facility so that we can move into that space.
And then develop whatever plans we have to so that they can, in fact, construct the space.
And you said that your preliminary recommendation is that the current space is absolutely deplorable. I can only imagine.
And how strong -- what is the strength of a recommendation coming from the Capital Program Office when other departments have to sign off? Where does it stack up?
I believe we hold an equal level of responsibility within the Space Allocation Committee. The rest of the group of the Space Allocation Committee look for us and our recommendation on what should be done once we make that recommendation. Most of the times that recommendation is implemented.
But they -- again, they have to go back and find the funds available. Public Property has to find what properties are available, since they're responsible for leasing within the City. And the Law Department then has to have somebody starting to write up a lease agreement with whoever --
So is that to suggest that given those three reasons you've just mentioned, any one of them could be a hurdle for the decline or the -- the mood that the 90 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 recommendation would not be implemented?
They could be. In the past, they have not been, but they could be.
What is the Department's position on the acceptance of outside help, if you will? Because there may be 501(c.)(3)'s who live and breathe this issue every day, who may have either access or information on potential areas of funding that could move this idea along much more quickly.
I'm sure the Finance Department would be more than open to any suggestions of outside funding, or any type of funding at all, for this project. So I'm sure they'd be open for any suggestions at all and would be willing to do whatever research is needed to find, you know, funding for the project.
And you say Public Property responsible for finding the space?
Yes. Public Property is responsible for going out and finding out what 91 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 property is available for lease throughout the City. I know they work on a regular basis with outside real estate firms so that they do have many avenues to -- to -- many resources for identifying space that may be available. Once we -- once they develop a list of available space, then our office would go back and look at that to make sure this space meets the program requirements, so that it adequately satisfies the needs of the Police Department. But that is a very quick process; it does not take long.
I'm well aware, but it all boils down to priority. And to the extent that other departments agree with you that this is a priority, it becomes a matter of persuading other departments to believe -- I mean, you listen to what people say, but then you look at what they do, and it's in what they do that determines level of priority. So I have to concur with the Chairman of this committee that August is a long time.
And we would look 92 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 to you, we will burden you with the responsibility to go to your colleagues and comrades in those other departments and help them understand that this has to be bumped up on the priority list. Because all of those departments will be coming back to us in the early part of next year and all those questions will be raised again. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Tustin, we have a space at the Arsenal. Obviously, that location was chosen because of its geographic location. Wouldn't it be to our advantage to look at the existing space, develop a long-term relationship there, and make the improvements to that site? I mean, you're there; why don't we remodel it, fix it up unless, and make it work? Unless the location is so undesirable, that it won't work.
Why is it the location -- I have not heard that the location is undesirable. 93 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044
Frank, you will hear from the groups that are involved in the process of helping victims in this situation.
And I appreciate that input, but I haven't heard the Police Department say that geographically the location is undesirable. It may be, but I just need to hear from you folks that help make those decisions on the location and why a refit of the location and a total make-over wouldn't work?
One of the things we've uncovered when we first went in to do our initial 94 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 interviews and survey the space is that for the number of officers that are there today -- not what was there three years ago -- that the space just isn't large enough. So the building that they're in and the floor that they're on is not large enough to house them, even if we were to make it over, so we need additional space over and above what they have right now.
Is the additional space at that location available to expand?
Not at that building, Councilman, it isn't. The other problems -- and I think Councilman Ortiz already knows -- is the fact that it is a difficult location to get to from public transportation, you know, if in fact people are coming that way. And it's also in an area that is somewhat intimidating. There are walls around the Frankford Arsenal area, there's only a few points of entrance into that complex, you know, through security gates. And that in itself makes it a little bit not --
I wanted to hear that because then all you're -- you're basically 95 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 going to make me feel comfortable when you're concurring with the folks that are here to testify.
Carol Johnson, from Women Organized Against Rape, and Chris Kirchner, from the Philadelphia Children's Alliance. We're here to answer questions.
Thank you for inviting us to appear and to provide testimony to the Public Safety Committee this morning.
And let me say again for the record that -- thank you for, really, the commitment to see this change really come through. It was an incredible, arduous task. I mean, we were looking at one of the paramilitary institutions, really, that is so resistant to change. And through this process, we have been able to begin the process of that, and not only that, but accomplish a great deal. The fact that you are involved in the overall development and overseeing and monitoring of this thing is almost revolutionary.
Let's hope. I'm Carol Tracy, the Executive Director of the Law Project, and I'm speaking today on behalf of the Women's Law Project and my colleagues from Women Against Rape, the Support Center for Child Advocates, the Philadelphia 97 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 Children's Alliance, and the Penn Women's Center. And, as I said, representatives from these organizations are here this morning and available for questions. Of primary importance are the actions being taken by the Department to reinvestigate the miscoded cases and to prevent the recurrence of miscoding and mishandling. I'd like to begin by commending the Department for its handling of the reinvestigation. It's not easy to air dirty laundry. When we gathered here last year, the Commissioner promised an investigation of the cases that were placed in the noncriminal categories, but indicated that he did not think that reinvestigation would uncover many rapes. In fact, as you have learned, many rapes and many other serious sex crimes were not properly classified and, therefore, not investigated. Admitting the truth about the scandalous record in the face of such public scrutiny -- not only the scrutiny from this body but national scrutiny -- took some courage, and I think it should be noted. 98 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 I think it's also important to note that the increase in reported rapes suggests that there is a regaining of confidence by the public in this Department. There's nothing that can be done to provide complete justice to the victims whose cases were miscoded and mishandled. Cases were miscoded for many years, but only cases miscoded in the past five years had been reviewed and reinvestigated. Cases more than five years old remain untouched. The cases from the past five years that the Department has reviewed and reinvestigated, we've learned today that only 78 arrests have been made. The passage of time has prevented many of these cases from being resolved. And our hope is that the work that we are currently doing will prevent such occurrence in the future. The relocation of the Special Victims Unit and the collocation of services are of great importance. As you know, immediate relocation of the SVU, we believe, is of the highest priority; we testified to that last year. We are very disappointed at how long this has taken. 99 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 As you know, we've been invited by Commissioner Timoney to review case files. The review takes place at the Special Victims Unit, and we have seen firsthand the condition of this facility, and I know you know this, but I would really like to put it on the record.
You know that it is in a very inconvenient location; the Special Victims Unit is located in the Arsenal Business Center, a commercial facility in Northeast Philadelphia. It's difficult to find and enter. Once you find the Arsenal Business Center and enter the barbed-wire fence through the main gates, a visitor encounters guard who must give permission to enter. My colleague, Terri Farmson (ph.) and I were made to pull over once and get out of the car and identify ourselves at the gate, even though we said we had an appointment at the Special Victims Unit. As soon as I indicated that I was a lawyer, we were passed through. Imagine a victim of sexual assault having to explain why she needed to see someone at the Special Victims Unit. The 100 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 guards, who are not employees of the Police Department, do not appear to have a clear guidance or to follow it, if it has been provided, as to how to handling visitors to the SVU. Finding the building is a challenge, parking is an even greater challenge. When one locates the building, the only public access is by an elevator that frequently does not work; and even when it does, it's necessary to use a code to call it, and the code is sometimes missing from the phone. An alternate doorway, which provides access to the stairs to the third floor, also requires a code to enter it; no instructions are available to the visitor. The facility itself is overcrowded. Police officers, detectives, and clerical people are practically sitting on top of each other. The interview rooms are windowless boxes. As we sat, reviewing files, we saw arrestees being brought in handcuffed, passing by the small and overcrowded visitors room, where the victims and their families waited. When the Unit is crowded, as it frequently is, perpetrators line the hallway outside the waiting room. 101 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 The location is absolutely unacceptable from every perspective. It is unfathomable to imagine how victims waiting to be interviewed must feel. It is certainly no place for children. The officers and detectives who work at the Unit deserve better also. The investigation of sex crimes, particularly when young children have been abused, must be one of the hardest jobs that anyone can have. Both, Councilman Ortiz, you've noted that, and so did Commissioner Timoney. The work environment can only add to the stress. Now, as you have heard, the police have come a long way in responding to the crisis of the Special Victims Unit. The least the City can do is relocate this unit to a more hospitable and accessible environment. Last year, Carol Johnson testified about the condition of the facility. The Inquirer has written articles similarly describing the horrific conditions. The fact that so little progress has been made in a whole year is really a public disgrace. Testimony was also provided last year about the collocation of the Police Department, 102 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 Department of Human Services, and the District Attorney to improve the handling of cases involving children. A trip to Brooklyn was organized under the auspices of Council to visit a collocated unit. We agreed that collocation would be beneficial to child victims, but appreciate the time and work that needs to be done to make this a reality. We understand that Commissioner Martinez is currently reviewing her department's position with regard to collocation, which, we understand, has been the holdup in this -- for ten years, I might add. Ideally, relocation and collocation should be occur at the same time.
They're -- they have structured a management labor task force.
Well, you just -- you mentioned earlier the possibility, I think, of 103 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 perhaps bringing people together and perhaps to move this along, this body should have a hearing on this issue.
And Chris is available to give some information about that. But I don't know how often it has to be said what a crisis relocation and collocation is. I know, last winter, that there were people -- and I'm not sure if it was from the Capital Office or from the Office of Public Property -- that were up there measuring, that this has been on someone's agenda since last January or February. I don't know why it took so long to get to the Capital Projects Office or what additional advocacy we need to do it, but we need to do it and we need to do it very quickly.
Yeah. In terms of case handling, as was previously testified, we think that the existing protocol and training are not yet adequate. I 104 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 think Captain Mooney described various pieces of protocol that exist in the City. I think we need to get that in one document.
Yes. And we have given them -- we did provide a model that Captain Mooney discussed. I think it's a question of making these things happen. And improvements in training are needed. Again, we heard some testimony this morning about some training that has gone on that at least I was unaware of. The training piece we have not pulled together completely. I'd just like to let you know what I know at this point, given that we got additional information this morning.
We were not able to get a clear answer, really, from either the Commissioner or Captain Tim -- Captain Mooney.
On what that training encompassed. And we'd really like to see a detailed manual on what that training is, 105 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 because it's not just bringing in detectives and saying, you know, you got to be sensitive to these things, and --
Well, that's right. What we know is that there's, I think, four hours of training in sex crimes that goes on at the Police College for new recruits. Women Organized Against Rape participates in that. More recent recruits have received live-scenario training at the conclusion of the Police College and have handled a sex crime scenario. I'll describe more about that in a minute. What I don't think exists is a complete module of training for new staff or continuing education for existing staff. It goes on, apparently, but I don't think there's a clear module of training. We understand the one-week training was given to the recent class of detectives -- or the class of detectives that were specially assigned for the reinvestigation. Commissioner Timoney indicated that another class is graduating, and in a meeting we had with Chief Inspector Maxwell last week, he indicated that they continued that 106 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 additional one-week training. So we hope that we have the opportunity to provide input and to get a clear description of everything that goes on. We have been provided with some training materials, and we were recently invited to observe the live-scenario training that the Police Department does at the Navy Yard. Do you know about this? They use the old houses, the vacant housing at the Navy Yard, and they enact crime scenes. They have either police officers or actors. I believe Brad Richman is one of the actors. And the recruits who have now finished their Police College training come upon the scene, they have to interview the people. Sometimes there's a suspect in the house. We viewed the sex crimes and the domestic disturbance; there were two or three other scenes -- robberies and those sorts of things -- that were going on. We think that it's an incredibly impressive training opportunity, and we have been offered to -- we have been invited to offer scenario scripts. ) and Captain Grover and Lieutenant McCafferty 107 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 from the Police College that organized all of this. But it was also pretty clear to us from the response that we were seeing from the new officers that it's important to have organized protocol and training for the proper handling of these cases. There are some essential aspects of training for this job, which we believe are missing or are not fully incorporated either in the current curriculum or in the training of all special victims units. Particularly sensitive interviewing of traumatized victims, some of whom may have difficulty with immediate recollection or retelling of events which they recently experienced, is one such critical piece. Officers need to understand that such difficulties and subsequent recollection do not indicate that the victim is not credible, but instead, are common responses to trauma. There are other areas of training that we think are missing from the training, which have been a part of a curriculum that was developed by the National Center for Women and Policing. At our suggestion, the Philadelphia Police Department sent two trainers to the Train-the-Trainers 108 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 Workshop sponsored by the Center. We believe that some of that is being incorporated; but quite frankly, we're not quite sure where everything exists. So we look forward to -- the Commissioner has told us all along that he will accept our input on protocol and training. We just spoke with Brad Richman, who wants to sit down with us soon to organize this. In another area, which we're calling "Officer Support," we mentioned earlier -- you did, the Commissioner did -- that there is serious burnout that many of these officers must experience. And while the Department recognizes that police work can be traumatic and has provided all officers access to employee assistance programs and provided a segment on emotional health in the recruit training, this may not be enough for Special Victims Unit staff.
We have learned that psychotherapists who work with patients who have been physically and sexually abused suffer from a vicarious or secondary trauma and take steps to recover from it. I know that the staff at Women Organized 109 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 Against Rape also have some protocol for dealing with it. It appears to us that officers working in the Special Victims Unit must likewise suffer from some secondary trauma, and help should be available to assist them in dealing with it. It would seem that at the minimum, there should be some regular screening and assistance provided to those in need. On the coding manual, we learned for the first time this morning that it is complete. We had not been (unintelligible) for that draft. I just mentioned that to Brad Richman, who said that we will have it today. They have shared two previous drafts with us and solicited our comments. We have given them extensive comments. Many of our recommendations were accepted, some were not. So we haven't seen the last revision. At our last review of it, we thought that it was still much too cumbersome. And we were also concerned -- we were taking about the 2625 investigation of person. These are the third-party reports that come in. If it comes in from DHS as a third party, it comes in as 2625, and it may then get recoded to a crime category. 110 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 And I think it is the view of all of us that the third-party report, instead of classifying it as investigation, medical investigation, it should be classified based on the conduct, not based on who the reporter is. So that was -- I don't know where that's wound up in the coding manual. It was an issue that we hoped we could thrash through with them a little bit. In the process of reviewing the current manual and draft revisions, we have become aware of the strong influence that the Uniform Crime Code has on the definition of rape has -- or the Uniform Crime Code's definition of rape has on Philadelphia coding practices. And you heard the Commissioner discuss it several times this morning. Unfortunately, the UCR definition of rape is over 70 years old and is out of line with the enormous changes in public understanding of this crime, and consequently, with the definitions of serious sex crimes set forth in our state's crime code. Since the Philadelphia Police Department is required to report crime to the 111 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 federal government based on the UCR definition of rape, this definition unnecessarily complicates the coding system in Philadelphia, causing the code system to defer more to the UCR than to State law. We're in the process of drafting a letter to the FBI, requesting that they update their definition of rape to be more in line with the current State crime codes. We will circulate a copy of this letter in the next few days to relevant parties, including Police Commissioner Timoney, in the hope that he will sign on to it and perhaps get the police chiefs too, because it's our impression that everyone hates it.
If the Supreme Court comes down on the wrong side today --
-- you can expect a response of the FBI that will go back to 1875.
One hopes not. That's all we can say. And, frankly, under liberal administrations, it has continued to exist, so I'm not sure this is an issue that gets broken down 112 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 that way. But I think there is significant advocacy to change that.
Case review. As you know, in an unprecedented move last spring, Commissioner Timoney asked the advocacy groups to review closed-case files, and he does refer to us as "the women's groups," but I also want to ad, make sure that it is noted, that it is the women's and the children's groups. Frankly, we know of no other citizens groups that has been ever been invited by a police department to review files. And needless to say, we took this invitation very seriously, and I believe have acted conscientiously and responsibly in this review. Among other things, we promised confidentiality and did not take notes. The names and identifying information of the complainants, suspects, and witnesses were redacted from the files. Our first review was of the rapes that the Department determined was unfounded for 1999. As we told you last June, the vast majority of the cases that were unfounded, a little over 100, were 113 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 recantations, and many of them appeared to have involved domestic violence. We subsequently reviewed the cases that were put in the noncriminal categories. These cases were primarily the ones we just discussed, the 2625 medical investigation. Our review has helped us to identify a number of issues that should be addressed and revise police protocol. Stop the use, or threat of use, of victim polygraphs -- and Commissioner Timoney said they only be used when approved by the captain. We don't like their use under any circumstances, or the threat of their use.
The thing that surprised me is the extensive use of these polygraphs that was done by that division over time over the last few years.
In one case where we were involved, a polygraph had been scheduled, but the captain was not informed of it. And at that time, he said policy existed that it could only be scheduled with his approval. I think it's also 114 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 the threat of them. It's apparently commonly used in police work. We don't like it in the context of victims. We also think that the recantations might be reduced by addressing some of the safety concerns of domestic violence victims and young people potentially facing family pressures or violence. I mean, with some of the recantations of young people, Commissioner Timoney referred to that they might get in trouble. Well, you know, they talked about it. They were going to go home and say they were raped or they were going to get beaten for being out, or they were going to get beaten for saying they were raped. I mean, there are other very serious issues that may or may not be police issues but I think it's important for public concern. And we've also identified the need to improve the collection and use of forensic evidence, including need rape kits and drug screens. And we understand that some part of the City Council heard testimony last year from a forensic nurse, Kathy Brown, related to the need for much better forensic evidence collection at 115 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 the hospitals. And, finally, at our first meeting with the Commissioner last year, he indicated that he would provide us with the data on crime in any format that we requested. Based on our work and the coding manual, information that the police have provided us about their databases, our understanding of the role of the FBI's Uniform Crime Code, and our review of cases, we've drafted a format for reporting sexual assault crimes to the public. We are recommending that the Police Department issue an annual public report that includes the number of sex crime complaints received by the Department and categorizes the reports according to both the Pennsylvania's Crimes Code and the Department's coding manual, identifying which are felonies and which are misdemeanors. The important distinction to make here, when the Uniform Crime Code, when we hear the description here about rapes, we're talking about one kind of sexual assault -- the vaginal-penile penetration of the female by force. In fact, 116 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 there are many sex crimes. Involuntary deviant sexual intercourse is anal or oral rape, or penetration by an object, they are every bit as serious. If as a public community, we want to respond to this and know the prevalence of it, we need to have this kind of information reported. It is the Justice Department that is the problem here, and I believe that we can get this information -- your -- my testimony has a draft attached to it, laid out in the way that we think can be helpful. We gave it to Chief Inspector Maxwell last week, and we've circulated it among our colleagues. In this request, we want to know the number of cases which were founded and unfounded, in which an arrest was made, in which domestic violence and Child Protective Services were involved and broken down by the age of the victim. So we hope that we will be able to have that kind of a report similar to that. There may be additional information. Councilman Ortiz, there may be additional information that you would like. There had been these issues in the past 117 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 about the neighborhoods, which we did not include on this, that perhaps should be included. And the gender of the person and the race of the person. But at least in terms of the data that we know currently exist, we believe that we can get that kind of information.
I also think, as we were talking and you were talking to the Commissioner this morning, asking for this, that sometime perhaps in the next two months, we might issue a joint report from the women's groups, as he calls us, and from the Police Department, where we pull all of this together, so that we can have a public report. I think I will suggest that to the Commissioner. We haven't met with him for a while. We have been meeting up at the Special Victims Unit, and I should say again what I said last June: they have been incredibly gracious. I can't imagine we're the most popular people coming into that unit. It is a unit that has been subjected to extraordinary public scrutiny and criticism -- and criticism by you us. But, nevertheless, we have been treated very professionally, very responsibly, and we believe 118 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 that they are very sincere in their attempts to change. We do know from some of the reports that we have gotten -- I think I overlooked this -- that there are still some problems. We still get calls from women that suggest that some of their -- that they have been disbelieved, that the -- they are being interrogated rather than interviewed, that communication has been -- has expressed more concern for the impact of the report of the crime on the perpetrator than for the impact of the crime on the victim, and some suggestions that some of the officers just don't understand or know how to respond to trauma in a way that current psychological literature would allow. So that as we're still -- we're seeing changes, we're still seeing that there are some problems. And, hopefully, training maybe rotation, maybe helping the officers deal with their own trauma. It's a complex array of information. I think we know there is no simple solution to all of this. I think in general, we feel that we're 119 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 on the right course, and the Department has responded appropriately. We've got to get them out of that facility. And, you know, 5,000 cases, they are increasing their caseload quite dramatically. Many, many more people are reporting to them.
Well, I believe, as the citizens and especially women feel more confident in the process, that they will be less afraid of reporting it.
That's right. And the volume of work. I would suggest that that's part of what we've seen this year. It's not just a question of they're categorizing the reports appropriately; there is an increase in the number of reports that have come in.
One of the areas in which I've asked the Commissioner, and I've asked this question in the previous hearings, is, I've wanted to get a picture of who gets involved in these crimes, especially in terms of the victims -- African-American women, Latino women. And I've been asking for a breakdown in terms of race and district areas. 120 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044
Because there are neighborhoods -- and like I said, there are neighborhoods that get huge amounts of publicity when one incident happens; and where this occurs many more times, there is no reporting about it. And I believe that it leads -- it leads to the type of sense within in some neighborhoods across the City, the poorer neighborhoods, that the attention is not given or -- and may perhaps lead to women in those neighborhoods just not even bothering because they don't believe that nothing is going to get done.
So they don't report in the Barrio or in West Philly or in North Central Philadelphia. So I've asked the Commissioner -- he hasn't given us data on that yet, but I would like to see it broken down by the areas of the City and by the gender and by race.
I -- there is a report that I have seen that breaks it down by police district. I think it's part of the COMPSTAT 121 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 reporting.
And I thought -- and I'm still a little confused about this. I thought that -- you know, there's the weekly COMPSTAT. There's also a special units COMSTAT that includes narcotics and homicide. I thought that also included Special Victims Unit. When I spoke with -- when I met with Chief Inspector Maxwell last week, he said it did not. So I'm not clear about that. We may have miscommunicated a little bit. But I know that there are quarterly reports that I -- I'm certain that I've seen it broken down by district as well.
I'd like to see it broken down by district and by the race, because I think we will begin to get a clearer picture.
And this is not an issue that's really discussed out there. I mean, really, we don't have an ongoing debate about this in the community. Carol? Identify yourself for the record. 122 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044
Yes. I'm Carol Johnson, Executive Director of Women Organized Against Rape, and we are the part of that that actually deals with the victim survivors. Last year, we saw more than 3600 victim survivors provided counseling; over a thousand of those were children. And in this work, it is very stressful. In our organization, we encourage our counselors to stay with us for three -- no more three years, and then they need to move on. Because, particularly when you're dealing with the children and you have to go to court with them and you have to see small children testifying against adults, and many times in their own families -- their fathers, step-fathers, and brothers and their siblings. But one of the things that we do is, we keep our own statistics, which may not always be the same as the police statistics because people who come to WOAR, don't necessarily go through the Police Department. The majority of the people that we see are incest survivors or they've been -- it's sexual abuse that has occurred by someone 123 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 known to them, probably at least 80 percent of the people that we see be. But we do know this from open statistics, that the majority of women that we see, women and children, are African-American, 78 percent. We are now seeing an increasing number in the Latino community because we have counselors working in the Latino community now from WOAR. So we are seeing people coming forward and getting counseling services. We feel that the people who come to us, and because we have such a high number, are in North Philadelphia, West Philadelphia, South Philly, Northwest. And Center City is the smallest percentage, but Center City gets the most attention whenever there's a sexual assault. And I believe it's the media, and there's more interest in Center City because of work locations and --
And race, absolutely. But when something occurs in North Philadelphia, there's very little attention to 124 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 it. And I don't think the media's that interested in it, or makes that much of an attempt to do as much cover it. So we have a different slant on stats as far as how they break down. And so when you talk about profiling, we're looking at a profile, we look pretty much -- the majority of our clients coming in are African-American, and now it's (unintelligible) more by Latino, more Asian people are coming to us, and more -- and a smaller number is European. And it's simply based on because we're doing a lot more outreach to people to educate them, to let them know that there's someone there that can help them and where to go. And that means a lot as far as how your statistics will fall out.
Yes, thank you. Unfortunately, I have to leave, and I'm pleased I've been able to sit through this hearing this morning. And I recall, Counselor, you bringing to our attention many of the discrepancies, and I know there's a member of the Administration here 125 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 monitoring this hearing. Some of the problems that you describe that continue to exist with access to the facility, obviously, we're not going to get out of this facility quickly, so I'd like to see some of the things that can be dealt with dealt. So I know we can get your comments from the transcript, but it would be helpful if maybe you could provide to the Chair a list of the some of the discrepancies that you described, and we possibly could deal with some of those problems short-term until this new facility is designed, developed. Because you shouldn't have to live with some of the things that you described. And, again, I think it's more administrative and just detail to temporarily take care of some of these items that you described at that particular facility.
Yeah. Yeah, I think that the hard part is to be here this year and still be in the same place is -- it seems to me that the police have done the much harder job here, in reinvestigating, in changing practice, and trying to change the culture of the Department in 126 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 relation to this issue. And all we're talking about is bricks and mortar.
And the fact that it hasn't happened just speaks volumes to people who are working there and people who are coming there of the City's commitment to change it. And it does not look good, it doesn't look good.
Mr. Chairman, and I'm not dumping on you. If you get that list and you need someone to facilitate taking care of that --
But it's the priorities that we set, so it's part of what it comes down to. Any questions? Councilman Clarke?
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon. I had an earlier question to the Commissioner about the geographical areas in terms of reports, and I've just heard you say that 127 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 you've referenced certain locations in the City. Can you kind of talk to me about why we have maybe this disparity in reports in various areas of the City? Can you talk to me about the conditions that may create these types of crimes? I know in other types of crimes when we've had hearings, we've talked about drugs and homicides and other types of areas, and we've always talked about the conditions and the environments, the neighborhoods. We talked about the socioeconomic conditions of certain neighborhoods that created these types of crimes. Can you give me a sense of, from your perspective, of why we may have, say, for instance, in the part of City that I represent, North Philadelphia, such a high level of incidence of sexual assault? Have you done an analysis on that?
Let me take a stab at this. No, I don't think I've done analysis, but I think all of the literature we know suggests that sex crimes know no geography or class distinction.
I think it may be who 128 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 reports. I think that families may be more likely to cover up issues, particularly if they think there is much more at stake. On the other, hand poverty exacerbates everything. And the unrelenting poverty in so many neighborhoods, the intergenerational transmission of violence that we see. I think it is totally inexplicable to any of us how anyone can sexually abuse a child. It just does -- it defies any kind of logic, it defies human nature. Certainly, psychiatrists and psychologists have suggested that many people who do that have reenacted what has happened to them. So I -- I think that some of it is people who wan to -- always has to put a class frame over things to see who is going to report what.
People who are in public systems, who are poor are more likely to be scrutinized than others. And I think people who are poor have the pressures of poverty that are so unrelenting that frequently lead to alcohol and drug abuse have some correlation, but just a 129 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 correlation, with violence. And I think what we as a society have not addressed at all, even remotely adequately, is what causes this violence. And, frankly, most of the perpetrators of the violence are men; they perpetrate a great deal of violence against each other. The greatest number of victims of violence are men, but they are at the hands of other men. And we don't -- we haven come to terms with that at all, in any meaningful way, I think.
You referenced the family. Is it -- do you get a sense -- you talked about -- and correct me if I'm wrong. You implied that in some instances if there's a stronger family structure, that may not get reported? Or is it a difference in the way that it's reported statistically for the public? I mean, I --
I think what I meant to say is families of means are less likely to try to get themselves in the public system because they understand the scrutiny that comes upon them.
So that one might see a disproportionate amount of sexual violence or 130 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 child abuse among poor people. While it is important to know -- I think people who work on hotlines, and I think Carol probably will be able to speak to this better than I. For those people who avoid the police system, one might see a greater disparity in class issues because they avoid that system.
I don't know that it's family structure. I mean, I've certainly dealt with cases, when I was at the University of Pennsylvania in the Women's Center, I dealt with very upper middle-class families where sexual abuse of children, where the young women who were coming in to see me, who were undergraduates, had been terribly sexually abused in their families, but they were never reported, they weren't in the public system.
So I think it's a mistake 131 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 to see it as an issue of poverty. I think it's also a mistake not to understand the role that poverty has in exacerbating virtually every other dysfunctional social condition.
So the likelihood is that they would also fall within this category also.
What we are saying is, this behavior starts at a very young age, it starts where they're in school. What we're seeing now is more kids perpetrating one another -- kindergarten. And it is at an epidemic level now. The schools will not report it because they don't want the notoriety. But it is so -- it is growing every day. Boys are attacking girls. When they're called to conference --
Not pulling pigtails or anything, just outright attacks.
Mm-hmm. And, yes, the reason that they give us, I just wanted to -- I just wanted to beat her up, I just wanted to jump on her. That's all -- that's what they know. And 132 12/12/00 PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 000044 we are hearing that in one school seven times in one school, and yet it was never reported. But we know it because we're there giving programs. So it is such a massive effort that you have to start with the very young, and it's -- so when it gets to what Carol is talking about, to the families, it's not that it's any economic level; it's across the board. But the more you have to lose, the less you're going to report it or the more you're going to --
And cultures -- (Unintelligible, parties talking over each other.)