Pardon me. I'm going to ask that you hold the response to that question so that I may acknowledge Councilmember Landau who does have another commitment. Then we will circle back to responding to the question from Councilmember Phillips and then recognize Councilmember Lozada in that order. Okay?
Thank you so much, Majority Leader. First, I just want to comment on some of the conversation that just happened. One, there's systemic bias and racism in every system that we have in America. There certainly is in this system as well, so I don't even know -- there's nothing to discuss here. I just think our job is to eradicate it. Our job is to acknowledge it and attack it. But I also want to note that it's my impression that my colleagues was also commenting on the bias in the arbitration awards themselves. So I wanted to say just to go back for everybody's -- to lay a foundation again that there's a section of the Police Termination Arbitration Board, it's a group of no fewer than 10 arbitrators, but says that the number -- that one of the requirements is at least 40 percent of the PTAB will be people who identify as women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ community and other represented communities. What is the current makeup of the PTAB? What percentage are women? What percentage identify as people of color, as members of the LGBTQ community or any other represented groups?
I'm sorry. I'm just -- we recently added some people so I'm just tallying it up in my head. We have at least -- and again, I really do apologize. I'm really -- I just want to make sure -- I'm hoping I'm remembering everyone, all the names correctly. As I said, we recently added some people. We have 4 individuals of color. We have 3 women. I am not -- I am not sure if anyone identifies as LGBTQ. It's possible they do and I'm just simply not aware of that. I don't know. I don't know every member of the panel sort of personally and we wouldn't necessarily ask someone that question.
Okay. It does help with diversity, inclusion when you do ask in order to intentionally make a diverse panel. Out of the 7 you discussed, 4 people of color and 3 women, are any of them in dual categories, like an African American female where it would seem that that person would be double counted in these numbers?
Okay. So now, we have to go back and do the numbers again. So there's a panel of 10. And out of the 10, how many identify as women?
And how many do you think out of the identify as people of color 5 including -- 6
9 That's what I was trying to get at. 10 Okay. So there's 3 people of color we believe in general on the panel of 10?
No, there are -- no. Well, first of all, I think it's -- I think we --
And I think it's actually -- I know it's supposed to be a panel of 10. I think it's 9 currently. So it's 4 of 9.
I was interested in the provision that regarding the removal of PTAB arbitrators. So how many have been removed? And if they've been removed, was it by the City or by the FOP? And then I have a follow- up question to that.
Both parties have removed arbitrators over the last three years. It can happen on an annual basis. The FOP has removed I think it's three and the City has removed one.
And how many removed PTAB arbitrators still completed the cases that were already assigned to them and how many cases did those -- my understanding is even when they're removed, they complete cases. How many removed arbitrators still completed cases and how many cases were completed?
I'm going to have to check the statistics, Councilmember. I'm not -- I know at least -- I'm going to have to -- I don't want to misspeak. Let me get the statistics for you.
Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam Chair. And I need to attend to other business.
Thank you, Councilmember Landau. I request that you submit all of your questions for written response and further dissemination to the Council via the Chair. Thank you. Thank you very much. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Lozada.
And may you respond to Councilmember Phillips' question?
And just a reminder, the question was real quickly is there a standard protocol when it comes to discipline procedures in the Philadelphia Police Department or is there room for arbitrary decisions because that could potentially, point of information, because that helps with the discrimination question that was raised earlier?
Absolutely. There is a disciplinary code. This is bargained-for code. It has been bargained for since 2014 and there were previous iterations of this code. This code gets revised ever so often. There are also disciplinary procedures. I'm blanking on the directive number. Those are laid out in the directives about how a case proceeds through the system. I laid out a little bit of that when I was talking about the Internal Affairs, the Charging Unit, PBI. But there's more than that. And, yes, there is some language in our collective bargaining agreement which I think is an area of concern for the City in particular where certain offenses if they would garner no 17 more than a five-day suspension, so usually a reprimand of five days would be the range. They are given -- they are what we call command-level discipline. The commanding officer of the officer gets to make the decision as to what the penalty should be, and that is not reviewable by the Police Commissioner. And that is a source of great concern to the Commissioner, to the City. That does create, it does create room for unequal and disparate outcomes which could be based on a lot of things, including just whether someone's a friend of someone. And so, that is a serious concern.
That seems like where we need to start in terms of fixing so appreciate that.
Thank you. Thank you very much. And thank you, Councilmember Phillips. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Lozada.
Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. While I appreciate your apology, I understand Councilmember Thomas' frustration, and I think that he has a point, right. There are people that are going to be watching this that may be considering joining the police department or in the future and when they see this type of response, it kind of makes them hold back. And I think that the goal of contract negotiations and the point of us being able to have conversations should always be to find ways to attract talent into our police department. And there's no secret that I have had the benefit and the great opportunity to work very closely with the police division in the 7th Council District. I consider myself very fortunate, right, because some of my members don't have the very close relationship that I have with a lot of them. And so, I am privy to some information that maybe some of my colleagues are not. But Councilmember Young also mentioned data, and data matters. And so, there's no reason for us to come into this chamber and not have data, right. There has to be a way in order for us to change and make things better, make working environments better, make it easier for us to respond to some of the challenges that we experience in some of our departments. We need to have the data. And I'm sure that somewhere somebody has data around the types of complaints that come in, what's the demographics, are they women, are they women of color, are they men, are they LGBTQ, how were they responded to, what were the outcomes, what was the disciplinary action and what did the arbitration process say and what did the supervisor say. Somebody has to have that data. And we have to be prepared to have honest conversation in spaces like this and in your respective offices. There has to be honest conversation in order for us to fix, because the goal again should be making sure that our police department is ready and prepared to respond to the public's safety and quality of life. We're asking our police officers every day, especially in the 7th Council District, to do more and more and more. When we compare their salaries to other cities, it doesn't compare. We saw a large number of officers leave our department because of this type of situation, because of the arbitration process, because of the way they were treated, right, and so we have to be prepared. There's no reason why we should come to this chamber and ask very basic commonsense questions and we don't have that response. It's unacceptable. We have to figure it out. And again, I appreciate your apology. But the levels of positions of people that sit in those desks are in, we should be ready. These are not questions that have been asked for the first time. And so, we should be prepared to respond to this. And this is coming from someone who supports the police department in a way that maybe others don't in here, because I again get the opportunity to work with the majority of officers who are good-standing, respectful, responsible officers who really want to protect and serve, and this type of stuff doesn't help us. It doesn't help us. And so, I respectfully ask that we think about when we're coming into this chamber about what has been asked in the past and how prepared we are for the future. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. And just very briefly, Councilmember, so the way that I look at what you just said and the all truths, right, in terms of the data which Civilian Police Oversight Commission, correct me if I'm wrong, also pulls the department obviously and looks at those kinds of numbers and we're upstream of that when we're thinking about some of the changes we're making. But to the point of the larger conversation that we were all just having, we know what's obviously true. We know, I think, what the data is going to show once we get there. We're thinking about how to make these disciplinary, like, the processes that will affect those numbers further downstream. So I absolutely hear what you're saying and I certainly acknowledge that, but it is also like we were saying before plainly true what we might see when we visit some of those numbers.
In order for us to prepare for the future, we need to recognize and be really honest and transparent about what has happened in the past, right. And so, us not being able to respond to that is a problem. And the only people that we are affecting are those good officers that really want to do right by the department and by our city and by our citizens.
Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Lozada. We will now proceed with Panel 2. Thank you very much, Panel 1. We appreciate you being here and we look forward to working with you all directly as this process moves forward. I again have to give kudos to Richie Lazer because he made sure back in 2020 that we were included and involved every step of the way and that we had an opportunity to have someone from the community, actually one of the witnesses of the 100 witnesses we had at the last hearing, to be a part of the panel before the interest arbitrator. So I put that out there again as the humble ask and request, that we at least do everything we were able to do last time and more. Thank you so much.
Okay. You can please approach the witness table. You can state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony. Colleagues, in the interest of time thus far we have one member in the queue for Round 2. Seeing no further members in the queue for Round 2, after this we will move forward with the public comment portion of the public comment hearing. We are going to ask that the public commenters please summarize your testimony and limit your testimony to three minutes. And that is only because we have another hearing at 6 o'clock that we must turn the room around to prepare for that additional hearing. Okay. But we want to be respectful of your time. We appreciate each and every one of you for being here. I am thankful that you are here and willing to give additional comment on this very important matter that is a large portion of our City budget, but we do have an additional hearing. Please proceed. State your name for the record. Thanks. MS. McCLARY: Good afternoon, Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson, Councilmember Jones and other members of City Council. I'm Tonya McClary, the Executive Director for the Citizens Police Oversight Commission. You all know it as CPOC. I'm joined by our general counsel Catherine Twigg, and I want to acknowledge that our Chair of the Commission Hassan Bennett is in the audience as well as Commissioner John Solomon, and you will hear from them during public comment. I'm pleased to provide testimony on Resolution 241032, Council's public hearing on the City's contract proposal and anticipation of the collective bargaining between the City and the Fraternal Order of Police. So I want to invite you, Council, to pause with me and to take a look back and a look forward. For many years and through many historical events, Philadelphians have pushed for police reform. We all remember 2020, the urgency, the nationwide moment of reckoning. In the midst of a pandemic, thousands of people took to the streets and demanded that police be held accountable when they commit misconduct and abuse their power. People shared their stories, became activists in their communities and talked about reimagining public safety. People also voted. Half a million Philadelphians voted to create CPOC in 2020 in the ballot initiative. And the following year this body, which is one of the reasons I was so excited to come to this city, this body passed one of the country's most ambitious civilian oversight agencies. This project is as urgent now as it was then. Council created CPOC to oversee and investigate the conduct policies and practices of the Philadelphia Police Department. The Commission works to increase transparency and accountability of the PPD, work collaboratively to improve police conduct, enhance the quality of internal investigations and improve the relationship between the community and the police department. Additionally, CPOC provides recommendations on how to improve the police department to the Mayor, the Managing Director and the Police Commissioner. And since our creation in 2021, CPOC has made significant, significant progress in its ability to monitor complaints against police made by members of the community, providing an independent civilian check on the discipline process. CPOC's investigation division does this by monitoring interviews of complainants and officers during Internal Affairs Division investigations and asking questions when clarity is needed or concerns arise. Our investigators respond to the scene of every police shooting in this city, so whether it's 3 o'clock in the afternoon or 3 o'clock in the morning my team is there, monitoring from the very beginning when every bullet casing is picked up. So be clear, we are there and monitoring it from the beginning. And as you may remember, when Eddie Irizarry was fatally shot by PPD in August of 2023, CPOC was on the scene.
We provided independent oversight, made recommendations to PPD and held a town hall with simultaneous Spanish translation to give voice to the community's grief. The Auditing and Monitoring Unit has newly established live, live auditing functions that convey CPOC's recommendations on investigations to the IAD Deputy Commissioner in realtime. So we are helping to catch issues with investigations before the investigations are finalized. CPOC reviews discipline charges with the Department's PBI charging captain when there are sustained misconduct findings in complaints against police, and we've reviewed hundreds, hundreds of sustained misconduct allegations to ensure their properly charged and we've recommended further investigation when needed. Additionally, CPOC staff sit as a voting member at every single officer discipline hearing. That's over 100 scheduled hearings in 2024 so far, and this collaborative work allows CPOC to effectively collect data, make policy recommendations and attend hundreds of community events a year to increase transparency and build trust with communities across Philadelphia, and we're going to keep building on all of this collaborative work. Now, let's look forward. More work needs to be done to truly become the Commission that the Philadelphians and this Council body envisioned when they voted to create us and give us power. The city of Philadelphia deserves transparent and fair investigations that keep all residents, police officers and communities safe. To fulfill this mandate, CPOC must be able to independently, independently investigate by conducting our own interviews and gathering analysis relevant to evidence of police misconduct. And I want to clear up something that was stated in Panel 1 about confusion, about statements, et cetera and collecting of evidence. We're talking about administrative investigations. Our team is not going to be at the scene doing the fingerprints, collecting so there shouldn't be no 24 problem with chain of custody of evidence and there should be no 2 problem with dual statements because the only statements will be ours. We're not talking about parallel investigations. We're talking about CPOC being able to do its own investigation, so there won't be any confusion. So I want to clear up some of the things that I heard from Panel 1. The goal is high-quality thorough investigations done by well-trained impartial City employees who are not police officers. This will result in greater trust and community participation in the disciplinary process, support for PPD leadership and their personnel decisions and it will lead to fewer outcomes overturned by outside arbitrators. Philadelphians have made it clear. CPOC independent investigations would build trust in public safety services and further our collective goals of making this city safer. And I want to say one other thing that I want to clear up and be clear, that people here we are not doing investigations. If we don't make it to these term sheets by December 31st, we will only be able to audit and monitor like we are doing. I want to be clear we are not doing independent investigations. We are as close to the line as we've been able to get, but that is not close enough. We need to get over the line and be able to do what this Council and this community said they wanted us to do. And so, I'm respectfully asking that you take this opportunity to listen to the concerns of the community and to use your role to recommend appropriate changes to the contract to carry out Council's legislative mandate to CPOC. And I want to thank again, Councilmember Jones, Councilwoman Gilman Richardson, for their advocacy and leadership on this matter. And I want to thank all of the members of City Council for your time and your attention. I also want to thank the Mayor and the Administration and the residents of Philadelphia for your time today and for this opportunity to speak.
And I invite you all to join me at CPOC's reception right next door, right across the hallway. Come and get some cupcakes and pretzels and some snacks. Learn about the work that we do, learn about the accomplishments that we've made and learn how you can help us get on these term sheets by December 31st. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. )
So I've met with you on a number of occasions. This is the first time I've ever heard you bring that Texas heat. I'm going to yield the mic to my colleague Jamie Gauthier.
Oh, me? Oh, I'm so sorry. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you so much for being here. I'm very excited about your appointment and even listening to your powerful testimony and the fire that you brought today. It gives me a lot of confidence that you're the right person for this role. Thank you so much. I wanted to dig into -- we can clap. (Applause.)
I wanted to dig into the subject of investigations a little more. To unpack a little more about complaints against police in Philadelphia, if someone wants to file a complaint against a Philadelphia police officer, they can do so with CPOC. But CPOC then sends the complaints to PPD Internal Affairs which conducts the investigation. Can you confirm first if that's right? And can you also share some examples of complaints that people have made against police in the city so that we can understand the types of allegations that CPOC was set up to investigate? MS. McCLARY: So I do want to confirm that that currently is what happens. So if you file a complaint with CPOC, we do a lot of the intake. We follow up with the complainant when it's possible, but it does get sent up to Internal Affairs. Our department has the ability to go with the complainant if they would like when they're interviewed, to be there, to be with them during that questioning process. We are able to monitor the interviews of the officers and then we're able to kind of track the paperwork, but we are not ourselves doing the investigations. What are the concerns about that. There's several concerns. The reality of it is and depending on what world you live in, this may sound strange to you, but not everybody wants to give their complaint to the police department.
Yeah. MS. McCLARY: And so, we have had people that have called our office or come by our office and when they found out that we were going to send these over to Internal Affairs, they left.
Yeah. MS. McCLARY: They said, I don't want to do that, I thought you all were going to do the investigations. And they have hung the phone up or left the office and been discouraged. We get complaints of all kinds. We get complaints from search warrant issues, somebody's car was damaged in a chase and they've been having a hard time getting repaid from the police department, somebody's door was kicked in, they can't -- we get complaints about people not being responsive. We get complaints around lack of service. People have called for several times, nobody has come out. We've heard complaints, even very serious complaints of uses of force where people have accused officers of using force when it was not justified. And so, the cases that come through our door on any day can just be anything. And so, we are proud to say that we intake those as vigorously as we can to aid IAD at this point to do the investigations, but we need to be able to handle those cases when they come in the door ourselves.
Thank you. Can you tell us a little bit about what CPOC has learned about complaints and complaint investigations from the auditing and monitoring that you have done as an agency? And can you also talk about how independent investigations would go beyond CPOC's current work? MS. McCLARY: So our -- we have a wonderful auditing and monitoring unit. And between July of this year and November, they actually audited 122 cases. And out of those 122 cases, they made recommendations in 86 of them. So 70 percent of the investigations that Internal Affairs did we had recommendations in 70 percent of those. One of the things that -- some of the things that we found were missing allegations, so Internal Affairs didn't list all the allegations against the officers that were possible. We found that the civilian witnesses in some of these cases, many of them had never been contacted or there was not documentation of how they had been contacted. We're talking about the complainant. And so, has not been contacted. We also had to ask them in some cases to adjust their findings because some of the findings -- for example, they have five categories and we were trying to figure out why they recommended something to be, for example, unfounded versus exonerated. If I was an officer, I'd love to be exonerated, right. So why not say the officer was exonerated. And then in other cases, the analysis. There were times where we weren't even necessarily arguing with the finding, we just even know how they got there, what was the analysis, how did you come to these inclusions. And so, these are some of the things that we found. And in terms of what we would be able to do currently than what we're doing now is that the team is auditing it. They're sitting on the sidelines. It's like being at the Super Bowl and you're not being able to play in the game, you've been benched. So you can watch it, you can cheer, you can do all of this, maybe you can shout some correction from the side, that's what we're doing. But we need to be in the game and playing. So what we're talking about is when you file a complaint that comes into our office, we are the one that is interviewing the civilian. We are the ones that's interviewing the officers. We are the ones that are actually putting the package together to make the recommendations that will then come to me for approval and then go work its way through the chain. So we're talking about literally handling it from nuts to bolts from the beginning versus just monitoring it or auditing it while somebody else, in this case, Internal Affairs is doing the work.
We certainly don't want this kind of talent on the bench so we have to fix that. Can I get one more question out?
Okay. As the City is preparing to submit its proposal for the contract, has CPOC had the opportunity to provide a list of priorities to the Administration for bargaining? How has that process and communication looked so far and what role has CPOC played in the interest bargaining process previously? MS. McCLARY: I'm going to turn it over to Counsel Twigg to answer that question.
Thank you. Yeah. CPOC has asked the city -- I'm sorry. Catherine Twigg, general counsel for CPOC. CPOC has asked the City to include us in negotiations and we're grateful to be having ongoing conversations with the Administration. CPOC's former executive director, I believe it was PAC at the time, provided testimony to the interest arbitration panel last time, which was very useful from what I've heard in addition to advocating for CPOC's particular interests and our investigative role to be carried out. We can provide a lot of helpful independent perspective on how the police discipline process really plays out, how the terms of the contract really work in, in day-to-day life, what works, what needs adjustment.
Have you been granted the permission to serve in the same capacity this time?
I don't think we've had that conversation yet. We'll certainly be asking to testify at the interest arbitration panel hearings.
Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Gauthier. And I wanted to thank you all for your testimony and for your work and again welcome you to Philadelphia and uplift the work that I know you all are seeking to accomplish. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Brooks.
Thank you, Chair. And I do want to thank you for the work that you've done since you've been in this short time. Like, yeah, thank you just for your testimony so far. It's very refreshing. My question is what is the impact of the work the CPOC has on being able -- like what would be the impact if you guys were able to do the independent investigations? MS. McCLARY: There would be a lot of impacts. One of them would be to hopefully speed this process up. It's been amazing to me since I've come here to see cases coming through PBI that are three and four and five years old. I understand the FOP's concern that are we could be potentially taking work away from bargaining unit members, but the reality of it is ID is overwhelmed. This is a humongous city. And so, there's no way even with all the overtime in the world that they're going to be able to keep track of these cases and do them very timely. And so, some of the things that we can do is help speed up the process for discipline. Also, we're able to, I think, be able to hear more from the community. One thing that we also do is we take commendations, so I think the more that the community knows that we are in the process, that we are doing it, you're going to hear the good of Philadelphia policing as well as some of the potential bad. And so, I think being a bridge that people know that they can trust will also help us just hear more, whatever it is, from the community. And so, those pieces alone are just crucial, but the actual helping with the workload is going to be extremely impactful but also having people know that there is an agency outside of PPD that will be able to hear from them, be able to do this work, is going to be equally impactful.
So just to follow up, under the current investigation process how many officers have been committed of misconduct, how many officers? From under the current investigation process, how many officers have been found to have committed misconduct? I'm sorry. I was going to fast.
Currently CPOC is not performing those investigations, so we don't have -those statistics would be from IAD.
Okay. MS. McCLARY: And I want to be clear on that because I think people keep -- there's a segment that wants to keep saying we're doing investigations. We're not. So I want Council to really understand the weight of what it means if we aren't being able to bargain, because there are a lot of people that characterize what we're doing as investigations, and we are not doing investigations.
Thank you. Thank you so much Councilmember Gauthier and Councilmember Brooks. Are there any additional questions for Panel 2? (No response.)
Okay. Seeing none, we thank you very much for being here this afternoon and for your continued work. We look forward to continuing to work with you all and with Councilmember Jones. MS. McCLARY: Thank you.
Okay. Excellent. We are now going to proceed with Panel 3. Prior to the Clerk calling the roll for Panel 3, I'd like to reiterate my deepest gratitude and appreciation for each of you being here today for the work that you all, so many of you have done on this issue not just today but for years. In addition to that, I must reiterate that we do have another hearing at 6 o'clock, and you see that we have to start breaking the room down now. And I do apologize for the brevity of this part of the conversation because obviously that's what this is for, is to hear directly from each of you. We are going to request that you summarize your testimony. Please try to keep your testimony within the three-minute range. I'm just basing it off of the number of witnesses who have signed up to testify and the amount of time we have left for this hearing. Okay. If you have any written remarks that you'd like to submit for the record, we are more than happy to receive those remarks and ensure they are included in the record for this proceeding. Lastly, I wanted to mention that we did receive written testimony from Roosevelt Poplar, President of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, and we appreciate the submission of the testimony in advance and that will be included in the record for this proceeding. Okay. Thank you very much. Clerk, will you please call the roll.
Okay. Please approach the witness table. And then if you could call the next two names. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Okay. You all will be the next two after the first witness. I would request that you state your name for the record, proceed with the summarized version of your testimony and we'll go from there. Thank you.
Am I on -- oh, good. My name is Samantha Michelle Monroe -- sure, no 4 problem. You're welcome. Do I need to move the coat too -- okay. My name is Samantha Michelle Monroe. I live in West Philadelphia. I was raped at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital. When I reported it to the CPOC after the police didn't investigate it, I received emails about calling me a psycho, a bitch, don't believe her. And I've been told that --
-- I'm harassing them when I'm looking for it -- so let me finish. $60 million --
Ma'am, ma'am -- ma'am. I respectfully request that you do not use that language in this proceeding.
The b-word? Oh, I apologize. Excuse me. I'm a little passionate. $60 million in months has been paid out to 14 female and Black and Brown police 15 officers in lawsuits. IA is 16 staffed by FOP members. 17 Let me see here. In 18 1977 the first public law was started to stop the discrimination of Black and Brown and female police officers. They signed a 30x30 pledge back in 1986 to stop this behavior and it hasn't stopped. But let's get on. Why would the FOP want to negoti -- first of all, why are we paying $7 million to the CPOC when legislation says that they should be investigating and they admit that they have not. They have lied to us for two years. Two years they lied to us telling me that, oh, we're investigating it. They told you that I'm suing them. I'm not suing them. There's no lawsuit. They have lied to you. Why is it that Anthony Erace who went behind the people's back when working for CPOC to negotiate with FOP is now hired by the Department of Labor to do the exact same thing, which is to obstruct justice for the citizens of this city. Why are we paying them? Why is the CPOC allowed to go out and run meetings that have nothing to do with police abuse? Why are they not investigating? They say they can't or are they just afraid to go against FOP? Take it to court. Let a judge hear, but you'd rather attack me or better yet they spend six months investigating a commissioner for standing up for me, the rape victim who did not get their rape investigated. But yet they say I'm crazy, psycho and I need help and maybe I should be raped again. Maybe then I'll learn my lesson all in emails that they have refused to give out to the public. You want to talk about transparency, openness? The CPOC staff has lied to us. I have document after document, paperwork after paperwork. Do you know that one of the CPOC staff members is a member of an FBI-investigated hate group?
An FBI-investigated hate group, but I'm the bad one. Do you know that another staff member worked for the Walnut Street Theater --
-- who is being investigated for grooming children? So they want to negotiate with the FOP? What credibility, what integrity do they have? Commissioner Thomas is sitting right here, ask her. She was my rape counselor and they fired her for counseling me for rape. They have been --
-- tapping my phone since April. They have listened to my phone conversations.
Ma'am, I apologize for what happened to you, but I respectfully request please summarize your testimony. I do apologize for what you have gone through.
If the FOP were to go negotiate with anyone, it should be anyone but the CPOC. I believe that the CPOC should be suspended, shut down and they should be audited. There is enough criminal activity in the CPOC. The fact that Jahlee Hatchet worked as a commissioner and was also working for the law firm of Dennehey and Marshall who protects the police. This is a joke.
Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
My name is Michael Clemens and I'm Co-chair of POWER Live Free and a resident of the 1st Councilmanic District. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to address the Council on this important subject that affects everyone in our city. POWER is a Philadelphia- based interfaith organization that represents about 50 congregations. POWER Works to improve society by collaborating with elected and appointed government officials to develop humane policies that positively impact the lives of all Philadelphians. Live Free is the part of POWER that has been involved in police accountability and oversight for several years. We've been working in coalition with others on developing effective non-police behavioral health crisis response by professionally-trained civilians. We believe that the main role of police is protecting residents and fighting crime, not being the primary purveyors of street-level social work to address a wide range of non-threatening citizens behavioral health issues. Another area that Live Free has been examining is the lack of consistency in the grievance arbitration process used to decide how discipline will be applied in cases of police misconduct. And Live Free has been involved in the Citizen Police Oversight Commission since its conceptualization. We met with leaders of Oversight commissions from across the United States to gain an understanding of what police oversight is and how we could make it work here. Then we worked with Councilmember Curtis Jones and his staff to help develop the CPOC legislation. This legislation was overwhelmingly passed by the City Council. We continue to monitor the CPOC's progress to ensure that it meets its mission in accordance with the original legislation and its intent. The legislation authorized CPOC to establish its own investigative branch to perform independent investigations. The findings derived from these independent investigations support specific disciplinary recommendations on misconduct cases. The CPOC is required to send these disciplinary recommendations directly to the Police Commissioner to inform him before he applies his disciplinary authority. For these investigations to be fact-based and effective, close coordination with the police department is required. This must be explicitly written into the collective bargaining agreement. The police contract must also compel all officers to give full and accurate testimony to and cooperate with the CPOC. Some of my colleagues at Live Free will now give their statements on other aspects of the police department contract that need to be addressed in the upcoming collective bargaining agreement negotiations. Thank you, Councilmember Gilmore Richardson, for holding this important hearing. Thank you.
Please approach the witness table. You can state your names for the record and then proceed with your testimony. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson, Councilmembers, my name is Steven Strauss. I'm a member of POWER Live Free and the Treatment Not Trauma Coalition. I'm a retired public policy analyst and advocate, worked in a lot of different settings, context, cities. Today I'm focusing on the issue of civil civilianization. I appreciated the robust conversation that eventually happened earlier. The reason -- and I've actually talked about civilianization in testimony once before, so it's something that's while kind of a pedestrian subject is really quite important to the city. And I want to mention two particular aspects, one being traffic safety and the other being behavioral health crisis response on the traffic safety piece. Well, the issue is vital to the health and welfare of all Philadelphians. Right now I think that given the sort of post-pandemic environment in the city, especially on the roads with collisions and fatalities being really off the charts, we need to think very seriously as a city about the strengthening of traffic safety enforcement. There's no doubt about it. And unarmed public safety officers are already existing, and it strikes me that it's probably a good idea. There are, I'm sure, competing possibilities for their deployment, but I'm going to say that given the chaos on the road, and we all feel it, whether we're pedestrians bicyclists or drivers, that a civilianized force makes a lot of sense and here we have it. So we can get traffic stops going again without the issues of flagrant racial bias that Councilmember Thomas and others have worked so hard on. The other aspect that I want to talk about, behavioral health crisis response is something that is --
Yes. Okay. I want to say that the City is on the way to doing some good things in terms of this area because we do have a civilianized service, CMCRT. However, it's got a lot of problems. There are a lot of structural issues. There are a number of things to be worked out and the hope is that the city can be in the leadership tier of this country in getting a really top civilianized behavioral health crisis response service going. There are more than 100 now, and we have an opportunity to do that. We have to think very carefully about how to minimize police activity in this area and we can do it.
Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. If you have written testimony that you'd like to submit for the record, we'd love to receive that. Thank you.
Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Hey, Katherine. Good morning, Majority Leader and members of City Council. My name is Sherrie Cohen. I'm a community activist, an attorney and a member of POWER Interfaith Live Free team. I want to thank team member Jonathan Broder for his work on the issue I will be addressing, which is how can the City's collective bargaining agreement with the FOP promote accountability to the people of Philadelphia, especially with respect to the huge number of fired officers who are found by the police department to have committed grievous misconduct against the people of our city, especially Black and Brown people, yet rehired to the force through arbitration. In 2017, a Washington Post investigation found that of all the police departments nationwide it reviewed, Philly had the second highest percent of fired officers reinstated. In 2019, The Inquirer found that the FOP successfully got discipline overturned or reduced about 70 percent of the time in cases between 2011 and 2019. From a recent review of over 80 arbitration decisions in the last six to seven years, we learned that one likely cause for this tragically high rate of reversals of discipline is the CBA's failure to require arbitrators to follow any specific standard of proof in their decisions. Standard of proof in a legal case describes the amount of evidence necessary to prove a claim in trial. In a criminal case, the government has the highest standard of proof as it must prove his case beyond a reasonable doubt. But in a civil case, which these cases are, the standard of proof is that the evidence must show that it is more likely than not that the claim is true. In the majority of cases we reviewed, the arbitrator failed to articulate any specific standard of proof that they used to render their decision. And in too many cases, arbitrators used the beyond a reasonable doubt standard to determine whether the City had proved its case against an officer, which again is an evidentiary standard that should only be used in criminal cases or the arbitrators used other improper standards. The Police Board of Inquiry itself uses the preponderance of the evidence standard in its review of its members' cases. This is the standard we now recommend that the CBA impose in arbitration cases. So the CBA should state using the preponderance of evidence standard the City should prevail when the arbitrator finds there is a greater than 50 percent chance that the alleged misconduct occurred. Not one more fired officer who committed grievous misconduct should be reinstated to the force because an arbitrator had not been mandated to follow the proper evidentiary standard. Thank you.
Well, thank you. Thank you very much for coming in and thank you for your testimony today.
Thank you so much for being here. Please proceed to the witness table. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
State your name for the record and then proceed with your testimony.
My name is Kate Perez. Our PPD struggles with the lack of translators, racism internally within the department and externally harassing the underprivileged and an extreme lack of accountability. In addition, they are also guilty of trading officers with the apartheid state of Israel in exchange programs and anti-terrorism trainings. As a citizen, I argue against spending any City money on any organization that colludes with and legitimizes any apartheid occupation. By trading tactics with foreign police forces that are infamous for their civilian violence and crimes against humanity, our PPD officers increase their violence against citizens back home. I ask that this FOP contract explicitly state that there can be no exchanges between our police force and any apartheid states. There also seems to be a lack of accountability during crowd control as PPD regularly approaches peaceful protesters in full riot gear and fail to give dispersal warnings before tackling protesters to the ground, regularly arresting citizens, holding them for hours and releasing them without charge. A PPD officer joined with the Penn University PD to raid a Penn student's home, waving guns at them and at neighbors separating and interrogating students, refusing to show a warrant and forever traumatizing students over a graffiti investigation. Do the police not know the proper way to execute a warrant or do they feel empowered to act outside of the law as they know that their punishments, if at all, are never the same as a civilian? The families of Eddie Irizzary, Alexander Spencer and Robert Jones are still awaiting justice. The 100 Shooting Review Committee released the report in 2022 that said investing back into historically redlined communities can help prevent violence. These include evidence-based strategies such as better street cleaning, trash pickup, repairing occupied homes and more. If our focus is public safety, then our tax dollars may be better serving the public by fully funding SEPTA instead of investing in more officers to arrive after a crime occurs. Whatever we spend on the police would be better spent on preventative community care. Again, I ask that this police contract and any City contract explicitly state that there can be no exchanges between our police force and any apartheid states. (Applause.)
Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Pardon me one second, sir. For the record, the Chair recognizes the presence of Councilmember Squilla. Okay. Please proceed with your testimony. Thank you.
My name is Phillip Lockett and I appreciate you giving us the time to give testimony on this striking and important issue. I believe in CPOC. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. I'm fighting the sixth generation of the same family on the same block. And if it wasn't for CPOC, I wouldn't be here today. And with the little bit of teeth that they gave them, they worked wonders. They made the police department do their job. And my second issue is if you never been in a gang, qualified immunity is one of the biggest things you need to run a gang, because when you get a rookie cop partnered with a a senior cop and the senior cop shows the rookie cop how to do things under cover and he better not say nothing, that's qualified immunity. That's how it runs rampant in the police department. And it's the same entity that's stopping CPOC. They got a big conglomerate up to fight them, to fight us. And all we want to do is be fair and equitable with everybody. We don't want to have to go and start acting like Ramar of the jungle and go crazy. If we can't speak in plain English, the truth of what's going on and you guys can't grab it, then we going to have to do like what Tupac said. The first time we come up we going to say we tired and we ain't going to take it no more. And then the next time we come up, we going to tear up a little bit, you know what I mean. Because as human beings, we should be far past this by now. It's costing us trillions to be unfair to one another. Make it plain and simple, if they break the law, make them pay for it. That's it. And then that way you can take all the other agencies and put them to rest because now everything is fair and equitable. And with that, I want to give you a good kudos for giving us time so we can vent our stuff. I'm 75 years old. I'm supposed to be at Disney World, but I got to stay here and help out in Philadelphia, try to get their stuff together. And we are a good city. Just get rid of the unfairness no matter who it is. If you messed up, you messed up. You ain't going to die. We've been dying in the street. So, Councilman, I really appreciate it, and get the money for CPOC part. I'm down for it. Matter of fact, you got to give them a little bit more money because they've been asking for it for almost five years. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Will the Clerk please call the next witnesses.
Okay. Asa Khalif and Sharon Mackery. Asa Khalif, Sharon Mackery. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Inaudible).
What's your last name? Please proceed to the witness table. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
If you could state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Yes. Good evening, Council. Asa Khalif. I'm an activist and organizer here in Philadelphia. Okay. I'm going to get right to the point. The voters of the city voted in 2020 to establish CPOC and allow it to investigate charges of police misconduct. It's my understanding under the current police contract that the Philadelphia -- that the police union must sign off on any changes necessary to effectively -- CPOC, excuse me, making it difficult for CPOC to conduct investigations. I'm extremely disturbed that CPOC hasn't been able to investigate not a single misconduct probe. I'm also disturbed that the Philadelphia Police Union President is opposed to CPOC conducting investigations of cops accused of misconduct. He prefers the power to remain with the Police Department Internal Affairs. That's not what the voters of Philadelphia wanted. We want independent investigations with full transparency. We want CPOC to have full access. There must be changes in the new contract that will not make it difficult for CPOC. Police no longer can be trusted to investigate themselves in secret. There has to be an unbiased independent investigation. Respect what the voters of Philadelphia wanted without the BS. And finally, yesterday was Trans Day of Remembrance, and a dear friend of mine named Nizah Morris was murdered in 2002 and last seen alive in police custody. Her family, friends and activists want CPOC to investigate without any roadblocks from the FOP. We say her name and all the other names of victims victimized by police violence in Philadelphia. Justice for Brandon Tate-Brown, my cousin murdered by the police, and justice for David Jones. (Applause.)
Thank you for your testimony and thank you for being here. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Again, good afternoon. My name is Charito Morales and I am the co-founder and organizer for Philly Boricuas. Philly Boricuas is a grassroots organization community organization dedicated to uplifting and empowering the Puerto Ricans and the Latino individuals particularly in North Philadelphia. Throughout the culture events, advocacy and support services, we work to challenge inequality and building collective power to create more equity, future and foster social justice with the community. I stand before you today to address the harsh reality, the Philadelphia Police Department cannot be trusted to hold itself accountable. Time and time again they have shown a pardon of (inaudible) covering up their actions and avoiding responsibility. The tragic case of Eddie Irizarry is an example of how the police lied to the public and try to justify violence towards our communities. Eddie Irizarry was a 27-year-old man, was shot and killed by officers in August 2023. The police initially claimed that Eddie had lunged at them with a knife forcing them to fire. But when the body camera footage was released, the truth came to light. Eddie was sitting in his car, the knife in his lap, not posing any immediate threat to the police officers. Yet the department attempted to cover up facts, clinging to a false narrative in an attempt to justify the killing. This is not an isolated incident to the Puerto Rican and Latino community in Philadelphia. It is a reflection of a large part with the department. When they make mistakes, they lie to the public. They protect the own and fail to be accountable. The truth is that we cannot trust the Philadelphia Police Department to investigate itself. That's why we must provide the legal mechanism for the Philadelphia Citizen Police Oversight Commission to conduct independent investigations into the police misconduct. The Commission must have real authority, not just the power to recommend changes, but the ability to oversee and enforce investigation free from police influence. Only we can begin to address the systemic issues that have (inaudible) the department for too long. But the problem of accountability doesn't stop at the high-profile cases like Eddie Irizarry. The police regularly threaten vulnerable members of our community, namely homeless people with violence and cruelty. Time again we've seen instances where officers respond to homeless with force, physically removing people from public spaces, using excessive force to clear encampments and often threatening them as less humans. The acts are not isolated. There are patterns to how the police choose to handle the most in need of care rather than showing empathy or offering support for the people. The violent treatment of the homeless is a direct reflection of the department that lacks accountability or prioritizing control over compassion, instead of threatening people with dignity and providing resources to help the force, further criminalizing poverty and marginalization. If we are serious about justice and fairness in Philadelphia, we must ensure that the police are held accountable for their actions, both in how they threat individuals like Eddie Irizarry and how they threaten our most vulnerable citizens. We need independent oversight. We need transparency. We need a police department that answers not only to their own interested but to the community themselves. It is time to demand changes. We cannot wait any longer for the department to hold itself accountable. We must take action now to protect our people, to ensure justice and bring real reforms to our city. Once again, my name is Charito Morales and I represent the Latino community of the city of Philadelphia. Thank you for having me. (Applause.)
Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Will the Clerk please call the next witnesses.
Kaitlin Orner and James Whitehead. Anjelica Hendricks, James Whitehead. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Okay. Please proceed to the witness table. State your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Hello. My name is Kaitlin Orner and I'm a small business owner in Germantown and a member of the Treatment Not Trauma Coalition. I am testifying today on the need for independent and transparent investigations into alleged police misconduct. I own a flower shop located just off the intersection of Germantown and Coulter where in the summer of 2022 there were two pedestrian-related fatalities in 11 days. The second of which involved 12 a woman in crisis who was seen on 13 surveillance footage acting erratically when two Philadelphia police officers arrived on scene and interacted with her. The officers were seen getting back into their vehicle as she laid down in the intersection, then driving away. She was struck and killed in the same position a minute and 30 seconds later. I filed a complaint against police five days after the incident after PPD released a statement that the woman had been crossing the street when she was struck, implying the incident was a traffic-calming issue, linking it to the prior accident. Using our footage, they omitted the fact that PPD had been on the scene prior to her death. Not knowing who the family was or if they were aware, I continued with the formal complaint process. I kept following up with PPD where they stated that they were unaware of the situation or could not make any comments on active investigations. The (inaudible) process proceeded normally for six months when I was then told by a supervisor that they would not be providing any additional information without a subpoena and later that the investigation had been classified internal. At that time I reached out to CPOC who conducted an inquiry into the incident and began monitoring. Over a year later it was revealed that the internal investigation went to PBI in early 2024 and that discipline had occurred. Despite the legislation passed for CPOC, they were not given the opportunity to be present at PBI and details about any sustained charges have been shielded from the public. Without transparency into the result of the sustained findings, it is unknown if the act of leaving the woman in crisis was addressed or if the officers were disciplined for a lesser infraction such as failure to turn on their body-worn camera. The complexities about when and why the case was classified internal are unclear, giving reasons such as I had filed the complaint too late or because I was a third party complainant. However, when the victim has died and you've lied to the family, who else would be able to come forward. After 816 days, the department finally stated that they will provide no further comment on the matter. They owed the community nothing. Switching the narrative from we can't comment on active investigations to we can't comment on internal investigations. When what the majority of the citizens of Philadelphia have voted in favor of are independent investigations. There's been no insight into what happened that night to either the public or the family of Elizabeth Negron. No one has been held responsible or accountable for her death. Thanks. (Applause.)
Thank you. Thank you for your testimony.
Good evening. My name is Anjelica Hendricks and I'm an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School where I conduct research and teach on areas related to police regulations. Centered amongst that work is the investigation of alleged police misconduct and the barriers that exist to conducting those investigations effectively. And one thing that this body and our city need to examine is how do we measure investigations into police misconduct for their effectiveness. One of the ways you do this is by looking at the data, the rate of sustained cases, not simply in the general terms but across different categories of alleged violations while also looking into the demographics of the individuals issuing the complaints. And the complaint data in Philadelphia has revealed significant findings. I did bring the data with me. There are racial disparities in the sustained rate of cases. Charges made by White civilians are sustained at a rate of 27 percent whereas complaints by Black individuals are sustained at a rate of percent, and Hispanic 18 complainants are even lower 13 19 percent. This effect is statistically significant across all control barriers. I employ the City to investigate these disparities, not simply as it relates to the disparity of sustained cases but others as well. From a snapshot of completed investigations in 2017, it was apparent that investigators were assigned more quickly to complaints made by White residents than other demographics. It took an average of 3.36 days more for an investigator to be assigned for a complaint made by a Hispanic resident than by a White complainant. That is also statistically significant. Is the Administration comfortable with these disparities? They have access to this data. It is on the open data transparency portal. This is one category in when investigations can be evaluated, the existence of disparities and if those disparities can be reasonably explained. Another category that we use is the evaluation of the process. An evaluation that shows if the system is working or if it's not working. For example, the training and counseling program whereby officers are first given a second chance when they violate certain protocols, they are not even disciplined. Has the City ever evaluated that program? Previously, the program was utilized to divert nearly 80 percent of sustained allegations. Now, that number has dropped to 34.9 percent after an audit done by CPOC. To the best of my knowledge, the department has not evaluated if the training counseling program has improved officer behavior and compliance with policies. So far it appears as if the City does not care about these disparities and has done little to address the existing programs if they are a priority in the department. In PPD's 2025 fiscal year budget, the Professional Standards Department stated that their priorities relates to simply reducing the number of complaints against police, but that doesn't tell us if misconduct is actually reducing in the city. There are several reasons why someone may not file a complaint against police such as mediation or complaints are more likely to be converted into an internal investigation, as the speaker in front of me just stated. Overall, the City deserves investigations into police misconduct where the metrics align with our values, investigations which are free from unexplained disparities across race, gender and district, investigations in which all witness statements are evaluated similarly and not a system whereby the word of an officer is weighed more than the word of residents, and investigations that are strong enough to --
Ma'am, I apologize. Please conclude your testimony because we just received an additional round of witnesses and I'm afraid we will not have enough time.
Thank you. The residents of the city overwhelmingly voted for independent investigations and entrusted CPOC to do that job, and I ask for the City to fight for that. (Applause.)
Thank you for being here and for your work. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
My name is James Whitehead and I just want to say a few words regarding CPOC and why it's important. My name is James Whitehead for those who don't know me. I come here to represent the good and progress that CPOC has done along with the 500,000 Philadelphians who voted for CPOC to form in 2020. And in 2021, CPOC was formed with a promise to the people to bring about transparency and holding officers accountable for injustice and also police misconduct. CPOC was not formed to undermine IAD nor to discredit all police officers, instead place the ones that are operating out of the law and to hold offices accountable just as promised. The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter and the Philadelphia (inaudible) granted CPOC the right to conduct independent investigations. However, we have the FOP who is hindering the process and the promise that was made. I truly hope that within the new contract made between the City and FOP grant CPOC the rights to complete its mission. After all, the people are what matters the most. So if CPOC, FOP can agree to come together along with City officials to operate out of good faith, I don't see why there can be any problem with a plan to move forward. Thank you everyone for listening and God bless. (Applause.)
Thank you. Thank you very much for being here and thank you for your testimony. Good to see you.
Please approach the witness table. You can state your names for the record and proceed with your testimony. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Thank you very much. Reverend Mark Tyler, former Pastor of Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church and current Co-director for POWER Live Free where we have worked on this issue for a number of years. And I'm glad that I was just coming behind Anjelica Hendricks because she and I had the opportunity to serve together on the inaugural selection panel that selected the members to be nominated to City Council for their confirmation to become the first CPOC. I want to thank you as well, Councilmember Gilmore Richardson, for all of your work in this area and, Councilmember Jones, for being the champion on this law, on this particular legislation and all of the other members of Council. And let's be honest that what we're fighting is not really in this particular room, that for the most part we are in agreement. But we really have to stand behind our new Director of the CPOC, Tonya McClary, who you heard for yourself just a few moments ago who laid out for us really what's at stake. I'm shocked and appalled to come in and find out that they are not doing actual investigations. That was the crux of this particular legislation. The only reason we put it out there was to make sure we had something that was independent, and now to find out that they're basically just another version of what the PAC was, which is just watching and auditing and reporting what happens from the outside, we have to figure out what's more important, the desires of 500,000 Philadelphians or the wishes of a union as powerful as it may be. And I think that we'd agree that the desires of this voting community far outweigh it. And I want to just simply say this as I wrap up, that we can never forget the great cost that has been paid for CPOC to happen. CPOC would never have happened without the events of 2020. We called for this in 2019 in December right across the street at Arch Street, Live Free, along with many people in the community, others who signed onto it like Asa Khalif that you just heard of, and we thought it would be a 10-year fight to make it happen. Sadly, COVID happened within the next three months and then after that George Floyd lost his life. We found out about Ahmaud Arbery who had already been killed, and Breonna Taylor, add to that what already happened in the city with Brandon Tate-Brown and David Jones, and then finally Walter Wallace. And this city went up in flames not once, but twice in 2020. And many of us were on the streets. I was tear-gassed, and I had to watch a 5-year-old's birthday party on Chestnut Street as tear gas chased them in their home and then back out of their home, and these folk had nothing to do with anything that happened. And so, we can never forget that in spite of what some people have said today, that we are here because Black people have lost their lives and continue to lose their lives and while I'm sitting here today isn't it interesting that we receive an alert that in Trenton, not far from here, the DOJ has said that they have been involved in unconstitutional behavior, their police department with the community. This is not a Philadelphia problem. This is a systemic problem in this country wherever Black people find themselves and we cannot retreat in this moment. Let me just leave this last thing with you all, City Council. As a preacher, I want to give this word of encouragement. This has been a slow, steady, bumpy road to get here, but the Bible reminds us let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. And so, I just want to encourage you don't give up this important fight. There are people in the city who are counting on you. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you and thank you for your advocacy. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Sergio Cea. Good afternoon. I guess good evening, Council. I want to thank Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson whose legislation allowed for the first time in history for members of the community like myself to provide public comment on the FOP contract. I also want to thank Councilmember Curtis Jones whose legislation allowed for the creation of the Citizens Police Oversight Committee. As I mentioned, my name is Sergio Cea. I use el/he/him pronouns. I'm the Political Director of Reclaim Philadelphia. I'm also one of the many defendants that was represented by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund for enduring militaristic police violence on 52nd Street near my home in West Philadelphia during the 2020 uprisings in response to the murders of George Floyd and Walter Wallace by the police. When I suffered this abuse from the police, I was simply riding my bicycle after canvassing earlier that day for the candidacy of now State Representative Rick Krajewski. I still have vivid memories of trying to escape the shots of rubber bullets and tear gas canisters from police as I went down Delany Street between 52nd and 51st, seeing families on their front porches trying to quickly escape the gas into their homes and later as I passed Malcolm X Park, seeing a parent pouring water into their youngest child's eyes to alleviate the symptoms of tear gas. I was also part of a coalition calling for justice in the police murder of Eddie Irizarry. The police intentionally put forward a false narrative to the media portraying Eddie as a violent aggressor who lunged at police officers and not as video footage later showed someone simply sitting in his car. From my lived experiences and from what we all collectively have witnessed time and time again in our city and nationally, we know that the police cannot be trusted to investigate themselves. That's why CPOC is so important and why 78 percent of Philadelphians voted to create this commission. Philadelphians know that independent investigations from community members and non-police are critical. CPOC was meant to replace the Police Advisory Commission who lack the funding and authority to make change. Unfortunately, CPOC today is in that same position. That's why I'm testifying in support of changes in the collective bargaining agreement that will require officers to cooperate fully with CPOC's independent investigations. Following the election of Donald Trump, the FOP who have endorsed him will be emboldened and continue to be bad actors in our city without strong oversight and accountability. The City and its collective bargaining negotiations with FOP needs to prioritize CPOC and clearly outline its roles making sure that police cooperate fully with CPOC's investigations and that those investigations can operate independently from the IAD. Without these changes, CPOC cannot fulfill its mission and Philadelphians will never be able to trust the police. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. Thank you for coming in today and thank you for helping us with the community panel last time. Thank you. Will the Clerk please call the next witness.
Okay. If you could please approach the witness table. (Witness approached Witness table.)
While he's approaching, is there anyone whose name has not been called who is here to testify on the public comment bill? (No response.)
Okay. All right. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony. You'll be our last witness for today.
Pardon me, ma'am. Pardon me. Hold on one moment. Pardon me. To clarify, this is regarding Resolution No. 241032, which is regarding the public comment period prior to the City entering into negotiations with the FOP. We will have a public comment hearing related to the arena that will begin at 6:00 p.m okay. Thank you all very, very much. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Hassan Bennett, Interim Chair of the Citizens Police Oversight Commission. Well, I wrote something to come and say here, but I don't want to repeat everything everyone said. We've seen people from all backgrounds today. We've heard from people from all genders and support of the Citizens Police Oversight Commission. We've heard stories of relatives that have died, misconduct, belief in the CPOC and the Citizens Police Oversight Commission as well as belief in good actors within the police department, so I don't want to keep reiterating what happened. The last time I was here, Councilman Jones gave us advice. He said, maybe you guys should go away to a conference or something. And this year I was able to attend NACOLE, the National Association of Civilian Oversight and Law Enforcement, right. And in NACOLE I found something out, that not only does it oversight include neighborhood and our stakeholders like yourself, right, but oversight isn't overnight. You guys, it's a difference between legislation and reality, right, and that's what we're finding out today. All of us have a legislation. And it's funny that NACOLE brought it up because this is what we were facing in CPOC. We have this beautiful body. You guys wrote this beautiful legislation. They gave us teeth, but in reality there's hurdles to bring this legislation to life. Currently the hurdle is the bargain. We have to bargain for things, so I don't want to waste your time. I only have a certain amount of minutes. What I did hear from them is they said they had civilians at the bargaining table. So I'm going to urge this body to ensure that CPOC gets a voice at the table when it comes to the bargain to ensure that at least we are being heard with emphasis to our words. It's not just being whispered and we're pushing on to the next thing on the collective bargaining agreement. Let us ensure that we have a chance. Let us get that transparency by giving us a seat at the table. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. Thank you for your testimony and for your work. We appreciate each of you for being here. Again, thank you, colleagues, for all of your hard work today and for hanging in there with us. I certainly appreciate each and every one of you. To all of you who have joined us for this particular hearing on 241032, we thank you for your attendance. There being no further questions from members of the committee and there being no 6 further witnesses to testify, this will conclude the business before the Committee of the Whole today. We thank you all very much for your attendance. (Committee of the Whole concluded at 5:31 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. __________________________________ TANEHA CARROLL