Committee Hearing, February 26, 2003

Thank you. I'll thank the team.

The Chair recognizes Councilman O'Neill.

I apologize for coming in late. I was over at the Board of Revision of Taxes having some fun. Tom, I would just echo what Joan said. I refer to the CLIP Program more in my district as CLIP like. But it's really similar to how it operates in the upper end of Joan's district. When we talked about it initially -- I'm even get used to the name even though I can't believe Councilwoman Krajewski came up with such an acronym.

I've been here since 9:00. He walks in about 4 o'clock.

I won't dispute either of those times because they're both very accurate, I'm sure. There was obviously not going to be much, if any, NTI money of this almost $300 million come into the Northeast. And this was a way of getting some of it and also trying something out 805 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET that people had devised, a team approach and quick action, not doing what we usually did or have done in the past, which was wait for court for years 5 until the block is ruined or try to intercept it 6 early and put that good old lien on the property and 7 fix it up. Because I can tell you, at least in my 8 district, the word has spread. I mean, there's some 9 stuff we're giving you that's done before you get 10 there because people find out that when we hire a contractor, it's four times what it will cost them. They get to pay ot out of their pocket and not with a lien on their property. It's been a very, very effective program, the concept of it. I still think it's a work in process, I mean, the pilot. It isn't like this is, we figured it all out and it can take off. But I think in the very initial stages it's worked very well and you're to be given a line share of credit, not just yourself, but how you coordinated with the other departments and your relationships that you've been able to gain with the police and L&I, Fairmount Park and people that haven't, for any reason, had to work real closely before now are just working as a team. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll pass that 806 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET along to the other commissioners and deputies that are here, especially L&I and Streets and Police.

How many times have you met with different offices?

We met with different departments. We met with the District Attorney. We met with L&I. We met with every department in this City to coordinate it. And for Councilman O'Neill, I think we should call it the JK program.

JKIP.

Thank you. At in this time the Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.

Thank you, Madam President. Mr. Goldsmith, the other big public policy issue -- and again unfortunately I have one of these and this is a big Citywide issue and a problem. It has to do with our policy regarding sinking homes, which I believe, there's been a fairly extensive amount of work done on this, some GIS mapping, some Army Corp of Engineer work and I have at least one significant unfinished -- some 807 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET unfinished business over on a street called Daggett Street, D-A-G-G-E-T-T, in the Overbrook Section. We had a number of homes that were affected by a situation out there. Those homes are now vacant because the homeowners were initially relocated by the City for an extended period of time and subsequently they were told that they could not return. On the one hand, those homeowners now are naturally in a safer place, but that is not the end of the story. One, you have the unoccupied houses that are there and you have the rest of the block. About percent of the block was actually 15 vacated as a result of the situation over there. We 16 have some very difficult decisions to make with 17 regard to what to do with the remaining homes, how 18 that effects the rest of the block and ensuring that 19 the other 75 percent of the people who remain live 20 in a place that they would still consider to be a 21 neighborhood. Again, this is not an isolated issue. 22 I'm quite aware that in some other parts of the City 23 there is an even more extensive, larger problem that 24 would make this particular one pale in comparison. 25 And I'm certainly sensitive to that. But I've not 808 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET heard anything in recent times as to what we're doing from a public policy standpoint on these sinking home strategies as well as in the micro-level what's going to happen with my constituents over at this particular location. It has gone on for an extended period of time and the government has to kind of roll with the punches as we say when different things happen and our attention gets diverted to the other or the next emergency situation that comes along, as we know. But the citizens, their lives are more focused on what's going on in their street and what's happening in their neighborhoods. So the only big thing that's really happened to them, other than the last inches of snow, is that the situation still 17 exists and it is unresolved at this time. So I'd 18 like to have an opportunity to talk with you about that. I have two last things. One is overall event coordination. And I know I saw in the back Ms. Gloria Jackson is with us and I'd like to have some opportunity -- obviously a significant number of events that take place in the City are primarily either Center City based or Old City or along the 809 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET river and the drives and the like. But I get a couple that are pretty significant. Naturally we've coordinated well over the years. For instance, the Greek Picnic which has dramatically improved even over the past few years significant coordination between the police, Managing Director's Office and a number of other entities. But we also have the nationally, if not internationally recognized bike race and a host of other activities that primarily take place in the Manayunk/Roxborough section of my district and naturally the Greek Picnic is more of a West Philadelphia event. I'd like to see, I guess, a higher level of coordination on these kinds of events. They're not necessarily Citywide kinds of events, but they can be tremendously disruptive in some of these communities. So if I could know a little bit more about our coordination efforts and what we're going to do to ensure that the events can take place, but also people's lives are not completely disrupted, either as pedestrian, motorists, public transportation access to either commercial shopping or religious services for those events that spill over into either Saturday night or Sunday.

I think we do the big events well. There's 810 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET no question about that. But I think if we took some of that strategy and time and effort for the smaller ones that would be very helpful. Can we hear from Ms. Jackson on that?

Sure. Let me say before she comes -- Councilman DiCicco is not here. But we've had a number of meetings on the non-event Mardi Gras that brought together the South Street Alliance and that's really been a great example of the business community and residents coming together with support of the City. So you know, hopefully, this year it really is a non-event. That's the type of thing some of these events you're talking about.

The other issue gets raised as I mentioned big events, some of small events. We do a tremendously good job in the coordination leading up to the event and during the event. What we're now experiencing, for instance, with the bike race, the bike race is wonderful. It's the unscheduled post-event, post-bike-race events and activities take place either of a commercial nature or the general spontaneity of what happens when people are out all day into the early 811 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET evening drinking things above the level of water or Gatorade and that often leads to some post-event activity maybe we did not anticipate.

Okay.

Gloria Jackson Senior Assistant Managing Director. Councilman, what exactly is your question?

I don't know how we categorize our events, but obviously we have the big event that takes place on the Parkway, Center City Parade and Penns Landing. What I'd like to know is how we approach the smaller, technically smaller neighborhood-based events that can have significant effect on access, congestion, transportation issues and kind of general quality of life issues. Whether it's the Greek Picnic or the bike race where you may have street closures that we may get in some parts of the district in a one or two-day time frame, how we coordinate with neighborhood groups or individuals, institutions churches hospitals and the like to make sure these events go off well and people's lives are not totally disrupted?

One of things we do is we meet with the community, the major community groups 812 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET and assess what their needs are in terms of the neighborhoods in terms of transportation and the safety of the people in that particular area. For example, Adunde is a festival that's held on South Street. One of the things I work very closely with the organizers of that event is we have in place for all the departments for trash removal, for clean up, for EMS coverage and we also try to make it safe for the neighborhoods in terms of whether or not we can get access if there's an emergency down that particular street. As you know, South Street is very small. So what we try to do for the vendors who are there, we have put in place that we leave a corridor we can get a vehicle from one end of the City to the other in that particular area.

We create lead time to coordinate all of these arrangements and logistics of whose doing what and when are they doing activities with both the elected officials, community groups, and other people in the area?

That is correct. I had a task force which is the special events task force which includes all the operating departments that would be involved in any kind of event. And we 813 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET coordinate accordingly.

We put together a calendar quarterly.

That's correct.

There's no reason for not sharing that with Councilmembers so you know what's coming to your area.

Many of these events are somewhat regular. We know every year in July there's Greek picnic. We know every year, what is it, August, there's bike race.

Unity Day.

As we do become better successful they become more institutionalized.

We are organized now, Councilman, than we have been.

There's also sort of a codification going around right now of our processes.

One of the new events you may want to put on your calendar, Councilman Rizzo, is JK Day. I think that may be a citywide event celebrating the new ideas and 814 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET initiatives from -- (Laughter.)

So you're all over that and you were working with us and the different groups to make sure we're coordinating on the smaller events.

I think that sharing information back and forth is most helpful for all of us and we can watch each other's back.

Thank you, Ms. Jackson. First time up at the table?

Yes.

I think it won't be your last. Very good. Very good testimony. Thank you. Two last things Managing Director. With Commissioner Johnson Police Commissioner Johnson we attempted to establish a zero tolerance program in one of our what we think is a continuing thriving and growing commercial corridor on Main Street. Because of a proliferation of restaurants and some liquor license establishments, most of whom are very good business enterprises. Some of them have a little bit of problem maintaining semblance of order 815 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET and control over their customers. Some of the other issues in a couple other commercial corridors, Lansdowne Avenue in West Philadelphia for one, and we've had some additional issues Haverford Avenue in the Overbrook Section, these kinds of efforts do require a significant amount of coordination between and among a variety of agencies. And not to go back to the earlier discussion, but again, whether we call them a particular thing or not or whether it's just how we work between and among the departments, that kind of coordination is important and quite necessary. Let me at least, again, put on the record that our earlier comments with regard to programs, coordination of services, regardless of where they may function in the different Councilmatic districts, in no way, shape, and form imply those activities are not going on. It's the success of what has happened that now drives -- information is available to everyone. Many of us get calls and expresses of concern about -- it's not people don't want someone to have something. I'm very happy that these pilot kinds of program start up. What they're really crying out for is "What about us?" And so I'm pleased that this activity is 816 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET taking place. It did have to start somewhere. Every good idea starts somewhere. Now we've almost become I think it's working and we'd like to see it. Lastly, could you comment on, beyond your comments in the newspaper today, the story with regard to the general size of our vehicular fleet and more specifically the sports utility vehicle story today, with regard to our interest or propensity toward those particular vehicles and all that goes with those vehicles and various other types of vehicles, what's the story here?

Let me be brutally honest with you. I think we have too many cars. I think Fleet Management zero base review of my department. Frankly, coming from the private sector, this is a practice that disappeared a long time ago. I don't think we can afford it. And I think we have to rationalize who has vehicles and who doesn't have vehicles and who gets parking and who doesn't get parking. I'm sure a lot of people aren't going to like me saying that. That's frankly what I believe. I want to go about it in the right manner. The SUVs, I'm not familiar with all the details. I know we have a lot of SUVs out there. I 817 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET think some of them perfectly legitimate and some of them sure are not. We're going to take a review. We will start in my office and start with that. But I just think that we got complete management. And I don't think we have that luxury anymore. I plan to take a look at it. That look has already started.

It might be helpful -- I don't spend much time over Fleet Management, given both the general issue and a bit of the profile of it and some of the, I guess, facts and figures or at least at times what may qualify as facts and figures in a news account, it might be helpful if you could help us better understand the issue and kind of go through this particular piece. If they are faxing things that are either wrong or inflated or just don't make any sense within the particular story, it probably would be helpful for us to understand that. I was -- the one thing that kind of jump out of me is the shear number of SUVs that we have. And I think one of the paragraphs indicated that we had more than 5 times other cities involved including, Chicago, which seems like fair amount of snow in Chicago. I know we've had our fair share this year. In previous years we haven't 818 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET had that much. It's one of situation if you're in situation where you need it, it's nice to have it. But, I mean for about the other 350 days of the year, the rain around here or the occasional pothole generally is not that bad. If you want to look at that, I'd appreciate it.

I think it's an issue look it. I don't want to get into debating the newspaper. We will review our policies.

Thank you very much. Thanks.

The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to go back to my colleagues question about Daggett Street. I want to point something out you might want to address. And I think it may already have been addressed. I want to take advantage of point this out. Some of the residents contacted Councilman Nutter and my office about the properties they moved out, and one particular resident got a violation that the grass wasn't cut. Now, I would hope that the properties could somehow been tagged that are the Daggett Street homes which 819 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET the folks had to leave for various reasons. It's a very distressing situation to put a violation notice on that they didn't cut the grass. That it's equally distressing -- I don't know what the responsibility -- I assume it's a fact those property owners are still responsible for their properties, but at this point could Risk Management and everyone else involved in this, somehow that process could stop. And going forward into the spring if this condition is still existing and the grass grows, who's responsible to cut it? Because I think the other neighbors on the block don't want to see that blight on their block. If we have to go out and cut the grass or whatever; whose responsibility, I don't know at this point. I don't know in this process. I think you understand where I'm going here.

I got it.

Thanks, Madam Chair. By the way, since I have the microphone -- I'll talk to you off the record on this. Thanks.

Any other questions from Members of the Committee? 820 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET (No response.)

Thank you very much. We appreciate your presence. - - - 00821 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget

The Police Department is next to testify. Is the Police Commissioner here? Good afternoon, Commissioner. Thank you for your patience. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Yes, ma'am.

Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: All right. Good morning, Council President Verna and Members of City Council. I am Sylvester Johnson, Police Commissioner. With me are the Police Department's Deputy Commissioner and Finance Officer. We are ready to answer any question that you have on the Police Department's budget request. Our General Fund budget request for Fiscal Year 2004 is $485,195,245. Most of this money will be used to employ 6,910 sworn personnel. In addition, we plan to employ 930 civilians, 1,037 School Crossing Guards, including 159 sworn officers assigned to the airport and 00822 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget funded through the Aviation Department. Our total sworn strength for Fiscal Year 2004 will be 7,069. This is the highest number sworn officers in the Department in over 6 years. 7 As you know, in October the 8 Department started to lose those who signed up for 9 DROP four years ago. Altogether, 409 sworn 10 officers and 39 civilian employees will be leaving 11 the Department in Fiscal Year '04 because of the 12 DROP. 13 This includes some of our best 14 commanders. This poses a big challenge for us, 15 but I'm sure that we have the talent to fill those vacancies, without reducing the level of service that we provide. To fill the gaps caused by those who are leaving, we will be hiring 555 recruits in Fiscal Year 2003, 486 more in Fiscal Year 2004. Operation Safe Streets. Since I was here last year, the quality of life in our neighborhood has greatly improved. This is largely due to Operation Safe Streets. As everyone knows, Safe Streets stems from the 00823 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget Mayor's commitment to improve the quality of life in Philadelphia, has been the force behind the operation, has been a strong supporter of the members of the Police Department, who have to do the work. Council has also been very supportive, and I'm very grateful both to you and to the Mayor for this. Also want to thank the officers whose efforts have made Operation Safe Streets so successful, that people have come from all across the world to study it. We began Safe Streets by looking at maps of the City that show where most drug dealings, shootings, and other violence happen. Not surprisingly, the same corner stood out on each map. We made a list of about 300 of those worst corners and assigned teams of police officers to patrol them. Operation Safe Streets has now moved into a new phase. Instead of covering all our target corners with officers on foot, we have begun to put officers on bicycles. This is making us more flexible. They can respond more quickly to changes in the drug corners, diverting the 00824 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget violence. Using officers on bicycles has also helped us to cut overtime. Safety Streets Citizen Bike Patrol. The new Citizen Bike Patrol Mayor Street announced in September of 2002 also helps the Safe Street Program. Based on a generous donation of 100 bikes from Citizens Bank, the Safety Citizen Bike Patrol is being organized as part of the City's Town Watch Program. It will put about 340 citizens on bikes on the streets each day. Although Safe Streets has made a big difference to the amount of open air drug dealings in our City, we know that some drug dealers have taken their business indoors or operating from vehicles. We will deal with them. Our Narcotics Field Unit and our Strike Force are continuing to break up established drug organizations. Every time one of these organizations is taken out, a large number of street-level dealers are put out of business. Question: Has Operation Safe Streets been successful? Has Operation Safe Streets been a success? Ask those who live in the 00825 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget neighborhoods that have been free from the drug dealers and the violence that goes with them. They have no doubts about it. Safe Streets has changed their lives.

The crime statistics tell the same story. There's been fewer murders, fewer other major crimes, fewer crimes generally in the period since May 1, 2002, when Safe Streets began, than in the same period last year. As of February 2, 2003, murders are down over ten percent. Part 1 offenses are down by 13 percent. And overall crime has decreased by 9 percent. Every year since 1997, the City has organized an independent survey to find out what citizens feel about City services. I'm very proud that in the latest survey, that for 2002, almost 65 percent of those who answered the survey said that they were satisfied with police protection. This is the highest satisfaction rate the Department has ever had. That does not mean that I think we have done enough. In my testimony last year I said 00826 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget that while the Department was proud of the fact that the numbers of murders in Philadelphia has fallen over the past four years, these numbers were still too high. I am very pleased to tell you that the numbers of murders in 2002 was down by 7 percent from 2001, from 309 to 288. But I still think these numbers are too high. I want to get them down further. The Heads-Up Program. Despite the success of Safe Streets, experience has shown that we can not rid our society of illegal drugs by traditional policing methods. That is why I believe The Heads-Up program is so important, and why I want to continue to develop it and present it whenever and wherever there is a genuine interest. During 2002 program was presented to some 61,000 people in 350 performances in schools, churches, and other venues. We expect these numbers to be higher this year. And I would just like to read one of the letters of numerous amount of letters that I receive and The Heads-Up Program. This is from The Charles Carroll High School. 00827 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget Dear Commissioner Johnson, very rarely does one experience a program that so impacts an entire audience. Your presentation did just that. It was extremely informative, enlightening, and profoundly powerful. You need to understand, through those who have experienced the horror of drugs, it shatters dreams, destroys and devastates lives. As evidenced by the reaction I saw in the faces of my students, your labor of love, exposed the downhill courses that drug addiction can take you. If only two lives out of 200 were spared from the tragedy that drugs brings them, that means an entire family, perhaps, in the community perhaps been spared. My grateful generosity I give to you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That was the Principal, Doris Williams. Fighting Terrorism. As I said last year, the events of September 11th gave the Police Department a new mission. We're now responsible for fighting terrorism and responding to terrorism not only in the City, but also the whole of the 00828 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget Philadelphia region. We therefore set up a new Counter Terrorism Bureau, headed by a Chief Inspector, including 76 members, all of them transferred from other units. The sorts of things that the Bureau has been doing includes: Development training for police officers and other first responders in how to deal with infectious disease, such as smallpox. Meeting with business and civilian communities to teach them about security precautions, evacuations, and overall strategy for dealing with terrorists. Meeting with the leadership of the counties around Philadelphia to prepare a regional mobilization plan for use in the event of a terrorist attack. The Bureau also investigates any incidents that appears to have a terrorist connection. The total cost of the Counter-Terrorism Bureau, including training, investigation, equipment and personnel expenditures, is estimated to exceed $10 million a year. 00829 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget Live Stop. Terrorism has attracted a lot of media attention since September the 11th.

But in my view not enough attention has been paid to those who died or are seriously injured in vehicle accidents each year. The large number of these deaths or injuries are caused by individuals driving vehicles that are unregistered or uninsured. To reduce the numbers, the City introduced a Live Stop Program July 1, 2002. It takes off the road any vehicle driven by someone without proper operation privilege or registration. Live Stop is making our streets safer. It is reducing the number of abandoned vehicles on our streets. This is because many of the vehicles impounded fit the criteria set for declaring a vehicle abandoned and are treated as such. School Safety. I want to say a few words about school safety. From the beginning of this school year we have made a number of changes to the way the Police Department handles school safety. 00830 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget These changes have been agreed with Mr. Paul Vallas, Chief Executive of the School District, who improve the safety of those who attend our schools, as well as those who work in them. We now have an Inspector in the Police Department whose full-time job is to be School Liaison Officer, who reports to the Chief of the Patrol Bureau, so that he can assure that safety of our schools is closely linked to the safety of our streets. We have also made our District 14 Captains Commanders, directly responsible for the 15 safety of the schools in their Districts. 16 This replaced the arrangement that I 17 declared last year, where six captains based in 18 the six patrol divisions, are responsible for 19 school safety in their division. 20 Under the new arrangement, the 21 District Captains are accountable for every aspect 22 of the policing of their community, including the 23 schools. They will be expected to develop close working relationships with the heads of all schools in their Districts. This is a much better 00831 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget way of assuring the safety of our young people. Maximize the Effectiveness of Officers on the Street. Both fighting drugs and fighting terrorism involve using scarce manpower. Given the limits of the numbers of officers the Department can recruit, train and pay, we need to make the best use of those we have. The Department, therefore, is developing a transfer policy that will enable us to use our manpower more effectively, particularly in emergencies. In addition, we would like to introduce transfers based on performance. P. shares the goal of providing the citizens of Philadelphia with the best law enforcement service possible. We have been working well together, and I look forward to continuing this positive relationship. Managing the Police Overtime. The Police Department is budgeting to spend $77 million on overtime in Fiscal Year '03, and $56 million Fiscal Year '04. We are continuing to reduce the costs of overtime. We have already cut our 00832 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget administrative overtime. We have also stopped assigning an entire squad from the Narcotics Bureau, the Safe Streets Program, on an overtime basis. Court overtime accounts for over 45 percent of our total sworn overtime bill. We're always looking for new ways to reduce it. One of the best ways is by cutting down the numbers of officers required to testify in court in any particular case. The Department now provides only one police officer and occasionally two for each preliminary hearing. It used to be common for four officer to appear in each case. This practice has already saved a large amount of overtime. We are also working with the District Attorney's Office on the arrangement to give police officers at least 48 hours' notice for court appearances. Our size and technology is now an important part of policing. Our Department has a good record for applying new technology, and I'm very hopeful that we can continue it.

00833 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget I won't spend so much time this morning telling you about all the latest developments in this area. They are described in the written version of my testimony that you have. But I do want to mention our new state-of-the-art Forensic Science Center, built at 8th and Poplar Street in the Worcester School. It should be ready in the fall, and I look forward to welcoming Members of Council to the formal opening ceremony at that time. In conclusion, as the Mayor said in his Budget Address on January 28th, world class citizens must be safe. For this reason, his commitment to the success of Operation Safe Streets and to crime reduction is unequivocal. The goal of his Administration is to make Philadelphia the safest big city in America, and to that end, has proposed to make the largest investment of public safety in the history of this City. I am confident that the proposals that I have outlined will enable the Mayor to achieve these objectives. The men and women of the Philadelphia Police Department includes some of 00834 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget the finest police officers, commanders and civilian support staff in the country. If we give them the tools required in this Budget, they will do the job. Thank you very much, Council President.

Thank you. Commissioner, of the 409 sworn officers that will be going out on DROP, how many of them are high-ranking officers? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, there's quite a few. I don't know the exact numbers, but what we did, though -- And the Mayor let us do last year -- March of last year I over promoted. Say, for example, as chief inspectors leave and inspectors leave, I made numerous amounts of promotions then. And what I basically did, say, for example in the Detective Bureau, I have a Senior Chief Inspector and a Junior Chief Inspector, both working together. But the facts are that the Senior Chief Inspector has 44 years and the Junior Chief Inspector has 35 years. So even though he's junior in rank, he still has enough time and 00835 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget experience to run those departments. I say thanks to the Mayor and the Administration. Last year we knew the DROP Program was coming, and we've been preparing for it. Sometime in the near future, I'm going to request from the Mayor and the Managing Director to make additional promotions, after talking to my Executive Staff. Again, we knew it was coming. We've been preparing for it, and I think that once it does take place, the citizens of Philadelphia will not see any difference.

That's wonderful. I'm glad to hear that. Commissioner, do we have our full complement of school crossing guards? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER NESTEL: Tom Nestel, Deputy Police Commissioner. We're authorized to have 1,037. As of this morning, we had 1,007. And we are in the process of filling those 30 vacancies.

And when will they be filled? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER NESTEL: They 00836 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget will be filled as quickly as possible. Our School Crossing Guard Unit works on that very diligently. We tried to do at least five a week when we have vacancies.

Why do we always have so many vacancies with School Crossing Guards? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER NESTEL: There is a large turnover in the School Crossing Guard Unit. We've also had several recent retirements.

Councilman Rizzo.

Commissioner, if that in fact is the case, that we have these large numbers of vacancies, why don't we have a pool, a list, standing by to hire them? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER NESTEL: We do have a list standing by to hire.

So then why do we have 30 vacancies? The minute we have two, why don't we fill it? The minute we have one more --

Councilman, are you referring to, like, a roving type? Someone with a crossing guard, and on any 00837 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget given day a particular corner is vacant, that guard would be sent to that corner?

No, that's not -- That might be a good idea, but that's not my question. You presently have 30 vacancies. Someone leaves. You should have a list in a week to have that person replaced. I don't understand why we have to have a list of vacancies that grows to 30 before we start replacing these people. Don't we replace people every day so this list is quickly -- that mandate that you have is maintained constantly? My point being, I can't understand why we have 30 vacancies. If you have a list of people, hire them and fill the list, fill the vacancies. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER NESTEL: I wish it were that simple. It isn't. There are existing lists. We have to survey the people on those lists to see if they're still interested. We have to talk to the guards in other locations who have expressed the desire to be transferred. There is a lot involved. We are 00838 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget doing our best to fill every one of those slots.

Well, you know, I appreciate our best. But when it comes to kids, we have to do more than our best. So if you have a system that obviously is cumbersome, maybe you need to work on refining that process, because I can't understand if you have a list of a hundred people, that you can't go to the other guards and see if they want to upgrade to another corner, and then hire someone. If you have a hundred people on the list, it doesn't sound like to me it should take a long time to fill the position. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: But if I can say something, I think what happens, too, is that once there is a list, we do a background investigation of who's on that list. But as far as the children are concerned, those corners who are not being supplied with the 30 school crossing guards are covered by police officers. So the safety of the children is not in peril at that point. I understand very much 00839 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget what you're saying, Council Person. But I think our Administration is doing everything to make sure that the -- We become short on police officers. I would like to hire police officers every time there's one leaves, but sometimes that's just not possible to do. But I'm saying that as far as the Department's concerned, we will fill those vacancies as fast as possible.

Commissioner, if you could leave me with the assurance that when a police officer covers a school crossing, that that car is out of service, that won't leave for any reason, then, you know, I'll buy into what you say. But I'm going to pursue the process. But if you leave me with the assurance that a police car will be out of service at a school crossing guard and not leave for any reason, I'll say thank you. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: I could never assure you of that, because quite naturally if I put police officers out there and there's a 00840 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget shooting and there's an emergency that takes place, then that person has to go.

That's more important than kids crossing the street in the Police Department's eyes, right? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: If there's a person being shot or injured a block away, two blocks away, I think that an emergent situation would be more important at that point.

That system where... You know, maybe I'll buy into that, a block away, two blocks away. But what takes that car away from the school crossing? Could you provide the Chair the information? I'd like to know about the process, about replacing these school crossing guards, and I would appreciate knowing what would take that police car away from that school crossing? What type of a crime in progress would leave that intersection uncovered? Because I know of a situation where there was a child killed, I believe -- correct me if I'm wrong -- where there was no school crossing guard or police car at the school crossing. I 00841 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget think... Was it Hunting Park and Clearfield? I'm not sure, so I don't want to speculate here. But I know of cases where I know of -- I know intersections on my way to work where there's normally a school crossing guard. When the school crossing guard's not there, I don't see a police car. So I don't know if that system works as well as you believe it does. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, I just want the Council to realize that everyone's safety is a concern of ours, especially children. And we have no intention or just purposely leaving any corner or anything vacant, with the idea that a child may be hurt there. I am very concerned, as the entire Department is concerned. So as I say, again, we will hire these school crossing guards as fast as possible. That's the only commitment that I can give you.

But Commissioner, again, I respect that; but if there is some bureaucracy that you're dealing with that this Council can help you cut through... You know, you're the Police Commissioner. We have some 00842 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget abilities maybe here in this 17-group member that you don't have. So if you're running up against a bureaucracy that's not permitting you to move this process forward, I think instead of -- You know, and I'm not suggesting you're being defensive, or Commissioner Nestel, but I think we can help you with this. Because I would like to see the positions filled as quickly as possible. And if you're having a problem getting that done as quickly as possible, I think I personally would like to know about it, because I'll go to the Mayor, if it's necessary, or whoever it takes, to make the process move quicker. Because in Philadelphia shootings, yes, they're important. But those kids crossing the street, especially at a crossing where they're normally being assisted by a school crossing guard, I think you're putting them out. I think we're making them vulnerable. Thank you very much. Thanks, Madam Chair. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: All right. 00843 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget Thank you, sir.

Commissioner, have the 30 vacancies existed since September? How long have we had these vacancies? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER NESTEL: Council President, no, they have not. It fluctuates as people leave and we rehire, but they have not existed since September.

Well, it's probably been several months, since you have 30 vacancies. I don't think that happens overnight. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER NESTEL: I don't know how long it's been, but I will check.

All right. Commissioner, on of your testimony you indicate that there have been regular meetings with members of the business and civilian communities, to instruct them on topics ranging from security precautions, evacuations, and overall strategies for dealing with terrorism. 150 such meetings were held in FY'03 and a similar number is expected in FY'04. Do you think that we, as elected officials, could be included in that number? 00844 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Yes, ma'am.

I would really appreciate it. Also, Commissioner, can you tell us how much you currently are spending on court-related overtime? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER NESTEL: We spend approximately $21 million a year.

It seems that each year it gets higher, and each year we keep talking about how this figure could be cut, for court-related overtime, and how this could possibly be cut. And I know that several years ago there was supposed to be meetings with the District Attorney and the Police Commissioner, and I believe the court system, probably the Administrative Judge. Are we looking at ways to... 's office. I hate to date myself, but we didn't have computers. And manually I would go through the bills of indictments. And you would make certain that two police officers maybe had 00845 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget four or five cases in the one courtroom. Today we have computers. Why couldn't that be done? And I know that that's not your job. But there has to be a way of reducing court-related overtime. As I said, each year it just seems to be escalating. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: I think what you'll find next year, that it will be reduced. Maybe about two months ago I met with the administrative people from the Municipal Court, Common Pleas Court, and from the District Attorney's office. And one of the things that they asked me to do is assign more police officers to the Court Liaison Unit, with the idea of looking over investigative reports and eliminating police officers. Within two weeks I assigned an additional 12 people to the courts. In addition to that, one of the things that became a problem is that a lot of times officers were assigned to court and at the same time were assigned to training. So, they continued it. I've eliminated that. When they're assigned to court, the court has the first 00846 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget priority. One of the other things that's one of our biggest problems that the court and the District Attorney is going to have to help us with, is these overnight court notices, where an officer is subpoenaed to court o'clock at night. 8 They appear in court the very next day, which becomes a big problem with us. We're very concerned, because not only do we want our court cases to go on, because what's happening, if you look at the big picture, when the case is continued, that means that the defendant who has not made bail is still in court, which is going to cost the City even more money. So I've made my commitment to the District Attorney's office, to both courts, that the Police Department will do everything we can to eliminate the overtime, to eliminate and work along with them. They, in turn, will have to work along with us. One of the things that was happening a lot of times is that we had a court liaison person in court or read the court case the night before, and eliminated four or five people, and 00847 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget then send this over to the District Attorney's office. And we're starting to eliminate that. And then they disregard what this person says, because a lot of times they need people there. A lot of times, too, especially in the area of narcotics, the officer gets four or five court cases at one time. If he's not physically in position, what I've asked them to do is not to discharge that case, but to hold the case for the entire day. In other words, if they have a court listing and call a case 10 o'clock in the morning, and the officer's not physically there at that point, he may be in another courtroom. By putting the liaison people also inside the courtroom, which I've also made the commitment to do, then we will know exactly where that officer's at and will be able to get ahold of him within 15 minutes after the court case is called. So we've been working on that. And I think in the very near future -- Because the court has also decided that what they're going to try to work on...

And again, especially in the 00848 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget area of narcotics, which is a lot of our court cases, if we can put narcotics court cases all on the same floor, instead of being spread out through the entire building, then it will be easier for the officer to go from one court case to another. And then if he can just be in the hallway and just go to that particular case, the case wouldn't be discharged or just done with that particular day.

Do we have what we call a drug court? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Yes, we do.

And do we have one, two, three? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: I believe we have one drug court at this point. And in that particular case, that drug court, what's happening a lot of times what's going on is that instead of having four officers go there, they only have one. They've let the hearsay rule kick in. Where sometimes we would have an officer, again, in narcotics which is our biggest problem, you might have one officer get the narcotics, one officer get the money, one officer get the 00849 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget surveillance. We'll, they're letting this one officer testify to the entire incident, which is a big help to us.

I would think it would be. And do you think that we need more than one drug court? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: I think, with the issues that we have going on right now, I think we need more than one court case -- I mean, one court --

Courtroom. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Courtroom. It would help us out, it would help the administrative out. It would help out in a whole lot of different ways.

Thank you. And I just want to publicly applaud you, Commissioner, for the wonderful work that you're doing. I'm certainly glad that you're there. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: All right. Thank you very much.

There are a number of Council Members that want to be 00850 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget recognized. The first is Councilwoman Tasco.

Thank you very much. I, too, would like to thank you for the hard work that you're doing in the Police Department. Appreciate your accessibility to me and my office. I recall with concerns... And not just you but the other, the captains and inspectors that we work with in the District. So, we have a good relationship in that regard. So we want you to know that we appreciate what you do. It's hard work. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: All right. Thank you very much.

I know we have a Bill here in Council that's on the calendar to try and open up the process to recruit officers from outside of Philadelphia, and give them an opportunity to take the test before they move into the City, and that's still on hold. I'd just like to ask you: How are you doing with recruiting new police officers, as the DROP program comes about? And you say you have prepared for the loss of these experienced 00851 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget officers. But how has the process for new recruits worked? And are we moving along, getting new people and good people? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, we have a recruitment unit that goes out on a continuous basis to try to recruit from the colleges, from the different places. In addition to that, I've been meeting with the minority communities, the Asians, the Latinos, the Koreans because we also need them. The fact is that recruitment throughout the entire country for law enforcement has been very difficult. Our last police examination that we gave, 15,000 people applied for the test. 4700 took the test. And I believe 2700 passed the test. And this is less than eight or nine months ago, which means within the next month or two we're going to have to give a new test. In addition to that, the requirements that we have in place eliminate close to 94 and 95 percent of the people who take the test and pass the test, are eliminated for one 00852 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget reason or another. One of the things that I did, and this is my personal view, because I used to be in charge of the Background Unit. We got rid of the Polygraph Unit and the polygraph for new applicants. We were one of the only major cities in the nation with a polygraph. And I felt as though a more excessive background information was more fair. One of the other things that we really have to look into that a lot of people were being rejected for years ago, about their drug use. And to me, if you have a person growing up at 17th and Susquehanna or 8th and Indiana who experimented with drugs one time in 10 or 15 years' experience, I don't think he's really a bad child. Also, as a juvenile, in certain areas, he may come in contact, been arrested as a juvenile 15- or 16-year-old. You're now or 30 24 years old. So I believe it's more important to 25 look at it on a case-to-case basis instead of just 00853 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget looking at it overall. The argument is... Right now what's in place is where you have to live in the City one year prior to taking the test. I think if the rules are changed, that if you have people take the test, pass the test, assigned to the Academy, and they would have one year to move in to the City, which would bring a whole lot more people to come in. One of the concerns is that will that eliminate a lot of the minorities inside the City? I think I'd really have to look into what our rules and regulations are now, because we have a lot of people that were taking the test but they were rejected, for one reason or another. So I'm trying to do both, to make sure. And all I want is our system to be fair and consistent to everybody. And as I said, I don't think it's fair for a kid, if they grow up in a drug affected area, to have maybe used drugs one time, even sold drugs on the corner, that now 14 or 15 years later, that should not prevent him from becoming a Philadelphia Police Officer. 00854 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget

There is a good argument for people to change their lives, if we encourage them, that they can change their lives. And the system has to be receptive to that, and you know, it will certainly cut down on them remaining in that criminal element community forever. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Yes, ma'am.

It gives them an opportunity to move forward. I think that's a very good idea. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Thank you.

One other question. I know that, you know, the Safe Streets Program, you have over 300 corners in the City. And I have a couple. And I've called you, and you've responded. But in terms of trying to address the issue, one corner that has been ongoing with drug activity ever since I was elected in '87, is at 78th and Michener, and Temple Road, 7900 block of Temple Road. And I'd like to know if -- And maybe you don't want to make that public, but it needs to be a part of the Safe Streets Program if 00855 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget it isn't. I mean, those families over there have been held hostage for years. And of course, there are the residents, children who live there, who are part of that problem. But it's ongoing. And it is something people live with every day and call us every day about. And also the 76, 77, the upper half of Ogontz Avenue is a problem, and that has to be addressed. We have the deli at 77th and Ogontz. We have the Whispers Bar. It is terrible. And of course, we have the Jaguar, where we had all that shooting. Now, we can't say it was the Jaguar, but the presence of that bar has been always a thorn in my side. But certainly for me, when the Mayor talks about Safe Streets, and what's happening to people being protected, these neighbors can't relate to that. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Okay. Then what I would do, and I guarantee I will make that a priority... As a matter of fact, we talked 00856 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget about that area because I used to live up in that area not too long ago.

You mean you moved? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Yes, ma'am.

Where did you move to? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: I'm in Southwest Philadelphia.

Okay. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: But you know, I will make that a priority. That has been a concern of ours for a long period of time. And when we developed the Safe Street corners, we picked corners where there was actually a shooting or robbery or homicide, something happened on that particular corner. And we have tremendous help up there in the West Oak Lane area, and the Mt. Airy area and we have formed -- And I can call your office later on -- an entire new task force that's going to address that problem up there. And we will eliminate that problem. We have tremendous information up 00857 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget there. We've identified two organizations up there. And I might be talking too much, but I guarantee that that has been a concern of ours, and it will be a priority of mine. And even starting tonight, I will send Narcotics Strike Force up to that area to be up there until we can clean that area up.

Well, and I can't say that you all haven't responded. But just like you have moved drug dealers from corners in other parts of the City, then we've got to find a way to get them out of there. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Yes, ma'am.

Because the Department has responded. You've sent Strike Forces up there before. But they're back. You know, once your folks leave... We had the Bike Patrol for a bit. That's no longer there. We need a bike patrol also. It just gives the people a sense that something's being done in their community also. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, I think the mandate from the Mayor and also from myself is that whenever there's drugs, that no matter what 00858 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget part of the City they are in, we have to attack those problems. Unfortunately, it took us 25, 30 years to get into this condition, and it's hard to get out in one or two years. And traditional policing will never solve it. We will never change the way of life. We need those partnerships between the community. We have it with the politicians and the clergy. And we will never arrest our way out of this problem. But at the same time, we're going to do everything we can to make sure that that way of life people have, and it's important. And I said, starting tonight -- And I know our people are already up there, but I say, we have a lot of good information from up there. We have a whole lot of new people assigned to the Narcotics Field Unit also, identify some organizations. And if we take up those organizations, then we will eliminate a lot of that activity up there. And we're working in conjunction with DEA, FBI, in the Federal sector. 00859 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget

Thank you.

Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I know I'm out of position, but I can still ask my question. In the first page of the testimony, Commissioner, you made reference to the DROP program, the 409 sworn and the 39 civilians. And at the last sentence there you say, we'll be hiring and training 555 recruits in FY'03 and an additional 486 in FY'04. What's the average size of a police class? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, for this time, the last class was... I think from my career or from my information, the biggest class we've ever had... Well, let me say this: The class we have right now is 150 officers.

Okay. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: And that's the largest class that I've ever seen now.

And that 150, I'm going to assume, is a part of this larger 555. 00860 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget I mean, we've already -- I'm assuming we've already started -- COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Yes, we have.

-- doing the 555 recruiting, given the fact that we only have four months left in the fiscal year. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Okay. Well, we had a class start, I think it was, in December, I believe, of 150. In April we will have another class of 150. Deputy Commissioner Nestel has a complete record. Okay. April we'll have a class of 105. No; we had a class of 105 start in August of '02.

Okay. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: In December we had a class of 150 start. In April we'll have an additional class of 150. And in June we're going to have an additional class of 150.

Okay. And then you're going to roll -- And then you're going to keep on that same kind of schedule for '04, pretty much? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, in 00861 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget '04 -- In October of this year we'll have another class of 125, in February of '04, a class of 125. Two months later in April we'll have a class of 125. And two months later in June we'll have a class of 111.

Let me ask this question. I mean, putting aside -- I mean, you're basically bringing on an additional thousand, little over -- looks like a little over a thousand officers in the course of a year and a half, close to two years. I mean, what's the normal recruiting cycle or... I mean, in any normal fiscal year, how many classes are you usually running? Two? Three? COMMISSIONER NESTEL: We normally run three classes of 80 per class. We average hiring 240 people per year.

All right. So it sounds like we're almost doubling our efforts here, to make sure that we're basically at the same complement level? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Yes, sir.

Any anticipated 00862 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget impact on the Academy or our training forces, given the fact that we're kind of rapidly doubling our efforts? Any anticipated kind of stress or strain on the facilities up there? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, one of the things that Commissioner Nestel constantly does or did this time also is that you've asked for additional personnel up there also. As a matter of fact, I just transferred two sergeants yesterday. And as the class comes out, we will give additional people. But in a training bureau, normally there you have people who are training recruits, but we have in-service training.

Right. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: That goes on continuously.

The regular complement of officers have to go back to the Academy for their own training, right? COMMISSIONER NUTTER: That's correct, so I try to -- Because training is very important. And when I came in the Academy, it was five weeks. The academy is now ten months. And 00863 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget so that's one of the reasons that we're trying to get these officers in as soon as we possibly can.

You did pretty well with the five weeks. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, okay. Thank you.

But I understand why you've extended it. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Yes, sir.

My last issue is, and this is one that I've had an ongoing discussion with previous commissioners, as well as the Budget Director and some of the other officers in the force. And again, I'm obviously very sensitive to our budgetary concerns. But you know, when you talk about training, some of that training, naturally, does take place at the Academy. But also, and this is not to get into a big police/fire issue but I mean, obviously there are more police officers than fire fighters. The whole issue of, I guess, training and education and professional development for police 00864 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget officers, somewhat similar to what the Fire Department has, in terms of the tuition reimbursement program and the opportunities for officers to, if they desire, upgrade their education and training at one of the fine colleges and universities that we have in Philadelphia or in the Philadelphia region. Do you know if there are any opportunities here to enhance the tuition reimbursement program for police officers who wish to further their education? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, there is. In addition, what we have, to be a little bit specific, we have Mr. Cal Rupin that gave limited scholarships or assistance to approximately 50 officers. But in addition to that, we sent some of our commanders, lieutenants and above, to the FBI National Academy for 14 weeks. We sent them to Harvard University. We sent them to Northwestern University; that is, Northwestern comes here for, like, a 10 or 15-week management course, sergeant and above. In addition to that, we have just 00865 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget made arrangements with University of Pennsylvania, who will be giving classes for some of our managers: Lieutenants, again, and above. And we have a police foundation that helps us out quite a bit. And we have, I think, four people in school right now going for their law degree, that they're paid totally for. And one of the other incentives that we have for officers to go back to school. And our promotional examinations and all our promotions are by Civil Service, and it's by ranking. If you have a bachelors degree, I believe you get a point, which makes a big difference. If you have a master's degree, you get a point and a half, to give the officers the initiative to go back on their own. But we also have things in place that we're looking to right now, of using some money from the police foundation, to make sure that we can supplement or help officers who have the desire to go back to school for law enforcement, to be able to assist them and help them in that area. 00866 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget

Okay. One, I'm glad to hear of those additional efforts. I think anything that we can do for our entire work force, but certainly I know that many of the officers have expressed an interest in possibly, as you indicated, going back to school, getting degrees, whether it's a bachelors, masters, or some other type of education from degree-granting institutions, which certainly is going to, I think, ultimately make them better public servants, better police officers. Naturally, it also enhances their career. I mean, we don't necessarily want them to go to school and then leave us. But whatever we can do to provide those kinds of opportunities and make it easier for the officers. Certainly getting a degree can be very expensive while they're still trying to do their jobs out on the streets for us. But again, I understand that we've, you know, have our various budgetary issues. There are a lot of police officers, again, in comparison to most other parts of the government. But if there are opportunities for us 00867 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget to enhance that kind of tuition reimbursement, I think it's a good investment. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Yes, sir.

Thank you, Commissioner. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.

Thank you, Madam President. Good morning, Commissioners. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Good morning.

I would like to continue with Councilman Nutter's line of questioning around professional development, and particularly opportunities for women. I'm curious to know what strategies or plan of actions do you have in place that allow for women to at least get on line for promotions through the ranks, up through and including leadership. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: I think very 00868 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget honestly, you know, we have more female officers in Philadelphia than anywhere in the entire nation. And sitting with me today, I'm proud to say, is our first female Deputy Commissioner.

Congratulations. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: And when she was appointed, I made the statement that we didn't appoint her based on the fact that she was a woman. We appointed her based on her qualifications, based on the fact that she earned that. I think what you'll find, especially in Philadelphia, because women did have a hard time for 20, years -- 18

And my question 19 goes to the later because I trust that you're 20 going to move people in place based on 21 qualifications and the like. But to the latter, 22 that opportunity has not heretofore, until your 23 arrival, occurred. 24 COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: I really 25 think the opportunity happened before me, because 00869 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget all our promotions are by Civil Service. I didn't promote her from police officer to Deputy Commissioner. She was a sergeant. She was a lieutenant. She was a captain. She was an inspector. She's been to the FBI Academy. But at this point we have women in every rank of the Department, I believe, except Chief Inspector. And we also have women in almost every Division, including our SWAT Unit, our Highway Patrol, in the Department. So women have the opportunity, and they have no certain... not so much privilege. But they don't get anything special by taking these tests, but women are advancing at a very fast pace in this Police Department. COMMISSIONER BROWN: Good. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Because they have the desire, they study for the test, they do well on the test. And when they do well on the test and they're ranked to be promoted, I make sure that they are promoted. But as I said, I think their numbers in the last 10 or 15 years have really gone up 00870 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget faster than --

Just in the last 10, years? 5 COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Yes, ma'am. 6 At least, in my -- 7

The numbers of 8 women in the Department, that's separate from 9 those who, like you, have given opportunities for 10 leadership. There's a clear distinction. 11 COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, all the 12 opportunities I had came from Civil Service. I 13 mean, I had to take a test. And we have no 14 appointment ranks in the Department, except for 15 Deputy Commissioner and Commissioner. And the only qualification, really, as the Commissioner is the Mayor liking you, the Mayor appoints you. That could stop at any time. We have a Senior Deputy Commissioner of 17 years next to me who is a Civil Service person. But women can take the same examination as the men.

Okay. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: They're promoted as the men. There's no distinguishment 00871 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget between who passed. As a matter of fact, I think on that last captain's test, really, in the top 4 captains it's, like, five women. 5

Who have come 6 up through the ranks and then had the right stuff 7 to take the test. 8 COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: We will have 9 our first -- 10

And moved to the next level. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: We'll have our first Hispanic female commanding officer.

Very well. Thank you. Back to the concerns raised about the crossing guards, did you not mention in your testimony that you said there's a large turnover? Did I hear that correctly? Of crossing guards? COMMISSIONER NESTEL: Yes.

Then help us understand the nature of training that happens. Have you uncovered why there's a high turnover of crossing guards? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, I think he can give his opinion, and I'll just give you 00872 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget mine.

Okay. COMMISIONER JOHNSON: And then I'll step out. Because everybody can't stand on those corners in cold, freezing whether.

It's hard. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: They go out there, and I think they do an outstanding job. We have some that have been out there... I think one lady just retired with years. You have some 13 that want that job. 14 But when they go out there, and the 15 weather is raining, and it's cold, and there's 16 other things... There's a lot of the school 17 crossing guards also are parents themselves. 18

That's right. 19 COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: We'll have 20 some who will become crossing guards as their 21 children are crossing in their area for an 22 elementary school, but when they leave elementary 23 to go to high school, a lot of times the parents 24 will quit. 25

Yes. 00873 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Or then, again, a lot of school crossing guards have other opportunities to go to other jobs. We have a lot of crossing guards who became police officers and going to other occupations. So I think that's, at least in my opinion, some of the reason. I'm sure Deputy Commissioner Nestel has his own reasons. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER NESTEL: I think the Commissioner covered them pretty well. They're basically the problems that we have. We do replace them as quickly as we can, but there is a turnover. You look at this year. What those women and few men have gone through. I mean, you have to give them a lot of credit. It's very difficult out there.

I don't question at all the process, the SOP, standard operating procedures you have to go through to deal with those who lead the system. I was simply curious about the why of the turnover. Years ago there was an alleged rule -- And I say alleged because I got it from a school officer prior to my arrival here in City 00874 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget Council -- that school crossing guards could not go into the school buildings once their day, once their morning was over and sort of reside until time for their duties to resume at the end of the day. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: That's not -- They can go home. In the mornings there's a certain time they have to be on the corner. If there's a school crossing in the afternoon, they have a certain time that they have to be there. And in the evening there's a certain time they have to be there. In the meantime, if they want to go home and take a nap, they can.

Are they not permitted to go into the schools? I'm curious. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, I don't think -- I mean, I guess it depends on the individual schools. But you have some... I know for a fact to where school crossing guards have been volunteering in the school to go in there to assist some of the kids with reading. So, sure, they're allowed to go into the school, if the school permits them to come in.

Okay, then. 00875 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget Finally, the testimony regarding $21 million a year in court overtime, share with us again how you're dealing with that figure down the line, given President Verna's acknowledgement of the fact that court overtime has increased over the years versus decrease. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Okay. One of the things that we did in the meeting with the Justice Department is, they said -- I listened to all their complaints. One of their biggest complaints is that -- from the District Attorney's office at that point, is that we need more -- or at least from the court administrators, we need more court liaison officers. A court liaison officer is an officer that sits in the courtroom with the judge and with the administrative staff. He will be able to let the judge and the District Attorney and the defense counsel know where that officer's at. I transferred something like ten officers to court liaison. In addition to that, what they did before they even get to court, they 00876 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget actually read the court cases themselves. And they, based on their experience, determine who's needed for court and who's not needed for court. You would have sometime... What you would have is maybe or officers 7 whose name appear on the case but are really not 8 needed for prosecution. So they would eliminate 9 those officers who are not needed for prosecution. 10 What the District Attorney decided 11 to do is because in certain cases sometime they 12 would look at every officer on that case and 13 subpoena him. 14 There were a couple cases where one 15 day we had a hundred officers subpoenaed on one case. The next day the same case, 97 officers. And they made the agreement to the Department that any time they subpoena more than 10 officers in one day, they have to get the approval of their supervisors, which eliminates a lot of officers from going to court. We had a court case where we had 40 officers going to court for a full month. They've agreed not to do that no more. So there's been concessions on both sides. 00877 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget My commitment to them is that anything that I can do to eliminate the officers from going to court. But I want them to go if they're needed for prosecution. I don't want them to go just to be sitting there in the hallways. In addition to that, the overnight court notices are still hurting us, when you have an officer who gets a court notice at 8 o'clock that night to appear in court the very next day, a lot of time on his day off. A lot of time he may have to babysit, a lot of time something else may have to be performed. We would like to be notified within 48 hours of the officer having to appear in court. Now, they're working on that. The other thing is that they know months in advance when this court case is listed. They're willing to work along with us to let us know at least in three or four weeks when this case is listed, and when the officer can come there. And we want them to go while they're working day work. We don't want them to go while they're working on their day off or while they're working 4:00 to 12:00 or they're working last out. 00878 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget So, we're working real hard together, the District Attorney's office, the Police Department, even the Public Defender's office, and the court administrator. Everybody's giving in this time because we're willing to give in, and we gave in. So, at the same time, I just want the system to work fair and consistently. And if we work together, we can eliminate a lot of the court overtime just by planning and having a strategy. And that strategy and plan is in place.

Thank you. Well, let me add my voice to my colleagues in saluting your leadership in the Philadelphia Police Department. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: All right. Thank you very much.

You're welcome. Thank you, Madam President.

You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.

Thank you, Madam President. I only wanted to say thank you, 00879 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget Commissioner, and your entire Department, for the leadership and the partnerships that we enjoy throughout the City, to get so many things done. We couldn't accomplish all that we do for the citizens of our City if you weren't there, and if we didn't enjoy all the programs that we enjoy because of the accessibility, because of the availability and because of your commitment to our citizens. Thank you, and thanks to the department. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Thank you.

The Chair recognizes Councilman Ortiz.

Thank you. Thank you. That was a good thing about eliminating the polygraph, I'll tell you; and that when you smoke a joint at 17, not that I ever did, you know, but... And then when you get eliminated, that took out a lot of our people out of the Department very early on. And we talked about eliminating that for years. And you said to me one time a few years ago that if you ever became Commissioner you were going to do it; and you did. Thank you. 00880 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget Commissioner, we worked on the Special Victims Unit and trying to change the culture within that. And we have come a long way from what it was a few years ago. Could you tell me where we're at now and whether they're already co-located at the Episcopal Hospital? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: There's a couple things we did. And I thought you may have been aware of it. That is such an important thing to me, that we just assigned an inspector and a whole unit strictly to victim witnesses. And there's Inspector Dulie. And she has a captain who is an attorney there.

Excuse me. By the way, the inspector does an incredible job; very good. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Now, I just met with Commissioner Martinez. And sometime, I think in the near future, within maybe five or six months, the process is being put in place where we should be moving to Episcopal Hospital, sometime in the very -- well, in the next five or six months. 00881 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget

Oh, the police are not there yet, then. COMMISSIONER ORTIZ: Well, there's no one there at this point, I believe.

Okay. I thought we had leased the property. And I know that the repairs had been done. I thought actually the police had moved into Episcopal. But if we have not, I didn't know that. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: No. The police -- As far as I know, no one has moved in. As a matter of fact, I think we have four floors. And I met with the different departments that's going to be moving in. And we should all be there within the next five or six months.

So is the delay the fact that the other departments are not there yet? Because I know that you guys were ready to move a while back, weren't you? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, we've been ready to move for the last three or four years. But I think what happened, it became a lot of red tape. I think the contract, and then the different rooms, and the floors and who's coming, 00882 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget who's not coming. And I think the hospital had a concern that we would be bringing prisoners into the hospital sometimes. But all those things at this point have been worked out. And right now, from the last meeting that I had, is that they're right now just figuring out who's going where. We're all going into the building. But all the technicalities, the technical work is worked out, and all the litigation has been worked out. And we're just waiting for them to complete everything.

Could we have a date? You know, because we asked for that last budget period. And I thought that by October of this year we would all have been in there. But we haven't. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: My understanding is, it's going to be in July.

July. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: July 1st. From my understanding, construction is going on right now. 00883 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget

Really? I thought -- You know, public property had said to us that they had, one, the issue was the contract at one point. And we resolved the contractual issue. Then I thought the remodeling had been done and taken place. But obviously, you say it hasn't been done yet. It's taking place right now. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: It's taking place right now.

So we're still down at Frankford? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Yes, sir.

Oh. God. Frankford. You know... Commissioner, what is the breakdown by ethnic grouping of the classes that are coming in and that you project coming in over the next year or so? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: I know at this point in the entire Police Department, Latinos have approximately 7 percent of the Department.

Excuse me. 17? 00884 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: 7.

7. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: And civilians are percent. And again, these examinations, 6 again, are based on Civil Service. But it appears to be a large number of Latinos and minorities coming into these classes, just by taking the test, just by their own initiative, and just by going out there. But in addition to that, I meet with Silea which is a Latino organization, and they've been recruiting very hard. I've talked to the newspapers, the different Latino newspapers, and they're putting these things in place also. I'm meeting with the Vietnamese community, the gay and lesbian community. They're all going out on their own to recruit; in addition, we have a recruitment unit.

I know that Commissioner Williams... COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Who's that?

Commissioner Williams back, had established a goal for each class, either to exceed it or make it. He had 00885 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget established a goal for each class at that point of percent. 4 I know that Timiney didn't set a 5 goal, but he wanted to exceed the 10 percent. I 6 think he probably did. I don't remember, because 7 we went over this. 8 And I just wanted to know what is 9 the numbers of Latinos in the last class and 10 African Americans, and so on down the line. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: I'll tell you. I think -- I was in the background at that time. I think the number was like 6 or 7 percent that Commissioner O'Neill wanted. This last class we had 10 percent in the last class, and we will probably have more than that percentage in the next class. Because a lot of -- They might be in the middle of the list or on the other part of the list. I think one of the things said earlier also is that when we changed some of the rules about the narcotics and the polygraph that we will be getting higher numbers, especially since the word's going around. But Silea is actually recruiting. 00886 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget But not only are they recruiting; they're training and they're teaching. And so the number... And the Guardian Civic League is basically doing the same thing. So the numbers of minorities are going up, based on their own merits, not based on any court decision, not based on any selective harm practice; based on the fact that they're taking these tests, they're passing these tests, and they're being hired.

And Commissioner, we had hearings on the abused women problem, and the problems that they face. And we spoke about that first contact situation. And, you know, I'd like to find out how the process is going, because we had some testimony about that during the hearings. And I'd like to know how the training is going, in terms of the Police Department, along those lines. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, one of the things this new inspector and her division will be doing is handling domestic violence. So we will be working along with other units in the District Attorney's office, other units in the 00887 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget Department, to do extensive training and to assist the victims, and just the sensitivity that it takes to handle these type of crimes. It's very important to me and this Department that these things are done right, they're done consistent, and their done fairly. So, I said that's one of the reasons that we put the inspector there. But in addition to her, which I think is very important, we now have a captain who is an attorney, who's also with her, along with two sergeants, who will be able to coordinate the training. They're already met with the domestic abuse over at the District Attorney, also. We have to work together, formulate these things together, train together, and make sure that people who are victims or abused are treated with respect.

Is a Domestic Violence Unit going to be a part of the Special Victims Unit? Or are they going to be able to coordinate activities? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, I think 00888 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget what happened is domestic violence is in every district and unit in the City, detective bureau. But she will be able to coordinate that, and be able to do the training so they all are doing things consistently and fairly. And in each Detective Division, we have special officers to handle those type of things. And we want people who have the sensitivity to be able to handle those. Now, child abuse is something completely different. We just put an additional... I talked to D.H.S. who have been very, very helpful to us in the area of training and in the area of communications and networking. We just assigned additional 10 -- We had eight officers at one time, and to child abuse we now have 18 officers there. So, all those specialized units that are involved in women and children are being put in place, with the proper training.

During the hearings, one of the problems was that that first contact situation, in which it's 2 o'clock in the morning, husband comes home drunk, violence 00889 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget begins, police are called. And at times the unpreparedness of the police officer to be able to deal with the situation or actually be able to remove the individual from the home. Is there, by District, some training taking place that deals with these problems? Because it seems to be very big in Philadelphia. I mean, 15,000 that just go through the system, the court, the judicial system. 15,000 women go through the judicial system every year. And those are the ones that actually get the courage to actually go to court. So, you know, I think the number is much, much higher, because I think a lot of women really don't get the courage to go down to... I think it's Race, 8th and Race or the judicial system, you know, to be able to file, or Family Court, to be able to file a protection from abuse order.

Councilman Ortiz, there are a number of Council Members that still want to be recognized, so if you don't mind waiting. 00890 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget

Could he answer that?

He can answer that. But as I said, the next question you'll ask will be in the second round. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: We have training in the Academy, and we have inservice training, again, for the sensitivity, to be able to handle these women from the very beginning, along with the Detective Bureau has specialized people. If it happened at 2 o'clock in the morning -- and I agree that the first responder is very important, that when he goes there he has some sort of sensitivity, bring them into -- either take her to the hospital or take her to the Detective Division. And that's why it's important to do also, to have these victim people assistants to be able to help them also. So, but we will have continuous training. And I know it's a great concern of yours, but it's also a concern of ours. And we will have things in place to make sure that these 00891 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget things are put in place so they never happen.

Thank you. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Thank you, sir.

Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.

Thank you. I've just got two brief questions. One, I forgot to ask you about the bike patrols because I know we had bike patrols on Wadsworth Avenue and Verner Road. And I believe they were deployed someplace else. Now, we have problems with Verner Road and Wadsworth, and got rid of the problems with the help of the bike patrols throughout the community. And the summer's coming up, and we want to know if we're going to have our bike patrols bike. My state representative wants to know that, too, Leeann Washington. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: We had a hundred bikes throughout the City. And about five or six months ago we put a request in for anybody that wants to be involved in the bike unit. 00892 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget The Mayor wants to make a new special unit. And he did. We trained 60... Well, we had 60 new officers assigned to the Narcotics Strike Force who are strictly on bikes. In addition to that, we trained 40 officers who are already in the Narcotics Strike Force, so we had a hundred officers that are now in the Strike Force who are bike trained who are actually on bikes, in addition to the other hundred officers that we had in the Division. When we brought them out, we put all of them right now in each Division to learn and to get the experience. And I guarantee this summer you will have bikes up there in your Division. And almost every District in the City will have bike officers throughout the entire City, from the Narcotics Strike Force, because they were trained in bikes, but they were also trained in narcotics. They were also trained in a lot of other things. And I think that you will find them to be a lot more efficient than just a regular bike officer from the districts, although I think the ones from the districts are very efficient. And these will be in addition to the 00893 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget ones you've already have. So you will have the officers from the 14th District who are bike officers. In addition, you have narcotics officers from the Narcotics Strike Force who are bike trained will also be in your area.

Okay. The other day I read in the paper that there had been a discrimination suit filed by some police officers. And I know our office had spoken to you about a case situation that was brought to us. The question I have is: What are you doing internally with staff relations to avoid that kind of, you know, notion that someone feels that they've been discriminated against or that there's unfair treatment within the Department? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, there are two main issues. We had an issue at the Academy at one time because of the hair. They didn't allow them to hear extensions. They were only allowed to wear certain things. But it really affected the Afro American female women. And I talked to Commissioner Timiney at that time. And we had a big meeting, and we changed the whole policy. Any time there's a 00894 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget policy in place that only affects a certain ethnic group or religion, then we have to change that. And we did change it. The problem they had over in Northwest Detectives about the beard became a problem, because at one time you couldn't wear a beard if you were assigned to the Detective Division. That was the policy. I got involved in it. I talked to our medical people. And we changed that policy also. As long as that officer has a medical thing from his doctor indicating that he can not shave, he has the permission to wear that. Now, I was kind of surprised to see the lawsuit. But at the same time, he goes to our medical dispensary, along with his doctor's note. The doctor said that this thing can be resolved. So if every five or six months if he goes there and gets another note, he can wear the beard, as long as he keeps it neat and keeps it clean. We have sensitivity training. We have an EEO office where people can, if they feel as though they're being discriminated against, 00895 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget they can come down and they can file a suit, and there will be an investigation done by our EEO unit. In addition to that, there's a lot of calls I get from either the Guardian Civic League or even the F.O.P. who are concerned about that. I had said a long time ago that we're not going to tolerate sexism or racism in this Department. And you can be as racial as you want to be. But if it affects your job, you don't belong in the Department. So we're not going to tolerate that. There's times that we have these type of things that are really outrageous that we go through our Internal Affairs, and we do a thorough investigation. We don't want these things happening outside the Department or inside the Department. So, again, I try to work along very closely with the different units and the different fraternities, to make sure that these things don't happen. These officers are taught in the Academy about these things. 00896 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget They're reaffirmed in our inservice training. And when they're brought to our attention, then we act on it right away.

So you have ongoing, I guess, diversity, sensitivity training about various ethnic groups. I mean, is there ongoing dialogue between the officers, to help them understand the diversity that exists in the Department, and as well as what happens in a diverse City like this? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, we not bring in the minorities up to the Academy to go through the different talk; we even have the gay and lesbian community come up; the transvestite community come up. Anyone who wants to come up to the Academy or come to our inservice training, they put a request in to Deputy Commissioner Nestel and his people, and they are allowed to come up. But they all, as recruits, get this training. But then we have a lot of inservice training also. We have people that go out to the different roll calls, if this different type of incident happens and talk to them. 00897 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget But that is continuous. That's one of the things that can tear this whole Department apart. And we have no intention of letting that happen.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam President.

The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. Commissioner, first of all, an observation. You go above and beyond the call of duty. Community meetings. You're everywhere. And I know you have a long day most days, seven days a week, and your commanders, top commanders... I go to community meetings, the inspectors, the captains... well into the evening. So the commitment from the Police Department, the level is higher than I've ever seen it in my life here in the City of Philadelphia where, from you to the lieutenants, the sergeants, the captains, the inspectors, the chiefs. Very, very involved in just the other part of the Police Department. So, that's my 00898 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget personal observation. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Fine. Thank you very much.

And I want that to go on record. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Thank you.

The other issue that I think that you need to get some mention is the new communications system. And from what I hear, it's really going to enhance police operations and make Philadelphia a safer place. And your technology people should be congratulated for that great effort. From what I understand, talking to some people in the industry, it's going to be the finest -- it is the finest communication system of any City in the United States of America. And the citizens of Philadelphia should know that that's going to contribute to making our City a safer place. So, I hope it's working well. And the Fire Department and all the municipal departments, specifically the Police Department, that it's been money well spent, because it's been very expensive, but from what I 00899 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget understand, it's been handled and managed, the entire process, very well. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Thank you. I think Deputy Commissioner Brennan is... No, not that I think. I know he's the person responsible for that. And during the course of putting a lot of these things in place, I know he had a lot of not so much resentment but a little bit of battle with other people. But I think he kept his course, and I think his whole commitment was to make sure that our unit in the Police Department was getting the very best for the Police Department. Sometimes people didn't really understand what he was seeing and the things that he was doing. But I give all the credit to the Deputy, because as I said, he's very aware of technology. He spends a lot of time and he goes to a lot of different places. And we're glad to have him here as our Deputy Commissioner of Technology.

Great. Thanks, Commissioner. Thank you, Madam Chair.

You're 00900 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Mariano.

Thank you, Madam President. Commissioner, I have two questions, one for Councilman Clarke and one for me. Councilman Clark's question. In the Fiscal Year 2004 Operating Budget, Gordon Wasserman -- I think I'm saying his name and I'm pretty sure he's the one that came here with Commissioner Timiney. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: That's correct.

He's marked down as a Chief of Staff at $200,000 a year. And I think the Councilman's question is why he has to get a contract, instead of just being in the Police Department. The answer probably is because he wouldn't get $200,000 if he was working directly as a City official. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, it's not just that.

He's a consultant, I believe. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: It's that he 00901 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget can go up to a maximum of $200,000, without benefits. He has no benefits. So, conceivably there could be a year where he only makes $50,000 or $60,000. He's very instrumental in helping us. He's on a lot of the boards down in Washington, D.C. He communicates, I understand, with City Council and other agencies in the Department, as well as the state. So, again, with no benefits. And the maximum, no matter how many hours he works -- and sometimes he has to work a whole lot of hours -- he can never make more than the $200,000. But again, it's with no benefits at all. We give him absolutely no benefits, including travel. He has to do basically all that on his own.

And I don't think Councilman Clarke was really questioning what he does. I think we all know. It's just when it's in the Budget it says $200,000 and it doesn't explain that, so it sends a flag probably to Councilman's people. But I'll take that answer. It's good. He's a good guy. And my question is: It's my 00902 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget understanding that the inspector from the East Division has been called up to do his Air Force Reserve duty. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Yes, sir.

Now, does he get to stay the inspector? Because it's nice that he's there. He seems like a decent guy. He just got there. But he could be away a while. What happens? Well, two questions. Is he the highest ranking police official ever to do service, that you know of? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: As far as I know, he's the highest ranking active police officer ever been called in. But he's being replaced tonight by Inspector Heath, who came from our Command Inspector Bureau, who at one time filled in at different inspector divisions as the inspector who has also had the experience but... You know, he was the captain of the 25th. He's been in the Air Force.

27 years. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: 27 years.

On and off. 00903 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget And I'm not questioning your ability on this. I think this is probably the pinnacle of his career. And the irony of it is, then his other career catches up to him. It's going to keep him from -- He finally got to be an inspector. He's got a Grade A command, and now he has to do his other duties. So hopefully he can come back to that, if he ever comes back. And he doesn't know if he's coming back in two months or a year. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, whenever he comes back. I'm not saying he will come back to the East Division. But he will come back as a full inspector. And we will make sure -- And then we'll thank him to be in that position to go out there to protect not only the citizens of Philadelphia, but to protect our country.

He's a good guy. And Commissioner, on a personal note, I'd like to thank you. Being the Councilman in the East Division, and the 25th, I've been up there on bicycles with you. 00904 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget And I heard you speaking to the other Councilmen. You're doing a great job. And your people are outstanding. And we really appreciate, especially your people that I represent in the 7th Council District. Thank you. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: All right. Thank you.

The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.

Thank you, Madam President. Just out of curiosity, Commissioner, how many sworn officers are currently Reserve on active duty? Do you have a number? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER NESTEL: Councilman, I believe... Activated?

Yes. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER NESTEL: I believe activated it's about or 30, but we can 20 get you the exact. 21

I'm just 22 curious. It wasn't for any particular reason. 23 I read with interest the efforts 24 that you're making to cut overtime or to control 25 overtime. And I know a lot of it or most of it is 00905 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget a result of court appearances and court activity. I've had conversations with Judge McCaffrey, who I think has done some good innovative things or attempted to do some innovative things, to try to get the court cost and police overtime under control. One of the things we've been discussing, and maybe we're going to maybe have a look at a little closer in the coming months after the budget is over, is the discussion relative to two shifts of court. As we know with Philadelphia police, we have three shifts, you know, 8:00 to 4:00, 4:00 to 12:00. And I was wondering if there's been any analysis done by your staff if the court system ran from, say, 8:00 to 4:00 and then had a separate shift from 4:00 to, say, 7:00 or 8:00 at night, I think it would accomplish a couple things. Primarily, it would allow a lot of officers who are on straight time to appear in court on straight time; and also gives some opportunities for witnesses to get to court in a more convenient way after work. 00906 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget I know that the resistance will probably come from the judges who don't want to work past 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 whatever. I guess it varies to the amount of commitment. But have your people looked at it at all? And if not, would you, and see what kind of impact you would anticipate having on your overtime budget and on the delivery of justice services in general? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: I wouldn't have a problem looking into that. But I really believe some of the problems even that we have on day work is that, say, hypothetically we have all officers on day work going to court, then those officers who should be on the street answering 911 calls would not be available. And if we have officers on 4:00 to 12:00 going to court, and they were tied up in court, it would be the exact same thing, where the officer would be in Court on overtime. But at the same time a lot of the 911 responders in the service to the community would be eliminated quite a bit.

So you think it 00907 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget would have minimal impact on your costs, on your overtime costs? COMMISIONER JOHNSON: I think we're going to pay it from one end, if you don't pay it on the other. But I says because there's sometimes some district, especially in the Detective Division, whose entire unit and squad is in court, that they have nobody there except the supervisors. And what happens, these court cases back up. Say, for example, 4:00 to 12:00 which is one of the busiest times that we have for policing, during those hours, if those officers are in court then they will not be able to answer the 911 response, and they won't be able to go out there and patrol as they normally would do. I think the drug dealers would welcome that.

My question is, then, if an officer is scheduled for court on his or her normal shift, aren't they having the same situation? Aren't they being pulled out of service to testify? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, they are. But what happens a lot of times, too, what 00908 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget we're trying to put in place is that we have on call.

Right. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Which became a little problem to us, that we were really trying to deal with that, where an officer is actually assigned to court, but stays in his division or stays in his district on patrol until he's actually called into court. But what we're experiencing with officers sometimes, especially working 4:00 to 12:00, will put themselves on call. And they would be -- Say the court case was done at 10 o'clock. And they would stay on call until 4 o'clock that afternoon, until they decide to go back to work. So, that's something that --

Well, isn't that a management issue? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: It is. And it's something that we would really have to fine tune.

What I'm having difficulty in understanding in your position response to my question, is that you indicated 00909 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget you'd be concerned about officers being in court when they should be on patrol. And again, the question I asked as a follow up, which I don't understand the answer, is if they're on day work... COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Right.

...and they're scheduled to be in court anyway, they're still on patrol. They're sitting, waiting in the hallway outside a courtroom or they're on beeper patrolling Center City or whatever we did to kind of increase that. Why would there be a difference if there was a second shift? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, I'm not saying that it would be. I'm just saying there's that possibility. I'm just looking at everything.

Okay. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: And I'm also with an open mind with the idea that anything that would save the citizens, save the Department money, I'm willing to do.

I think part of the -- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you. 00910 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: No. 3 And if we put a pilot program out there to evaluate that, I have absolutely no 5 problem with that at all.

Do you think it would have a positive impact, and maybe in the long run have a positive impact on repeat court appearances if witnesses could arrive at court at 6 o'clock at night after work, as opposed to being asked to take a day off and come to court in Center City at 9 o'clock or 10 o'clock in the morning? A lot of times witnesses don't show up and things need to be continued, which requires the officer to come back again. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Sure. I think any time a person has been victimized, I wouldn't want to see them victimized twice by losing the salary by taking a day off and going to court or losing a day in school, so that they're available more so at night, and it would benefit the victims or the witnesses, I'm amenable to that.

Okay. I would 00911 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget appreciate if in the scheme of things you have to do, which I know is numerous, if you could have some people take a look at what impact they may have on finances, because we're intending on having a hearing about it in the Legislative Oversight Committee sometime in the spring. And if you could kind of have your people who think about these things start thinking about it now, it would be helpful when we have the hearing. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: I'll do that right away, sir.

Just two quick questions relative to facilities. Police Administration Building, near and dear to everybody's hearts. If, in fact, we were able to replace the Police Administration Building, do you need to be in Center City? Or can you be in another campus-like setting, somewhere else in the City, that would provide parking? Do you think Center City is a requirement or could it be somewhere else within the City limits? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: My personal? 00912 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget

What's your personal opinion? Yes. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: I think anywhere they would have a building that is a good building. I mean, as long as it's inside the City of Philadelphia, because as I said, we can go almost anywhere. So I wouldn't have any objection to that.

Okay. So I mean, are there issues that you're concerned about relative to -- I know parking near the Police Administration Building is just atrocious. You know, it's not a state of the art building. There's a lot of issues in there, in addition to the Communications Center, which has been tremendously upgraded. But still, you know, people sitting in the hallway eating and those kinds of things are tough. So I mean, I really do think that something like that could be accomplished in the next maybe five to seven years, and kind of think about what some of those requirements would be for who you would like to see in that building, and maybe we could start moving in the direction. 00913 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget Because I do believe the property there is valuable property where the Police Administration Building sits now, and could be utilized for something else. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: I'm sorry to cut you off. But if we came up with a building, no matter where it was in the City, we would move tomorrow.

Okay. There's no emotional attachment to the building. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: No, not at all.

Not at all. And in the same regard, I wanted to talk a little bit about the Police Academy. One of the things that I had thought about in recent years was perhaps the development -- and Commissioner Hairston, perhaps you can listen to this, too, because I would like your people to start thinking about this. We have a Fire Academy, Police Academy pretty much close to each other up on State Road, right? That's right off State Road? Is there some way we could develop a 00914 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget regional training facility for both police and fire, that we would control, we would run and operate, for our own officers, both police and firefighters -- police officers and firefighters, and also to bring in surrounding regional smaller departments for training, and smaller fire companies for training, that they would pay us for the privilege of coming in and being trained by two of the best departments, police and fire, in the country, and creating this regional approach to police training that would allow us not only to have a better facility, a bigger facility, or more state of the art facility for ourselves, but also allow us to really interface with police through maybe the Eastern part of the state. And we do have, you know, the land up there to do that kind of operation. And I was wondering if there's any desire to have a new Police and/or Fire Academy in the near -- in the coming years? COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: I'll let Deputy Commissioner Nestel answer that. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER NESTEL: Councilman, as far as doing some regional 00915 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget training, we presently do train a lot of outside police departments.

I'm aware of that, yeah. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER NESTEL: We definitely need to look at a new facility in the near future. It's both tired and it's too small.

Right. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER NESTEL: Whether or not it could be combined with a fire facility, I'm not quite sure. We'd really have to discuss that because the training is so different.

I don't know about a direct combination, but an adjacent combination that would allow for facilities because I know often, you know, fire and police are cooperational together on job sites where, you know, a barricaded person, you know, concern about a fire. And I mean, where the Fire Department's on scene, responding in addition to the police. So, you know, those kinds of setups where you have a street scene, you have a street operation there at the Academy where police and fire respond at the same time. 00916 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget I mean, it's interesting when you kind of sit and think about these possibilities. My view, even though I do know we do training for outside departments, is to have more of a kind of a -- like what an F.B.I. Academy is kind of like, where people come in and there's actually dormitory space, there's classroom space. People spend time there overnight for a period of a week or two. And they pay. Those departments and those municipalities pay us to do that. Because I think if we took a regional approach like that, there may be some opportunities for either federal or state capital dollars to construct something like this. When it comes to federal dollars on terrorism and HAZMAT and bioterrorism and other types of things, it just seems like a wonderful opportunity down the road to put Philadelphia on the map as, you know, one of the centers for police and fire training in the country. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Okay. Well, one of the things, as I say, Commissioner Hairston and our departments work very, very close together. We do do a lot of things together. 00917 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget There's never been a time that I've called Commissioner Hairston or any other one in the Fire Department that hasn't responded, and we try to do the same thing with them, even no matter what it is, even to our Drum and Bugle Corps. But as I said, the relationship that we have with the Fire Department, I think, is as good as any -- as a matter of fact, better than almost any two departments anywhere in the country, based on the commitment that we both have and our departments have for the citizens of Philadelphia.

Okay. And I just want you kind of put these seeds in your head to kind of think about possibilities. And certainly they're big visions. And, you know, there will be some large dollars attached to it. But I just think it's something we should think about, as we progress forward in improving our both departments, fire and police. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: I think it's a great idea.

Thank you, Madam President. 00918 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget

You're welcome. Any other questions from Members of the Committee? Thank you very much. Thank you. The Fire Department is next. Commissioner, you're a very, very patient man. It's been a long day. COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: It's been a long day for you, too.

Please identify yourself and proceed with your testimony. COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: Yes. Good afternoon. I'm Fire Commissioner Harold Hairston. With me on my left is Deputy Commissioner Bill 15 McNulty, and to my right is our fiscal officer, Dave Beatrice. The Fire Department's FY'04 Operating Budget proposes $175,233,242 for the General Fund; $5,261,250 for the Aviation Fund; and $831,834 for the Grants Fund. The Operating Budget allocation represents an increase of $14,840,011, covering all funds, over the current estimated FY'03 budget. This increase is mainly due to personnel costs and to initial DROP Program lump sum payments to be made in FY'04. 00919 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget The Fire Department has been very, very fortunate over the last year. Last year less people died in fires than any time since we've been keeping those kind of records. There were 32 people that died in 7 fires, which represent a decrease of 29 percent in 8 2002. A 12 percent reduction in fire deaths was 9 reported in the previous year, from 51 in 2000 to 10 45 in 2001. 11 Altogether in a 24-month period, the 12 overall reduction in fire deaths was a remarkable 13 37 percent. Last year, the firefighters and fire 14 officers assigned to the Fire Prevention Division 15 presented approximately 9200 fire prevention 16 programs. 17 During the same period, 18 approximately 140 families contacted the Fire 19 Prevention Division for assistance with children 20 who caused a fire. 21 We believe these programs, the 22 Juvenile Fire Stoppers Program and our public 23 education programs for adults and children, 24 contributed to this year's decrease in fire 25 deaths. 00920 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget Over 9,000 homes were visited last year during our fall program. People received a packet of information about home escape planning. A total of 9600 smoke alarms were installed by the Fire Department in 2002. The number of structure fires increased slightly from 2510 in FY 2000 to 2526 in FY'02. 2 percent reduction from the 4,025 fires in FY'92. And our projection for FY'03 still tracking at a slight higher level. But I'm still happy to say that our City continues to be more fire safe than at any time since we began to keep comparative data. Fire Marshall's Office has been aggressively investigating automobile fires, involving both stolen and abandoned vehicles, in conjunction with these investigations. The office has updated and placed greater emphasis on the tracking and categorizing of these fires. Areas which indicate an increase in auto fires have been targeted for intensified investigation by the Fire Marshall's Office and the Major Crimes Unit of the Police Department. 3 percent in FY'02. And 2003 is holding at the same level as 2002. In a joint effort with the Department of Licenses and Inspections, the Fire Marshall's Office surveyed Batallions throughout the City and identified areas for the storage of illegal tires. Everybody remembers the I-95 tire fire. Follow-up investigations led to the removal and cleaning of these illegal dump sites. The Fire Marshall's Office, in conjunction with the School District's safety officials, has instituted a daily reporting system to track and record school fires. The Fire Marshall's office, along with the Fire Code Unit, conducted three seminars, training 60 school facility engineers in awareness courses, aimed at reducing the occurrences of school fires. In addition, School District 22 child care facilities were inspected in conjunction with the School District Safety Division. Facilities needing improvement were 00922 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget identified, with interim safety measures enacted to safeguard the children occupying these centers. The Department has recently upgraded and enhanced its website with a kid zone, aimed at teaching children and parents alike about fire safety and education. The website continues to be favorably received by the public.

Based on responses to our requests for comments and recommendations, we've managed to continue this, and it seems to be working out extremely well. We've done extremely well with firefighter injuries also. 8 percent reduction. And through the combined efforts of our Safety Unit and the continuing diligence and tenacity of our field commanders, the first-line supervisors, our safety statistics continue to improve in the Philadelphia Fire Department. Our injuries are down about 31 percent. The paramedic injuries are down significantly as well. 00923 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget And EMS enhancements. 5 percent increase in activity over 2001. Despite the increase in call volume, the average response time has remained the same. Several initiatives were completed during the course of the year, which contributed to the operational readiness of the EMS Division. Fire Service Paramedic Class Number 20, with a total of 35 members, completed an intense seven-week orientation at the Philadelphia Fire Department. These 35 new fire service paramedics are now actively engaged in providing top quality emergency medical care to the citizens of Philadelphia. Significant upgrades have been made to the front-line fleet of medic units. Ten new medic units have been put in service, replacing older, high-mileage vehicles. Also, five medic units have undergone an extensive remounting process, extending their useful life. 00924 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget An innovative training program on advanced airway maintenance was developed by the Medical Director, Dr. C. Crawford Mechem, and successfully trialed during 2002. This program should result in improved outcomes for patients presenting with compromised airways. In 2002 our dispatchers implemented a new software application to enhance Emergency Medical Dispatch. Each dispatcher is certified as an Emergency Medical Dispatcher, EMD, through the Association of Public Safety Officials, APCO, and APCO created a software program that enabled our dispatchers to quickly determine the severity of an EMS emergency, prioritize the call, and give accurate pre-hospital instruction, using our call-taking and dispatch protocols. This EMD software replaces the EMD flip cards that dispatchers previously used on EMS 911 calls. The Emergency Medical Dispatch protocols we use, and the oversight of our EMD program, is provided by Dr. C. Crawford Mechem, Medical Director for the Philadelphia Fire Department. EMS revenue is up. 7 net collections of FY'01. In FY'03 and FY'04 the EMS collections are projected to be million. 6 Technology enhancements. In FY'04 7 the Fire Department will upgrade software for EMS, 8 enabling better medical reporting and greater 9 efficiency in dispatching vehicles. 10 The Department will implement a new 11 Automatic Vehicle Locator, AVL; Geographic 12 Information System, GIS; mapping and Safety Pad 13 software for the EMS units. 14 The AVL and GIS mapping systems will 15 enhance the Department's emergency response time. 16 EMS dispatching currently realized on intensive 17 radio communications that is based on station location mapping which dispatches EMS based on location of the station to the caller and not necessarily location of the actual EMS vehicle to the caller. The AVL system will provide real time electronic mapping through vehicle locators, using a wall-mounted electronic display. GIS mapping will allow dispatchers 00926 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget to view detailed map information containing streets and addresses, locations of hospitals, locations of firehouses, and locations of incidents. The system will enable dispatchers to pinpoint vehicles at any given time, which will give us the opportunity to redirect vehicles to new emergencies, before returning to the station. In FY'04, the Fire Department will also change the process for relaying medical information to hospitals.

New software called Safety Pad, will allow Emergency Medical Technicians to fill out medical forms using a hand held computer. This information would then be relayed directly to the hospitals, better preparing them for the incoming patients and eliminating redundant processing. In conclusion, the amount of funding provided in the proposed budget will enable us to continue to provide the same high level of service the citizens of our City have grown to expect. This completes my testimony. On behalf of the men and women of the Philadelphia 00927 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget Fire Department, I would like to thank Council for your continued support throughout my tenure in this Department.

Thank you, Commissioner. And may I say that we certainly publicly applaud you and your Department for all the wonderful work that you do for the citizens of the City. COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: Thank you.

Commissioner, I don't believe you mentioned anything about the DROP Program. Are there any firefighters or fire officers who are in the DROP Program? And will they be eligible next year and how many of them? COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: Some will. We have about 450 people that are in the DROP. The first wave is probably going to take away 237. Not too many in our very highest rank. In fact, we only had one person that is a Deputy Chief, which is a high Civil Service rank, that's actually in the DROP program. We have 17 that are batallion chiefs. And we just had a test that was 00928 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget given, so we're not worried about being able to replace them or anything. We have 43 captains and 85 lieutenants that will be leaving. And we seem to be well-positioned to be able to have a list that are already in place, or even with the ones that we have in place, we're going to have new ones shortly. So it really should not be a problem. We probably will go through a period where we may have to do a certain amount of kind of redundancy hiring, just to make sure that we are right on target with everything, and we are able to spread those lists out.

Everybody's well trained? COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: Well, we seem to be pretty well poised for it. And we have a lot of experience through the ranks that we don't anticipate that it's going to take a tremendous toll.

All right. Are the 237 firefighters? COMMISSIONER HAIRSTON: That's the combination of all of those people that I 00929 02/26/03 - FY '04 Operating Budget mentioned off. And the remainder of those numbers, if you counted them up, would be firefighters.