VOLUME II COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEES ON PUBLIC SAFETY AND PUBLIC HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES - - - Room 696, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, December 18, 2002 1:15 p.m. - - - BILL 020613 - Resolution authorizing the City Council's Committees on Public Safety and Public Health & Human Services to hold joint hearings to investigate the unmet needs of domestic violence - - - PRESENT: COUNCILMAN ANGEL L. ORTIZ, Chair COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN COUNCILMAN MICHAEL A. NUTTER COUNCILMAN DAVID COHEN - - - ALSO PRESENT: LeAnna M. Washington, State Representative - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center Plaza, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 216 I N D E X BILL 020613 Sergeant Francis Healty, Special Advisor, Policy Commissioner Johnson------------------- 225 Deborah Freedman, Esq., Community Legal Services-------------------------------------- 289 Frank Cervone, Executive Director, Support Center for Child Advocate--------------------- 311 Alba Martinez, Commissioner, DHS---------------- 329 LeAnna Washington, State Representative--------- 354 John F. Domzalski, Commissioner, Department of Health---------------------------------------- 363 Mark Bencivengo, Assistant Commissioner, Department of Health-------------------------- 373 Emily Camp-Landis, Assistant Deputy Manager, Special Needs Housing, City of Philadelphia--- 402 Paul Bukovec, Director, Menergy----------------- 406 Cynthia Figueroa, Women Against Abuse----------- 421 Estelle B. Richman, Managing Director, City of Philadelphia---------------------------------- 423 - - - 217 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613
This is the Public Safety Committee. It was recessed from hearings yesterday. And, once again, I will ask the clerk to read the resolution. Frank Rizzo, you want to ask a question?
No. I want to make sure to note for the record that I am here.
There is a witness. I thought you wanted to ask the table a question for a second there.
Authorizing the City Council Committees on Public Safety and Public Health and Human Services to hold joint hearings to investigate the unmet needs of domestic violence victims in Philadelphia; the current response of Philadelphia agencies to domestic violence; and the full range of options to enhance that response through the implementation of a coordinated community response; and further authorizing the Committee to subpoenas and such other process as may be appropriate to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents in furtherance of the investigation to the full extent authorized by Section 2-401 of the Home Rule Charter. 218 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613
Thank you. Police Sergeant, please. Let me say that Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson was invited. And Sylvester Johnson is probably one of the best civil servants that we have not only in Philadelphia, but I think across the country. He has expressed a desire to be here, and for some reason or other he has not been permitted to come. I know he had a presentation ready, and ready to testify. I appreciate, I think he is probably the best appointment in terms of police enforcement that we have ever made, and that includes John Timoney in that sense. Sergeant, I know that you are knowledgeable about the area, but it is always good to have the Commissioner plus the person who handles the area to be available because we are talking about establishing of public policy and protocols. And yesterday, yesterday we heard testimony here by community advocates and by judges. We heard testimony from the different women groups across the city. Surprisingly enough, there are not 219 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 that many dealing with the issue of domestic violence. And the extent of the crisis -- and I think for the first time I understood that we have a crisis on our hands, that is it a public health crisis on our hands. And that we don't have, really -- and this is not the fault of any one department. I don't think it is a problem that you can say people are doing it because they are totally irresponsible. I think people are very responsible, I think, the individuals that are all involved within the city and within the areas of advocacy that we have. What we don't have is a coordinated process. What we don't have is a system that allows the victims the privacy, the advice, the guidance necessary for those women -- and it is mostly, 99 percent, women -- to be able to survive the process that we are into and that they are into. It is an issue that requires not only new monies; it requires new funding. It requires a budgetary direction from the Administration. It is a process that needs the Mayor's 220 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 attention, direct attention. Because it is a problem, as witness after witness testified yesterday, that we can no longer overlook. If one area in this city, in the Northeast, if one police district in a period of time receives over 20,000 calls on abuse, can you imagine if you extrapolate that to the rest of the city. And we need to find out whether this district is unique or do we have the same situation occurring across the city. And it is an issue of how the police get trained, how do they follow up once they respond to a call, what do they do. Because it is a very lonely process that a woman enters into. Once a woman decides that she has to finally take her life into her hands and decides to go ahead and go down to try to file a petition to protect her from the abuse that she is receiving from her man, it is a very lonely process that she enters, very lonely. Because she goes there alone. She faces an individual that is probably not trained, because 221 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 she doesn't go before a judge. When she goes there, she receives, really, no guidance, no assistance in terms of her own feelings and the anger that she might be feeling. And then she is told, once she gets the courage to do that, she is told that she has to go with the Order to the police department and get a policeman to go with her to serve it. These are terrifying events in anybody's life. And, I don't know how we are training the police. Because I am sure that every policeman is very well-meaning and has the best of attitudes. But sometimes it is cultural. It is something that is ingrained because of the culture that we live in. Domestic abuse, well, it is a family fight. It is a family problem.
Unless the women is really beaten and her eye is shut, her teeth are knocked out -- and even then, I would imagine that the issue of, if you get mugged in an alley, and then you identify the person, and in fact you have a picture and you have the address of the person, and you are mugged and 222 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 you are beaten up and there are charges against this individual for aggravated assault, could you imagine if I am mugged and then I have to take the warrant of arrest to that individual so he could be arrested. I don't think a person, anybody, would do that. So it takes extraordinary courage for a women to be able to do this. Yesterday I went home. And my wife has done this type of work for many years in Family Court. And the stories are really, really horrifying. And that's why we need Sylvester Johnson here, because we need to be able to establish the protocols that are necessary. We need to know how much money is it that we need to put aside for the police department for the police to be able to do that job. We know that the Sheriff's Office is undermanned, doesn't have enough sheriffs to be able to do the job that they need to do. And they are put into a position because, many times, the individuals who do and perpetrate this crime, obviously they are not very 223 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 stable. And you put them into a court, and there is probably one sheriff that has to cover a huge area. And you put one sheriff in a situation in which a lot of these individuals have been subpoenaed to appear in different courts. One sheriff is obviously not enough. So we need to know how we begin to reform the institutions that are supposed to provide the services. And I know that you are knowledgeable, and I know you are going to give me data. But, Sylvester Johnson has to come to this hearing. Because this is a huge crisis that we have, and I don't think we understand that. If this were about building a stadium, we would have every, every Administration official here giving us all sorts of data. If this was about expansion of the Convention Center, we would not only have the Administration officials here; they would be visiting every Councilperson, they would be grabbing you in the hallway. 224 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 But we need a commitment that we need to change the systems. We need actually to bring the system and not so much change them, but as to bring them together so that they communicate with each other. It bothers me greatly. It brothers me greatly because what we are doing, in essence, and what we did yesterday. And I think every Administration official should read the minutes and the testimony we had yesterday. It bothers me greatly that the key players in developing policy don't show. And I don't want to start a confrontation of Administration, City Council, or anything like that. This is all about us gathering the information so that we understand wherever it is that we should have our priorities in terms of budgets; so that we understand where the money is needed and where the suffering is so that we can begin to alleviate certain aspects of this. So I know that you have and they gave you the focus that we want you to give us in terms of data. And I would appreciate it if you begin 225 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 with that. I want to see how the department responds to a domestic violence call, and let's begin with that. SERGEANT FRANCIS HEALEY: And, again, I apologize for the Commissioner.
No, you don't need to apologize for it. Because Sylvester Johnson wanted to be here. You don't have to apologize. Sylvester is the civil servant that we all thought he is. And I believe he is, to me, he is the best police chief we have had in years in 14 this city. 15
You don't want me to 18 go there. That was Frank Rizzo. 19 SERGEANT HEALEY: Let me first start by 20 saying that Commissioner Johnson, as well as Commissioner Timoney, were truly dedicated to domestic violence. And, as a result of that commitment, I was placed in charge to revamp our directive. My name is Sergeant Francis Healey, I am 226 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 a Special Advisor to Police Commissioner Johnson. As a result of this commitment, we reevaluated our Directive 90, which deals with domestic violence and abuse. This is the mandate that the officers on the street actually use.
A little bit of background. A lot of times during domestic violence instances, when police officers were called to the scene, there was a lot of confusion on what the officers were actually supposed to do, and it really wasn't any of their fault. The confusion actually lied in the Crimes Code working in one place, which has to do with warrantless arrests on the scene --
The microphone. SERGEANT HEALEY: -- as well as the next thing it had to do with protection of abuse, that deals with the civil code. So what happens, a lot of times our 227 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 officers were really confused, really, in the advice that they should give the victims. A lot of times if you didn't have visible signs of injury or you didn't reside in the house, whatever the case may be, the victims were often told they need to just get a protection from abuse. Well, what happened is, a lot of times these criminal acts went unnoticed and unrecorded and the offenders actually went unpunished. What happened was, the entire criminal event was shifted into the civil system and dealt with in that regard. That was wrong.
Still is. SERGEANT HEALEY: It is wrong. And what we did is, we moved the directive to shift to ensure that, for the best analogy I can think of, to widen the net. To make sure that the victims of domestic abuse get the service that they deserve from the police department and our investigative staff. So what we did, by reevaluating Directive 90, we expanded the scope. When an officer now responds to the 228 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 scene of a crime, number one -- let me back up. There is a matrix in here. There are several matrixes in the Directive, and they actually came about by accident. If you don't mind, I will explain real quickly how they came to be. I had an instructor at the Police Academy who was slightly confused on when and where they can make arrests on domestic violence incidents. This was a instructor, mind you. So what I did, I went up to the Academy and spent almost three hours trying to explain probable cause, the difference between reasonable suspicion. And what I did is, I ultimately came up with a flow chart. I said, the officer comes to the scene --
That's it? SERGEANT HEALEY: That's it. That's the first one. The officer comes on the scene. The first question is whether or not there is probable cause of an incident, of a crime. According to this officer, who I won't 229 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 mention, she believed that if anybody, police officer, came to the scene and they found a woman bleeding at the steps and the man was holding her and covered with blood, the first thing you do is to arrest the male. And I posed the question, quite frankly, I said, if you come to my house and my wife is laying and just fell down the steps, you are going to come to the scene, finding me covered with blood. I said, "Are you going to arrest me"? And she said, "Yes." So as a result of that, that's obviously wrong. So we straightened that out, and the flow chart is where it came from. And what happened is, it stuck. A lot of people really liked it because it explained the differences between the criminal and civil without getting too confusing. What we do now is, the officers respond to a scene. And if there are visible signs of an injury and there is some family-type relationship or boyfriend/girlfriend-type relationship, the officer can make a warrantless arrest. But we have to make sure the officer has probable cause. We went 230 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 through that. A lot of times, however, even if you had signs of injury and but for the person just ran out the door before the police officers get there -- nine times out of ten they do -- we weren't serving these victims at all. We would tell them to go get a Protection Order. The question is, what happened to the crime? We seem to have forgotten the crime here. What we do now is, we mandate that our officers responding to this situation, if they come on a situation and but for the fact the male had left, he otherwise would have been arrested on scene --
What about if an officer responds, there are two males. It is a gay couple that shares a residence and have a relationship. What happens then? SERGEANT HEALEY: That would fall under the guidelines of the law, as well. We would still take the same type of domestic. On a side bar, 2711 has been amended to actually increase the relationship aspect.
I just want to know 231 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 what police -- SERGEANT HEALEY: Male or female, it doesn't matter. So now what happens, if that injury is there and otherwise we would have made the arrest, we now transport the victim to the detectives as if a felony had occurred. Basically, we transfer them down to make their statement to the detectives. The detectives get a warrant and go after --
So a policeman comes in, the wife is or there is maybe she is not bleeding. SERGEANT HEALEY: If she has visible signs of an injury where I would have made an arrest had he been there.
What about if she doesn't have visible signs? SERGEANT HEALEY: Then I don't have authority under state law to make an arrest. There has to be visible signs of injury or --
So the injury has to be almost facial at that point. 232 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 SERGEANT HEALEY: From experience -- I have handled a lot of these personally when I was on the street -- you will get them chest. And a lot of times the woman will tell you, he bit me here or he kicked me there. And, sadly enough, you do have to ask to see the damage. And, you do. And very often the women have no 10 problem. And if they do have a problem, we will bring a female officer or vice versa to the scene.
What in the event that a victim is the result of an intimidation; husband in many cases, you know, puts the fist in the face or a knife at their throat or points a gun at them? Obviously there must be some other law to cover that. SERGEANT HEALEY: Section 2711 handles simple assaults as well, which would cover those types of threats, intimidations, reckless endangerment. I believe it is in the Police Powers of Arrest under my Directive. It is in there. You can make the arrest. 233 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613
So, in other words, if a person calls the police and says that, "My husband put a knife to my throat and threatened me," but, when the officer arrives, there is no physical evidence -- SERGEANT HEALEY: There could be other corroborating evidence. It could be the little children saying, "Yes, daddy hit mommy." Or it could be the neighbor saying, "Yes, I heard a commotion going on there." We need to corroborate the information.
So just the woman saying to the police officer that, "He pointed a gun at me," or pointed a knife, without the child confirming that or a neighbor stating that they heard a scream or they heard a disturbance would not support an arrest ? SERGEANT HEALEY: No. The standard under 2711 is corroborating evidence. If I go to the house and she says, "Yes, he pointed a gun at me," there are signs of a struggle in the house, tables are flipped over, a knife is laying in the middle of the kitchen floor or in the middle of the livingroom floor, I can take 234 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 all those facts and circumstances and use them to make an arrest.
I understand that. But let's go just back to a person with a little more brains than this person that you just described, that would leave knife in the middle of the floor. A person that's just plain old, put the knife back in the kitchen cabinet, went upstairs. But, just based on that, you could not make an arrest? SERGEANT HEALEY: I couldn't make a warrantless arrest, that's the key. 2711 of the Crimes Code allows me to make a warrantless arrest for misdemeanors done outside my presence. That doesn't mean that I can't take her down to detectives or she can go down on her own and get a warrant for these arrests on that violation.
Would that be a private criminal complaint? SERGEANT HEALEY: It would be, yes. In those matters, usually, that's the case.
Thank you. 235 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. SERGEANT HEALEY: Moving on with the analogies here. The biggest problem was, most offenders flee when we get there, without a doubt. They run out the back door just the minute as we are walking in the front. And we are aware of that. Like I said, however, these poor victims were left there saying, "Go get a Protection Order," and then the police would drive away. Well, quite frankly, the male would come back in the house. Now he is even twice as mad because you called the police on him. And we would come back two hours later, and these women are in a much sorrier state then when we left. This was the wrong service. What we do in these situations now is, we would transport the women to the detectives to get the warrant issued for her. And then from there, she can make arrangements.
The police are told to actually drive -- SERGEANT HEALEY: Yes.
-- take the woman 236 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 out of the incident area? SERGEANT HEALEY: Yes. If willing; we didn't drag them. But if the woman is unwilling to go, we will still proceed with the matter criminally. The officer will take his observations, whatever statements he observed, and take that down to whatever detective division and follow through with the complaint as the officer being the complainant. This way, a lot of times we understand complainants will not come forward for sheer fear. And, quite frankly, I have been in the middle of these situations. I understand the fear.
When the officer does that, what happens? SERGEANT HEALEY: We advise the woman that she should leave the house. And we recommend, we give the domestic violence card with the hotline and other information, and we advise them, "Listen, this is not a safe place." So -- and I can't guarantee you that the level of service is the same from every officer. I mean, hopefully the newer officers are being better 237 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 and better trained and they understand domestic violence, because it is a serious issue. But there are obviously going to be some officer that just don't treat them the way they should be treated. I understand that. But, for the general part, our newer officer are better trained than they ever have been. But they will advise the woman that, number one, you should leave this place. If you need help leaving, usually the officers, in every instance I have encountered, will offer to help. You need to go down the street, you need to go to your mother's, you need to get a ride to the train or the bus, I have done it myself. I know officers who have done it all the time. Our objective is to make sure she is not a further victim. But we also want to make sure that the offender gets in the criminal justice system and doesn't escape penalty.
So a woman calls, she calls 911. That is a priority level call? SERGEANT HEALEY: Yes. The priority level of the domestic violence has just been increased. Deputy Commissioner Brennan -- it used 238 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 to be it would sit in queue because it wasn't a higher priority. I think it has been lifted up one or two priority levels. It is a high priority. It will bump other jobs out of the way.
What priority level is it now? SERGEANT HEALEY: I believe it is a 3, I think that's the level.
And describe to me, what's a 3? SERGEANT HEALEY: Pretty much, I believe, like felonies, felony in progress.
So 911, I call up, my husband is beating me up, he has a gun. What does the operator do at that point? SERGEANT HEALEY: That would be put out as a priority.
He is beating me. What if there is no gun, my husband is beating me; what does the operator do at that point? SERGEANT HEALEY: The operator would put it out as priority. But the important thing to say is -- 239 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613
What's her training or his training? SERGEANT HEALEY: It is in-house from Commissioner Brennan. He has taught his people to put out an internal directive on --
But what does the 911 operator do, he or her, whoever it is, answering the phone call? SERGEANT HEALEY: They are trained --
What information does the 911 elicit from the person, if any? SERGEANT HEALEY: Well, they will attempt to elicit all the normal information as in any other crime; name -- First of all, we need address. We need to know where they are at, what's going on. And we try to keep them on line as long as possible, number one, to calm them down. But if they are in the middle of being assaulted, a lot of times that's not going to happen. So the intake person will take the call and send it to the dispatcher for whatever division issued there, and then it will be issued as a priority in that district. 240 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613
So it is a priority. And then how long from the phone call to the time that the police arrive at the scene of the incident? SERGEANT HEALEY: Obviously it can vary with other jobs, other available officers.
An approximate range. SERGEANT HEALEY: Approximately they should be there within three to four minutes. Approximately; it varies. Every district, it depends on the number of officers...
A policeman is told what type of incident it is so that he or she is ready and knows what the matrix is and what the protocols are? SERGEANT HEALEY: Right.
How many hours of training? SERGEANT HEALEY: We receive the training. I have a copy of the actual Academy outline for you. 241 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613
I just want it for the record. Go ahead. SERGEANT HEALEY: Basically, they are taught, number one, in the law the proper procedures of arrest for domestic violence. In addition to the laws, they are also taught the psychological effects of domestic violence, why -- a lot of times in the past officers would get very frustrated going to the same house time after time. You say, "Ma'am, I told you what you need to do. You haven't done it. What more do you want me to do?" The reason for that is, we understand now why women do that. They are scared to death.
I mean, yesterday we had Judge Field, Administrative Judge, state that during the current year they have close to or over 15,000 petitions filed. We also had testimony that a district in the Northeast at the same time, one district, had 20,000 calls. SERGEANT HEALEY: Right. Well --
In one district, 242 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 20,000 calls. SERGEANT HEALEY: A lot of the Protection Orders that are actually served, many times the victims may not call the police. They may already have been involved with the police in the past for this current incident and know that they need to go down. So I may not even get a record of that, when an individual goes down on their own. So a lot of times victims go down to Family Court without being advised by police, and we have no record of it.
But I am amazed that, one, that it is 20,000 -- and I would like to find out if you have any data as to -- because I would like to get a clearer picture of how many calls per district we get. SERGEANT HEALEY: Per district?
Per district in terms of in the issue of domestic violence, domestic abuse. If we have one district with 20,000 calls -- because we only have 15,000 petitions being filed. So, obviously, the problem goes much deeper 243 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 than the 15,000 women that actually get the courage to go down and file the petition from abuse. Because if we are getting 15,000, and then we are getting 20,000 called in one district, I would like to know how many phone calls we are getting on this issue through the 911 or by police department. SERGEANT HEALEY: There are different ways to categorize. That's where things get a little confusing. But I can definitely find out the domestic-abuse incidents that occurred. Now, domestic-abuse incidents would be one incident that occurred where no arrest was made. So it was just an altercation that would justify police, and there is no need for an arrest or any other action. The other action the police take in this regard is the service of domestic violence orders. We get calls just to serve an Order on someone. So there is actually no violence going on usually at the same time. We just serve the paper.
We would like to get the numbers. We would like to get the data that you have available. 244 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 SERGEANT HEALEY: Okay. I have broken it down citywide, but it is tentative for the fiscal year that you asked for.
We would like to see, you know, what you have. If you have a couple of years, give us that. Because that gives us the extent of the growth, if any, that is happening. And it also gives us a greater degree of how sensitive, actually, we are becoming at the police-department level. I mean, I know a few years ago, perhaps, these things would not even be recorded. SERGEANT HEALEY: Correct.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am encouraged to hear that the police department has made substantial progress along those lines. But what would also be helpful is if broken down by either police district or councilmanic district, and then, given the city's 245 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 new highly sophisticated way of mapping, where we have the mapping process, period, it reveals even greater information which then becomes prescriptive in where we should focus or efforts. So that would be helpful, as well. SERGEANT HEALEY: That's not a problem.
Thank you. SERGEANT HEALEY: The hard thing to track domestic-violence abuse, number one, is it occurs not just an incident occurs, the police come, the police go away. There is domestic violence homicides, domestic-related homicides, domestic-related rapes. So what happens, a lot of times, domestic incidents, which I have a specific code number for, is not all you need to count. You need to count the crimes that were domestically related, as well. So that includes homicides, rapes, robberies, simple assaults, aggravated assaults. So it is important that when we do a good analysis of this, that we look at the whole big picture. But I can print out domestic violence incidents, and all that's going to be is the time 246 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 that I went to the door, told these people, "Listen, you are okay, you are okay, you are not hurt. Okay. Knock it off. Everybody has to be good." And that's just a domestic-violence incident. It could be a mother yelling at her kid. It ranges from everything; it is not just abuse.
That's exactly what we are looking for. Because we are trying to create the system. And, obviously, it is a system that begins with a 911 call, and then ends up in a courtroom in which you have a plexiglas, bullet-proof glass between the person and the fact-finder. And the person has to talk through this hole, which is insulting and degrading. I mean, the whole process is one in which the woman gets degraded as she goes along. She first gets beaten by her husband, and then we find ways of actually making her a greater victim as she enters into the process. So we are trying to see how we can, as Carol Tracy likes to say, co-locate a lot of these services that need to be provided. And we need to see how the police 247 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 interact with these victims and what, if anything, they need to further, further interaction, if necessary. But, go ahead. Keep telling me the process. SERGEANT HEALEY: Finishing up on the policy real quickly. The officers basically encounter four types of situation. We have covered the two: You come up on the scene, the offender is on location, and you can either arrest or not arrest; the offender runs away at the door, and otherwise I would have arrested him. A major part of the time we come on the scene. And after women have done all the right things, they went down and got Protection Orders, we come on the scene and officers would often give them bad advice. Not through their own fault, but because it was confusing. They would see no visible signs of injury. They have a Protection Order, mind you. And they are like, "Well, ma'am, there is nothing we can do." Well, the reality is, that's the crime code. 248 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 The civil code says that if there is probable cause that you violated an Order, I can make a warrantless arrest. But that's not in the crimes code, that's in the civil code. And our previous directive never differentiated between the two, and it was confusing. As an attorney, I was confused reading back and forth.
Well, they now know they can do something. SERGEANT HEALEY: That's actually why I put it in this Directive.
So if the woman shows that she has the protection, the Order -- SERGEANT HEALEY: Shows it and says, "He just came over, threatened me," you need probable cause, obviously, that's the legal standard. So if we can articulate the probable cause, we will make the arrest for violating the Order right then and there. Now a lot of times -- this is even the worst-case scenario -- you have a Protection Order and he has run out the door. Cops are saying, "Well, ma'am, what do you want me to do. If he were 249 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 here, I would lock him up." In reality, they wouldn't anyway. But, what do you do now? These people got no service. That's changed dramatically.
If he is not there, and she says, "Well, he is at 20th and Berks," do they call out? Does the policeman now go and arrest him at 20th and Berks for violating the Order? SERGEANT HEALEY: It depends if he can find him. If he can find him easily, yes, most likely he will. But our primary concern, really, in this process is not necessarily the arrest, but the security of the victim.
Well, sometimes the security of the victim depends on putting the individual behind bars. SERGEANT HEALEY: If need be, these are easy jobs. We know where he works, we know where he lives, we know where he hangs out. It is very easy to go down and get a warrant for violating the Order. And that's now what the mandate would do. Obviously the officer will do a quick survey. If he can grab him, he will grab him. A 250 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 lot of times it is not that easy.
In all of these things you obviously have the ability to have the numbers and the statistics of how this has proceeded. And what I would like is, if you have available right now to put on the record, like I said, from one district alone yesterday the testimony was that we had 20,000 calls to one district, one police district alone. We had 15,000 Orders that were issued and heard through the court system. And if you have, if you can extrapolate that 20,000 citywide for me. SERGEANT HEALEY: I don't know where the 20,000 came from. It seems a little high.
It was the Northeast Division. SERGEANT HEALEY: For the fiscal year that you had asked for, I have, approximately, domestic-abuse incidents, which is no crimes have occurred, I had approximately 68,416.
68,000. SERGEANT HEALEY: The city. That's 251 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 domestic incidents. However, I have 8,844 jobs were issued to just serve a Protection Order. So that's 8,400 times the police were called just to serve the defendant.
That's what I am trying to say. I mean, because this process is -- this is a very, very, like I described at the beginning, a very lonely process.
If 15,000 were issued and 8,000 were actually police assisted in terms of service, that means over 7,000 women were left to serve that petition by themselves. SERGEANT HEALEY: According to the law, a competent adult can serve these orders.
I know. But a competent adult that's not trained in police work. It is probably a cousin or a brother or, you know, a family relation. Then that leads to more violence. Because I am trying to get a clear picture of, again, it is really, as Carol and other 252 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 witnesses describe, a very frightening scenario that we have. Because we have thousands of women out there going through this process yearly. And the actual number that actually go to get the Order is very small. You go from 68,000 reported incidents, down to 15,000 actually filed, then to 8,000 actually assisted in the serving. It begins to give a picture, a clearer picture, of the danger that these women are in who are into this type of situation. Go ahead. Just keep going. SERGEANT HEALEY: Like I said, the statistics, I don't want to get cornered into the statistics because it is very hard to identify where domestic violence is occurring. Like I said, the earlier number I gave you is just the incidents where there was no crime; the police were called just to mediate a family disturbance, which could have been a son coming home late, minor incidents. I have here, I broke down the domestic-related crimes according to crime code; basically, homicide, rapes, robberies, aggravated 253 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 assaults.
I would like to hear those. SERGEANT HEALEY: Do you want all of them?
Yes. SERGEANT HEALEY: In the Fiscal Year 7/1/01 to 6/30/02 we had domestic-related 10 homicides, 113 domestic-related rapes, 166 11 domestic-related robberies, 2,562 domestic-related 12 aggravated assaults. 13 We had 94 domestic-related burglaries. 14 We had 203 thefts, other than motor vehicle thefts, 15 which were domestic related. We had 23 auto thefts 16 which were domestic related. 17 We had 7,239 other assaults; that would 18 include simple assaults. We had 24 arsons which 19 were domestic related. We had eight forgeries, domestic related. We had 64 frauds, embezzlement. 21
One embezzlement? 22 SERGEANT HEALEY: I had to see that case 23 first. I could see where it would have happened. A 24 person steals a person's checkbook. 25
A lot of money 254 1 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 involved? SERGEANT HEALEY: I didn't see the case personally. We had 665 domestic-related vandalisms, 88 other sex offenses which were classified domestic related. 232 domestic-related offenses against family and child. These are just general categories of where they were lumped in. And we had 1,825 all other offenses which were domestic related. And we had 450 domestic-related missing persons.
Can we get a copy of that? SERGEANT HEALEY: Sure. The reason we actually can identify that information is, Commissioner Brennan, along with Commissioner Johnson, actually put together a plan where, when we put data into our computer system, we have a domestic-related check box. Now, it is not a mandatory field yet which would require that the data is a hundred percent accurate. However, if the operations room 25 personnel can identify that there is a 255 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 domestic-related incident, they are to check this box. And that's the reason I can generate those statistics. So they are approximate.
If it is not a mandatory field, that indicates it is a relatively new procedure. Can I assume that? SERGEANT HEALEY: It has been in place a couple of years now. I think we are working on making it mandatory. It may have already been mandatory already. I am not familiar with the program.
So it is at least in the pipeline that eventually it will be mandatory? SERGEANT HEALEY: If it is not. I will double-check to make sure, to be honest with you. It may very well be.
The issue I think Councilwoman Reynolds alluded to, and we spoke about it yesterday, there comes that situation on the mapping of these things. 256 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 Because one of the aspects that we asked for is, how do you go about, and you are describing, how do you go about collecting the data, and to give us a description in terms of the process on how it is collected. So, you know ... SERGEANT HEALEY: The data is no 9 different than any other crime. It is collected on a 75-48 report. The report is either domestic. It could be assault, it could be a homicide; the same report, the initial report, is used. And that's basically what's flagged in as either domestic-related or not.
Do we have any way, because sometimes -- and I read enough and have seen enough areas, and I practiced some law along these lines, but my wife practices a much broader, greater experience, and we started talking. Sometimes a woman makes a phone call about violence, and so on, and nothing really follows up, so it is calm. Is there any way that you track the repeated phone calls, if there are repeat, you know -- somebody says, there is Ramona calling up, 257 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 this is the tenth time. And do we have any way of then putting that into a balance and saying, this is something that we have to keep an eye on, as the police, and then you as police being able to transfer that information to another department that should be taking -- you know, that's needed. Because what we are talking about is that -- and here is where the process -- because this is not just a police problem and the solution is not just a police problem. And you are not in the role of being social workers. But, obviously, we need a system in which the police department, if this lady has been calling and there have been enough, but it really hasn't risen up to the level of -- but the calls are getting into a degree of intensity, as they call, is there any way in which those things can be tracked in terms of police, in terms of 911 so that we can pinpoint a crisis. And maybe your department, and if you are in charge, can say, you know, we need to notify DHS, we need to notify somebody within the government, one of the agencies, that may be able to 258 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 intervene. I mean, everything in a perfect world relating to it. SERGEANT HEALEY: What we do at the current time right now, when we have domestic-related incidents, they are referred -- at first in the district level, we have the crime victim officer. That crime victim officer, we have the technology in the districts to do repeat address or repeat calls to the same address. And he will reach out to the victim, whether or not they took action that night or not, to determine whether or not they need any further assistance or followup. If that's just a minor incident, nothing major happens, then that's the end of it. If there is a crime did occur, and it actually escalated and detectives got involved, the detectives have special detectives down there that specifically handle domestic-related issues. They will do followup, as well.
I am trying to get to the point in which the real crime hasn't occurred, 259 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 that the police at that point would have the ability to sort of like send it to another -- SERGEANT HEALEY: We don't do that on any centralized basis. However, the crime victims officer in the district are actually very good at this. What they do is, they will follow up and say, "This is the third time, Mrs. Jones. You need to do something. Here is the phone numbers." These people are actually -- this is a job they really like to do. Most of the victims assistance officers --
I am not saying to give it to Mrs. Jones. I am saying to take a sort of a proactive situation so that if a system is set up and Mrs. Jones called, this is her tenth call or sixth call, that that system is able to, I guess, automatically almost say, you know, this goes to a social service agency and that this is something we have got to keep a watch on because something is going to happen. You know, sort of the recidivist type of situation, so that you get enough. 260 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 And, in essence, that's what I am trying to get to here, that we get the police talking to the social-service agencies and a system of communication so that the crime doesn't happen, so that we are able to maybe intervene. And maybe the guy needs -- you know, maybe the guy is not a total louse, and maybe he just was brought up wrong and this is the only way that person has of expressing anger, you know. And so what I am trying to get is, if we get all these things, all these phone calls, and first let's get talking to each other in terms of a system in which things are transmitted from one side to the other. SERGEANT HEALEY: Along those lines, we have already very much cooperated together. A lot of domestic-advocacy organizations have come to the police department and gave our domestic-violence officers specific training. And key to that training was really just the relationship, building that bond. So when the domestic-related detective identifies a problem, they know who to contact, number one, which is very important, which is -- a centralized system would 261 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 actually help that process. But we are far along the way in terms of communications. Obviously it can be better. Everything can always be better in terms of a perfect world.
So what's the system in terms of cooperate right now in terms of the police department coordinating with other governmental offices? SERGEANT HEALEY: As the standard now, I don't think it is so much the governmental, but they will go to the advocacy groups, Women Against Abuse, Women in Transition, or whatever the case may be. I don't personally get involved with doing the work. I mean, I help with the policy. But it is my understanding that the detectives will reach, out when they see a problem, and try to connect a victim to a service. That's the way it is supposed to be working. I like the idea of making somehow a mandatory flag of kicking it to.
How well is it working right now? And let's say that you are trying to do that. 262 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 Is it a protocol that has been established that this Officer, you know, Jones understands that under such and such circumstance, he or she is supposed to do the following? SERGEANT HEALEY: Statistically I can't tell you whether it is overtly. Anecdotally I can tell you I used for get calls all the time from the women's group saying, "I can't get through to this district. I can't reach this officer." I haven't gotten any calls for a while. So if that's any barometer, I don't know. But I hope it is. Because a lot of times the police officers didn't know who to call. And that's really what was important, was bringing them together, letting them see each other, know each other so when you do have a problem, you know who to call. I haven't gotten any calls in at least a year. Every once in a while I will get a call from Judge Summers, however, that some case slipped through criminally and it is in his court that he needs to speak to a detective.
Can I do a 263 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 followup, Mr. Chairman? As a former manager of a primarily youth and children program, there is a document called and SOP, Standard Operating Procedures. And, in fact, asking that question oftentimes of my colleagues has gotten me in trouble. Because I do believe that is helpful in ensuring that some basic standards of procedures are actualized. In training, before police officers ever hit the street, is there training specifically and procedurally how these types of matters are handled at the Police Academy? SERGEANT HEALEY: At the Police Academy, no, because they would not be the ones doing it at that level. They need to know how to handle the scenes when they come on the scene. The protocol we are looking for -- and, actually, that's what we are trying to develop. We have two different bureaus in the police department that are operating here: We have the patrol bureau, are the officers that go out on the street in the uniform in the districts; and we also now have the detective bureau which handles the investigations. 264 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 So what happened is, we have domestic -- we have violent criminal crime victim assistance officers in the districts, which are patrol. Then we domestic detectives in the detective division. Now, what we are in the process of working out now is a protocol between the two divisions; exactly what you are asking for, standard operating procedure. Because what was happening is, some of the domestic-violence victims were getting beaten up by the police. Not literally. I mean, what happened was, they would be call up by the police, what happened, do you need any assistance, and the next day they would be called by the detective asking the same questions. And she would be like, "Please I don't want this going on anymore," whatever the case may be. So what we needed to do was coordinate our services.
And make sure the departments are talking with each other. SERGEANT HEALEY: Yes. And, actually, they are still working out the nuts and bolts. Research and planning unit right now is working, 265 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 negotiating with the two units to make sure we have something that works effectively. We don't want to duplicate efforts. But, most importantly, I would rather duplicate efforts and make sure somebody gets assistance. So I want to make sure that before something is in place, it is soundproof. Because this isn't something that we can make a mistake and then go back and say, "Oh, we need to fix that." They are victims.
So you are moving towards an SOP for the handling of these types of matters between those two departments. SERGEANT HEALEY: Right. Yes. When we originally worked on the directive, we were going to make it a part of the directive. However, different negotiating went back and forth and it was holding up the directive. So we actually consciously chose to separate the protocol of between the patrol and detective division apart from the actual overall policy. The policy needs to be out there so officers can be addressing it. And this is what I 266 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 need them to do now, not in six months, when we can hash out who is going to handle what and who is going to serve what paper and do this stuff. So it is more important to us to get the policy out, which we did. The next step is the protocol between the two divisions. Like I said, I would much rather duplicate effort. It not effective or efficient, but a mistake is a person here. That's the important thing to remember here.
So when you consider how matters of this type run through the police department, if you had to speculate when we could look at a date when the protocols would be written, in place, and now operationalized, what would you speculate? SERGEANT HEALEY: I would speculate within six months. I mean, I don't see where this being a bill deal. What slowed us down a little bit was promotions. We had a new chief inspector of patrol. And he is working out. He is a brand-new chief inspector. And he needs to be involved because his people need to know exactly what to do. 267 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 So that slowed things down a little bit, but it hadn't stopped.
So when did the process start, if we are now looking at -- six months from now would be May. SERGEANT HEALEY: It has been ongoing. I mean, we are working it out. And we want to include the community groups, the advocacy groups in this process.
As a part of the dialogue? SERGEANT HEALEY: As a part of the operating procedure first. I think they need to be included. So we need to make sure that when I make a policy under one chief inspector, that he is amenable to it and that it will last. I want something that won't be changed from the next chief inspector gets promoted or when a detective gets promoted. So I need to make sure that the policy is sound. The last thing I need is a protocol that is put in place and it gets revoked because of a promotion because they didn't like something 268 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 specific.
I don't have the benefit of having read all the testimony, but I would say that changes do start with leadership. And if it is not put in writing as an SOP, then leadership has the option to enforce it or not. So can you safely say that next year this time, we won't have to worry about having this conversation again? SERGEANT HEALEY: Without a doubt. I would hope so.
Thank you. You know, one of the big problems that has come up, is that we only actually have one house, a safe house, in the city, with a very limited amount of room, I think it is 55.
One. And then women are usually then -- and 269 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 this is something that -- this is why we need communication between agencies, not just the social service. Then the women who are beaten or in the process go through the homeless shelter program. And I don't think that's where a woman needs to go with her family, and we need to change that. And I think, you know, because obviously if a policeman sees this woman, he knows he cannot send her there. And I don't think any of your officers are going to say, "Well, I can't find him, but I have to send you back there." Obviously you are sending her back there, if she is beaten, he is going to come back and next day you are going to find her dead. SERGEANT HEALEY: That's why it is very important our officers, and we do stress, that you need to find somewhere else to go. We also know that I don't have a place to take the person. I can check via police radio whether or not there is room at the shelter.
But then that shelter is not the place where she should go. And that's why we need the coordination of city agencies. 270 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 Because you cannot send a beaten family to a homeless shelter. They don't have the services necessary. And if we only have one safe house with 55 beds, we need to look at how are we going to provide more. SERGEANT HEALEY: One of the biggest problems actually I incurred on the street as a police officer, and, actually, I remedied it while I was sergeant briefly, is I would tell a person to go get a Protection Order. She says, "I have three kids. How am I going to get down there? It is 3 o'clock in the morning." Well, if I could and there was nothing busy, I would ask my supervisor can I take them. A lot of districts don't have that option. They don't have the ability to take people down to get the Protection Order, number one. So the best thing I can do is, I can take you to the bus. Well, hopefully our supervisors are much more compassionate. As supervisor myself, I would allow, if someone asked me to take a family down to get the Protection Order. This way here, when they 271 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 come back with the Order, whoever was out of the house, usually that is the victim, that gives them at least a safe house they can live in. And if they come back, I have some type of recourse. But a lot of times our only options for these women or males, whatever the case may be, is to find them, to take them to a relative. Usually we are successful. We can usually find someone that would be willing to accept them, especially when there are children. I hate to take children out of the house, but I am not going to let children stand on the bus stop 3 o'clock in the morning, either. So we do whatever we can to accommodate. If you had something centralized, I think just keep in mind, transportation has to be included in this.
Well, this is what we are trying to get to. But the area, the starting area, actually, begins with the 911 call. And then we have to see how we tie the other governmental agency. Councilman Nutter, you have a question?
Thank you, Mr. 272 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 Chairman. I apologize for being late for this hearing and the accommodation as a noncommittee member to ask a couple of questions. Sergeant Healey, I know you have covered a fair amount of territory with Councilman Ortiz and with Councilwoman Reynolds Brown. I will try not to be redundant. I am slightly intrigued, though. You are a representative of the police department today? SERGEANT HEALEY: Yes, sir.
On behalf of Commissioner Johnson? SERGEANT HEALEY: Yes, sir.
To your knowledge and information, who has, I guess, overall responsibility for the issue of domestic violence here in Philadelphia? SERGEANT HEALEY: That's a vague question. Do you mean the response to domestic violence? Would be the Philadelphia Police Department.
Well, that's after the fact. 273 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 SERGEANT HEALEY: True.
That's after the incident has already taken place. SERGEANT HEALEY: True.
My question is, who has overall responsibility for trying to not only prevent domestic violence -- we know what the police role is in that -- but who has direct responsibility for this issue in the City of Philadelphia? SERGEANT HEALEY: For prevention, quite frankly, I don't know if there is any single agency or organization responsible for prevention in and of itself.
Wouldn't that make your job a little easier? SERGEANT HEALEY: It would make my job a lot easier. Regrettably, I have said this before, with crime, I can be proactive, I can be the best cop in the world and patrol my sector and stop a lot of crime from happening. I can't stop domestic violence from happening, no matter how vigilant I am on the street. I have to respond after the fact, 274 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 regrettably.
It is not just a police issue; right? SERGEANT HEALEY: It is a socio-economic, it is a social issue, period.
And do you know what efforts the city presently takes to, I guess, in a way, promote an anti-domestic-violence message or communicate with the young or not so young about this particular issue and engage in people's lives in a way that we might be able to see decreases before there is a need to call 911? SERGEANT HEALEY: Personally, I have no 15 involvement in that, in the prevention area.
Okay. Let me ask this question, I assume that this is a sheet that you gave out, detailed as Philadelphia Police Department Lists Philadelphia Code Summary 7/1/01 to 6/30/02? Is this your document? SERGEANT HEALEY: Yes, sir.
Do you have any information on what actually happened after the police department was engaged and a report was made and the resulting prosecution or disposition of any 275 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 of these matters? And I would like to read some of this into the record. Can you tell me what happened on the prosecutorial side as a result of the homicides, 6 113 rapes, the 2,562 aggravated assaults, the 7,239 7 other assaults, the 88 other sex offenses, the 232 8 offenses against family and children? 9 Do you know what the results are from 10 any of those? 11 SERGEANT HEALEY: I don't know what the 12 outcome of the cases were, per se. But they would 13 have been prosecuted by the District Attorney's 14 Office. 15
You don't get any of 16 that information? 17 SERGEANT HEALEY: I don't have that 18 information. 19
Councilman, the District Attorney chief here was yesterday, and we essentially asked him for data.
What do you mean, 276 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 they don't have it? Didn't we get them computers a couple of years ago?
We got them computers a couple of years ago, but they don't have it. They don't keep that. However, they did say that the President Judge, and she was very good, Massiah-Jackson and Judge Field, they brought a very well-documented presentation with cases, disposition, and so on.
But the District Attorney, in essence, said that, if I am correct, that they prosecute at least 6,400 cases; however, they don't have a database to tell us how and what the disposition of those -- and that's an estimate -- of those 6,400 cases are.
Mr. Chairman, I guess other than being somewhat astounded, I do have to remind you, and I believe you were at the hearing earlier this year, it is interesting that the D.A.'s Office would not have that level of statistical data. I seem to recall asking them a variety of questions about death-penalty cases earlier this 277 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 year, and they could tell me down to the number every case, every disposition, how many people had been sent to death row, how many people had been exonerated. They were quite detailed in their recitation on statistical analysis with regard to that issue. And we don't need to have a death-penalty discussion. But, I would tend to think that this particular issue at least rises to the level of importance that we would actually keep statistical data so we know not only how many calls were made in to 911, or however people access the system, how many people were arrested, and what the disposition was of those particular matters, if we care about the issue. So I look forward to further hearings on the issue. But, I thank you for the opportunity, Councilman, to ask a couple of questions.
Yes. I know you are surprised. But, I am actually finished. SERGEANT HEALEY: I would just like to respond. 278 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 Councilman Nutter, these numbers, I would not say they are absolute. I did a computer run. These are the initial flags on our 48's when the officer brings them in the district. In the future, if it is determined not to be a domestic-related matter, these are first glance what we think. Because our objective was to try to identify where we have major problems, and the best way to do is to flag the 48. So 48 is the initial incident report, which is sometimes modified in the future.
I understand that. But, I mean, you obviously you did this run 12/11. That was last Wednesday. SERGEANT HEALEY: Yes.
And this is a run from 7/1/01 to 6/30/02. SERGEANT HEALEY: I was asked for a fiscal year.
I understand that. I guess my only point is, do you anticipate something is going to change from crime reports that were generated a year and a half ago? 279 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 SERGEANT HEALEY: I don't believe so, no. 4
Right. I mean, they pretty much are what they are; right? SERGEANT HEALEY: Well, the 49 could be different than -- these are the flags, the flag we put on it for trying to track. And, actually, we would like to map, that was an idea brought up. Mapping sometimes is like, again, after the fact. We need to figure out how to prevent. And that's what a lot of our crime victim officers do in the district. Regrettably, it is often after an incident occurred. But sometimes they will, and very often, they will respond to just domestic-related instance. Husband and wife had an argument, it didn't escalate to anything, but the police were called. The officer will follow up on that and say, "Listen, is there anything major going on," and they will try to separate them. A lot of times the wife will not say anything in front of the husband or vice versa. A lot of husbands sometimes are very embarrassed to be 280 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 victims of domestic violence. So a lot of times it is very good for the officer to speak to them separately on the phone the next day, when the husband is at work, or vice versa. And, actually, sometimes you can have a lot of input and help. And the officers are very dedicated. They are out in the districts, they know these people intimately. They go out to their houses. They really do care. I can't relay that enough. I deal with policy procedures and sit down at 3rd and Race, but these people are out there dealing with this violence every day.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One last thing, Sergeant. The officers that you are speaking of now, you are talking about the officer who are in the special victims' unit? SERGEANT HEALEY: No, sir. I am talking about the officers in each district, the crime victim officer assigned under the captain.
How many officers are there in the special victims unit? SERGEANT HEALEY: Off the top of my 281 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 head, I couldn't tell you. I could get you that number. Between officers and detectives, we are trying to, I believe, escalate it. I really couldn't give you that off the top of my head. I don't know.
Do you have any sense as to what their workload is, how many cases is each officer or detective responsible for? SERGEANT HEALEY: I could get that for you. I mean, I would rather get you actual numbers than speculate.
What we are trying to do is, in essence, put enough of a record together so that we can maybe put forward recommendations as to establishment of a system of communication. So that as phone calls are identified, flags are thrown up, and perhaps almost direct communication could go to the Health Department, to DHS, across the system so that we could get into the preventive mode so that we don't have police always running towards the crime area as such. 282 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 That women across the city can -- and men, although very few of us get beat up that way. But so that we can begin putting that system into place. And one other thing is the communications. And what we are seeing is that there is not that much. And I think Councilman Nutter put forward, as to, do we see it. And I think what has come out of the last two days is that this is a very huge, huge crisis. It is a public-health crisis. And it is not identified as such, at least in the perception of the citizens of this city. And the picture we have to draw, and the picture we have to communicate, is that this is a public-health crisis that needs direct intervention by all of city agencies, bringing it all together into a comprehensive, cohesive type of action that we can begin to put forward. SERGEANT HEALEY: I think the foundation for what you speak of is actually in place. We have good working relationships with all the advocacy groups. And we are all on the same page. Our objective here is to better serve 283 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 the victims of domestic violence.
But we cannot get to a point until we get a public policy that says, if you are getting over 68,000, and you are getting only in the Northeast Division you are getting 20,000 calls; if you have 15,000 petitions, which those are the women with enough courage to go down to file a petition, and then you say, we only have one safe house in the city with 55 beds, that sends the wrong message. SERGEANT HEALEY: Absolutely.
And then if you are saying that women that can't fit into that safe house, then have to go through the homeless-shelter program, that sends the wrong message. And as a city government, as a city legislature, as a city governmental executive office, we cannot be putting that forward. Other cities are dealing with it differently. We don't even have an 800 number for women to call. They said that yesterday. The cost of that is $900,000 a year. $900,000, we should be able to find that money. I mean, there is no excuse for us not to be 284 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 able to find that money in the budget. And I think what has to be recognized, the message that I am looking for, is that this problem gets recognized as the public-health crisis that it is. And just like we are trying to deal with the public-school system, and we have a focus on how we can fix that, that we deal with this problem. Because it is not a problem that deals with just a few individuals across the city. It is thousands and thousands of people. And there are thousands and thousands more that we never even get to see and that suffer in silence. And we need to break the silence.
Just as a wrap-up for my own purposes, a review of where we are and where we are going as relates to mapping. Currently the department is using the mapping, which I think is a wonderful tool. I am very excited about it. Currently the department is using mapping; correct? SERGEANT HEALEY: That's correct.
Specifically for 285 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 this issue? SERGEANT HEALEY: Not specifically for this issue. We use mapping for overall crime strategies. We have comp stat, which is done every week at the Police Academy. Whereas, the geo coding program is used to map auto thefts, robberies, and agg. assaults, and stuff like that. So the individual commanders can determine the strategy to use to address the crime. And, actually, they are held accountable.
So somewhere on an action plan or a long-term plan, there is the expectation that mapping will be used as relates to this issue, did I not hear you say that? SERGEANT HEALEY: Yes. I will actually develop some types of maps for you to look at personally. And we do special comp stats. Every division has a week, roughly. And the commanders in that division are held accountable for the crimes in their areas. Certain times, due to the schedule, we have additional weeks put in place. We have done a 286 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 domestic violence comp stat in the past. So I could probably give a demonstration of the material we have from then. And, actually, I gave that presentation, basically, when the new directive came out.
Could you make that available to us? SERGEANT HEALEY: I will have to check with Deputy Brennan, he is the one who generated the data for me.
And in terms of systemic change as relates to the coordination and communication with other city departments, that information, if not now, will be shared with those other city agencies like DHS, Department of Public Health, OESS so that strategies around prevention and, I guess, intervention can be based on that information that comes to them as a result of mapping? SERGEANT HEALEY: I would hope so. In a perfect world, and my vision would be, if I can identify a certain district in the city or location that has a high, a disproportionately high, number of domestic violence assaults, then 287 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 that's an issue that not only the police department needs to look at -- because, as I said, I have constitutional limitations. I can't go into people's houses and say, "You can't do this." However, when other people, Civil Service agencies, are involved, they can maybe identify some of the risk factors that are in those specific areas. What is it specifically in this area that is causing this problem? Maybe there are environmental factors. We don't know. But the mapping actually helps very much. It could be across the board. Domestic violence could be straight across the board. And, actually, politically it could be sensitive to mapping. I mean, I don't believe domestic violence is specific to any race, religion, color, anything. I believe it goes across the board. So mapping may not prove very useful because it may just prove that it is just peppered throughout.
We need the analysis. We may know that intuitively and maybe intellectually. But until we see what the numbers 288 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 are based on councilmanic or police district, only then do we have hard data. SERGEANT HEALEY: Right. Absolutely. And the mapping works wonderfully in this regard. But, like I said, this is a problem I don't think it is specific to geographic location or race, gender, or sex, for that matter. I mean, it goes across the board. I think, actually, the data will prove that. But we may have certain pockets of the city that prove more problematic. Maybe in those areas that's where the campaign could be focused. And you could develop performance measurement standards and see whether or not they work. We could do that. And I am interested in doing that. I am more interested in all the calls in the Northeast Division. I am going to double-check that.
I would like to see that and I would like to see what the calls have been throughout the city. So if you can give us that data, I would really appreciate it. So, Sergeant, I thank you.
Thank you very 289 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 much. SERGEANT HEALEY: Thank you. Frank Cervone and Deborah Freedman. Thank you. Identify yourself for the record. DEBORAH FREEDMAN, ESQ.: My name is Deborah Freedman, and I am Managing Attorney of the Family Advocacy Unit at Community Legal Services, formerly the Dependency Unit, a unit with illustrious history.
It is a very hard, hard job. I have been talking about that for the last two days, because I think my wife was the head of that unit at one point.
It is a hard job, but it is a great job because we are doing work that we really believe in, which feels wonderful. And our job specifically is to help parents keep their families together. We work with parents to prevent their children from being placed in foster care or to have their children returned 290 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 home. My role here today is specifically to talk about domestic violence in the Child welfare System in Philadelphia. And this is a huge topic. Because we know from academic studies that at least one-third of all child welfare cases involve domestic violence. And what most studies say is that the number is probably higher than that. So conservatively one-third, domestic violence is present. What do we do about domestic violence in child welfare, though, is a very, very thorny problem because there is so much danger both to the women and to the children involved in the system. Let me start by saying that it is really great to be able to work on this issue with full knowledge that the Commissioner of DHS, Alba Martinez, is just an outstanding domestic-violence advocate and is already moving forward on this. She advocates against domestic violence and has been a leader in services for domestic-violence victims. However, of course I have some 291 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 suggestions for DHS for ways things can get even better. My suggestions fall into three big categories. So let me start with the first category, which is, DHS should create several simple policies to avoid endangering parents and children who are victims of domestic violence. And this really falls into the same category of some of the things you were discussing with the police. DHS needs some really clear protocols for how certain things can get done. Currently there are a lot of things that DHS workers do that inadvertently harm victims or put victims in danger. They invite everyone in the family to the same planning meeting. They schedule visits at the same time. They interview parents together, even when they are aware that domestic violence is an issue in the case. One issue that we have had come up several times just in the last couple of months is, DHS workers using a violent partner to interpret for a woman who does not speak English.
That was mentioned. We had this testimony yesterday. 292 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613
So that has been a huge problem. I think DHS could do a lot to move forward on all of these issues with simple protocols that outline ways in which cases should be handled, ways in which meetings can be scheduled if domestic violence is suspected in a case. And, you know, scheduling meetings separately, talking to victims separately, and to never, ever use family members to interpret are all important.
You describe a situation of parental exchange of children. At one point, with one client, exchange was being done at -- what's that coffee shop again? -- Starbuck's. And that's a concern and strange. It should not be done in that manner.
Yes, I agree with you. And that probably gets into the whole issue of visitation centers and, sort of, all of the services we need for families involved with these systems. Additionally, under the general category of needing guidance and protocols, DHS really, really needs clear procedures for confidentiality. 293 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 A problem that we have had repeatedly is that DHS mails paperwork to everyone in the family, as they are required to do as part of their internal guidelines and the law. But those documents include everyone in the case's address very often. And we have had, as a result, our clients' secret addresses disclosed to their abusive partner. This is also a problem in the court system, where Dependency Court basically has no 12 procedures for keeping people's addresses secret. Anyone can go and look at files. People's addresses appear on all kinds of documents. So we would ask that DHS create procedures for keeping addresses confidential. Families are required to share tremendous amounts of sensitive information with DHS in order to be cooperating with their services. And they cannot possibly do that if they have no 21 confidence that the information will be confidential from an abuser. My second set of recommendations has to do with services that DHS could be providing in a better way for families. 294 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 The families who are experiencing domestic violence often need very intensive services and often need those services to be available to them beyond regular business hours. We have had numerous situations in which clients needed help escaping from an abuser and the escaping or other help needed to happen after 5:00 p.m. Thus, my first service-related recommendation is that DHS should strongly consider referring domestic-violence cases to their Family Preservation Unit. This is a unit that provides a much more intensive level of service and has round-the-clock ability to serve parents. I think this is something that DHS is considering, and we would very strongly support it. Secondly, we recommend that DHS target some of its emergency fund money to assist domestic violence victims. The emergency fund is an absolutely fantastic program that Commissioner Martinez has created to provide families with assistance for all kinds of economic barriers that stand in the way of reunification or of keeping the family together. 295 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 And, in particular, we would like to see on the application, then, that the workers use a section that encourages workers to use those funds for domestic-violence situations. In the cases that we have worked on with domestic violence, we have been able to get, in some cases, DHS to pay for domestic-violence related expenses with this fund, but it has required a lot of aggressive advocacy. I thought I would mention to you one of the cases that I had where this worked very effectively. My client, Ms. Taylor, who lived in the Northeast with three small children in her home, one of whom was very medically needy, and she had been continually abused by the father of her two youngest children. The abusive man would repeatedly break into her house and beat her up at all times of day. And as a way of controlling her, he had also damaged her van, which she had had specially adapted for transporting her child's wheelchair.
I think there was an Order? 296 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613
There was not a Protection Order. What happened here, in fact, was that she was absolutely terrified to be in her house. Because he had broken all of the locks, he had broken the windows, he had done everything. And she didn't have the van to get away, because he had ruined her van. What we were able to do was to get DHS to pay for her locks and her door to be replaced and to have her van repaired so that she could feel that she could actually escape from her house, if need be. This, I think, gave her a sense of hope, which then empowered her to get a Protection Order, I think. She was so beaten down at the time that we first got on the case that she felt totally helpless. And the fact that he could enter her home at any time with no locks, because he had broken all the locks, made her feel that everything was never going to work. But after we got DHS to pay for that, those simple changes, she actually did go and get a 297 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 Protection Order. And I represented her in that case.
Did he ever try to break in again? He never tried to break in again?
He did; but he is a drug user and is not the brightest guy on earth. And I think like once he saw that she had taken some steps, he apparently didn't -- and, also, he didn't show up for the Protection Order hearing. So it may have been some combination of being served with the Order, seeing that she had taken some steps. But my major point about that case is that, I would love to see DHS target some of its emergency fund specifically for domestic-violence victims and have that included in the application for emergency fund services. I also just wanted to acknowledge, you mentioned it earlier, but that DHS cannot possibly provide all the services that families need. And in my ten years as a legal services lawyer, I have never been able to get someone into the shelter at Women Against Abuse because it has always been full. And I know it is because they are helping other women who desperately need it. 298 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 And particularly we need a shelter that is welcoming to families whose first language is not English. That's a major crisis and is not available outside of Philadelphia, in the outlying counties at all, either. Also, I wanted to re-emphasize what you said earlier about transportation being extremely important. As a client said to me just last week, "If I want to get away from him, I can't stand on the corner with the kids and wait for the bus. I won't be alive to see it come." We desperately need some kind of cab voucher system, some kind of emergency transportation response for victims who are ready to take the step to leave. That's absolutely critical and not available at all currently. And my final recommendation is one that is think is important, and I think it is for intensive training of DHS workers in the child welfare system on the dynamics of domestic violence. I am sure this is something that Alba Martinez is committed to. But DHS workers very often misunderstand and become frustrated with women 299 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 who cannot or will not leave abusive partners. But we have repeatedly had social workers tell us that, "If this mother doesn't leave her partner, her children will be removed," or that she has to get a Protection Order right away if she wants to keep her children. These kinds of comments and the actions that follow them really just misunderstand the nature of the violence and the crisis that the woman is facing.
I think, also, part of the damage done in that situation is that it ensures that abused women are scared to work with DHS or other agencies or ask for help. Which, actually, I just wanted to comment on something that was suggested earlier, which was --
Speak into the 300 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 microphone.
I wanted to comment on something that was mentioned earlier, which was the concept of potentially having the police contact DHS for repeat phone call addresses. And that's something that I would really strangely discourage. Because I think if there is one agency that women are more scared of than anyone, it is DHS. And I think DHS is doing things to try to change that. But, currently, if we want women to reach out to the police or if we want women to reach out to other social service agencies when we need help, I think if they have the sense that if they call the police, DHS is going to come into their life, they aren't calling the police. And that's just a fact in my mind based on my years of experience of working with them.
It is something we have to change. And I think Alba and other folks are working very hard to change that and to shift focus to a lot of prevention services that are excellent. 301 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 But, the reality of the situation right now is that if DHS were called when the police were called, I don't think women are going to call the police.
I deeply apologize for interrupting your testimony. I am going to have to leave. I wanted to put two things on the record. If I don't leave and go to my parent/teacher conference, I may have a domestic situation later on this evening. Two things. One, with regard to the hotline issue, quick thought that came to mind is the city collects from all of us who have a telephone $1 a month for the improvement and enhancement of the 911 emergency system. And that results in about 4 and a half million dollars a year collected to maintain the 911 system, which is going through a bit of an enhancement process right now. My sense is that once the system is fully operational, it will not need 4 and a half million dollars a year to maintain. And so I would like to pursue, Mr. 302 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 Chairman, both through the Budget Office and I guess ultimately through the finance office, there is a state statute that governs how that money can be used. It is for the enhancement of the 911 system. It seems to me in a slightly reverse-logic fashion that if we could divert 68,000 calls a year out of the 911 system, it is in fact an improvement and an enhancement to that particular system. And so there may be an opportunity, I think, if we work in a collective fashion, to pursue some of the 911 money as a way to potentially fund the hotline. The second issue is, with regard to the transportation issue, we know that quite recently the state legislature, having taken many actions, one of which was the transference of responsibility for taxi cabs in Philadelphia to the Philadelphia Parking Authority, as opposed to the PUC. We may take some stab at talking with our friends over at the Parking Authority to see whether for specific instances, as governed by the police department, involving domestic violence there might be the opportunity to create some kind of 303 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 voucher system that ensures that the cab person, obviously, gets paid. I think you would not want to have any cash involved. But that it is a voucher that's signed by the person, signed by the cab person, and then ultimately goes back to the Parking Authority. And if we could get some cooperation with that agency to see whether there is a transportation opportunity here to ensure that people would be able to get from one place to the other. Obviously they are not probably going to take you on many other trips. But at least from the police station, to home, or wherever it is, the one trip that you want to make. Lastly, Mr. Chairman -- and I am sure you will pursue this -- it seems to me that there is a need not only for the coordination that's been discussed here. But I think if we are going to be very serious about the issue of domestic violence, that possibly through the managing director's office or whoever the appropriate agency is -- we don't need to debate that issue today -- there probably should 304 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 be an office of domestic violence here in the City of Philadelphia, which I think would substantively show that we care about the particular issue, that there are people whose job it is to work on this from the promotional side, the better use of the word in terms of anti-domestic-violence campaigns and education and the like, and that's what they do. And then they work with all the various agencies and coordinate, but they have the authority and the responsibility to do this job in a way that we don't have to sit around and kind of scratch our heads trying to figure out who is doing what, how is it getting done, what are the statistics, who is up to what. It is tremendously frustrating. And I have seen in other places a much more coordinated and targeted effort toward trying to discourage people, men and women, but primarily men. And I think that many men in Philadelphia care very deeply about this particular issue.
And all of us should step up to the plate and talk about it in a way that not only condemns the behavior, but that we have the opportunity to talk with other men about the seriousness of it. 305 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 Not only what it does to the family relationship and your partner, but also the long-term impact that it has on children. They are damaged and scarred, potentially for life, and subsequently often become abusers themselves because that's all they know. That was their experience, and that is the way they then respond in those situations. It is tragic and it will continue to repeat itself until people stand up and talk about it and say that it is wrong, you should never engage in that kind of behavior, it is not the response. So, Mr. Chairman, I am going to leave. And I am prepared to work with you on any initiatives on this issue.
Councilman, I think that's the direction we are going. And, by the way, I missed Omar's teacher's conference yesterday, which he let me know when I got home. And I missed Pilar's teacher's conference today.
And Pilar. I just 306 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 told her, so they understand. I will make it up for them.
But I think that's where we are going. And that's why these hearings are so important, because this is sort of like the hidden problem that we have in the city. And sometimes we don't want to talk about them. And then we don't want to put resources into fixing these aspects. And we need to be able to determine -- you speak about DHS. DHS is an agency that, you know, has had problems and so on. But it is obviously -- because it is usually it is the culture that's within each institution that we have in the city, and that culture is permanent almost. And we have seen a change not just rapidly; it changes very slow. And even when new leadership comes in and leadership is energetic, they understand that that leadership is there only temporarily. It could be three years, it could be four years. And many of the people that work in all 307 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 of those institutions, just like the police department, in terms of the special victim's unit that we had hearings on, they thought we were going to go away. And the issue is that we are not going to go away. So that the culture is changing the way and taking a message that change is going to happen. And that even if Alba is there today, and she might not be there tomorrow, that change is going to keep on proceeding and going forward. So that if Timoney goes and Sylvester Johnson comes on, that the same change that began is not going to cease; is that the culture is going to change. But the only way that happens is when we have the community and the advocates and the people willing to come forward. We only have four agencies -- they are all in North Philly and in Center City -- that deal with domestic violence in the city. Forget the city government. I mean, four independent agencies. We have shelter, with 55 beds. That has to change. Resources have got to be put into that situation. 308 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 And government is the only one that can do that, because there is no profit margin here. You know, there is no huge developer that is going to come in and say, "Oh, I think I can make some money out of that. Let me put it." There is no 7 IKEA, for instance. You should have seen the effort that we made the other day about IKEA for the last seven months; and the editorials that were written about how if IKEA didn't come into the city, the city would be in ruins because we would no longer have a consumer, you know, center in which we could spend money. Meanwhile, thousands and thousands of women are going into lives of despair, and we have no idea that that is going on. It is like the Councilman just said, and I said it between yesterday and today. There is no 20 way to be able to quantify that. And we have to be able to change governmental policy. And in a Democratic city, with a Democratic mentality, we should be able to find the money. We should be able to find $900,000 for 309 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 an 800 number. We should be able to find money so that there are a few more shelters out there so that women can have a safe haven to go. We should be able to have advocate agencies in Southwest Philadelphia, West Philly that begin dealing with this problem.
Good afternoon. Having read a lot of the testimony, still the one fact that really for me is profound is the fact that there is only one shelter in the city. And I am of the view that, given so many issues pulling at the dollars in government, government can no longer do it all, which forces us to think out of the box differently about how we address these kinds of issues. And so, to that end, have we ever considered a conversation with the United Way to list to have one of those check boxes, a dollar for a hotline, if you will? Have we ever thought about talking about with members of the clergy or the foundation 310 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 community to see -- first of all, to enlighten them, just as I have been enlightened through these hearings, and then offer them recommendations like those presented in your testimony, which are doable and possible if we just enlighten and ask the question. I have already had a conversation with Carol Tracy because I am of the mind set, before coming to Council, it was taboo to talk about AIDS with members of the clergy. They just did not see a role. And until they were enlightened, they didn't embrace it. Now there are a lot of clergy in our city who, through their church, they are very, very engaged in addressing that issue. So as we go down this road and propose recommendations, I will put up for consideration the need that we must look beyond government, because government is not going to do it all. It simply cannot. The dollars are not there. To that end, we have to look to those worlds who are in the business of looking out for the least of these, and one of them is the clergy community. 311 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Frank Cervone for the Support Center for Child Advocate. Sorry to hear you missed your children's sessions. We can talk about that afterwards.
They let me know, let me it tell you something. In fact, Pilar calls her sister in LA and complains when I miss something, and then her sister calls me up. So I am expecting a call.
I am expecting a call from my older daughter today later on.
Members of Council, the Support Center for Child Advocates is a volunteer lawyers program for abused and neglected children in Philadelphia. We are glad to be back to talk to you about the needs of kids and families. These hearings are about domestic violence. What we see is domestic-violence cases come into the system as child-abuse cases. And 312 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 child-abuse cases come into the system as DV cases. We are working with the same families. We have a wonderful community of advocates and providers here, and we look to cooperate with each other. What you heard over these two days is some demonstration of the level of that cooperation. I think, as well, that special commendation needs to be paid to the women at the Women's Law Project, whose courageous work has kept this issue on the front burner of this city's attention for as long as it has.
We recognize as well your own leadership, Councilman Ortiz, and that of continued participation and attention of Councilman Nutter, Council Reynolds Brown, I know Mr. Cohen and Mr. Rizzo have been involved. I am as well, though, struck by the absence of members. It gives me pause that we cannot get the full attention of this Council for these issues at any point in the history of this work. Our community of public-interest 313 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 advocates about two years ago issued a report on Family Court critical of the lack of judicial resources. And in that document we noted the empty-chair syndrome, in which cases were made to appear before a bench without a judge in the chair. Likewise, we sit today waiting for Council to come. That troubles me. This is an issue that demands the city's attention, and thus it demands this leadership's attention. We thank you for being here. We last testified before this committee, or the Public Safety Committee -- I know today we have a joint process -- three years ago, almost to the day, December 6 of 1999. We provided those remarks then. I thought, as a student of history, that I might just work off of those and tell you how we have done in three years. The pace of change has been faster than a glacier.
We made notice of that yesterday in my opening remarks.
Then I will leave off the rest of it. 314 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 We look to, basically, three topics: Those of workload and -- four topics: workload, place, process, and professionalism. We can report that the delay in the police assignment, an issue that helped to bring these hearings about, was part of the tragic death of that young woman and her mother late this summer. Unfortunately, inadequate staffing at special victims has been a known problem for more than a decade and probably longer. Now in response to that tragedy, the police department has made a staffing commitment which we hope they will honor and that you will support. In that same vein, it is unfortunate the Commissioner is not here today. Out community has worked well with Commissioner Sylvester Johnson in his short tenure. We hope that tenure will last. We hope --
We hope that this issue will stand above politics, that you will all take the high road. This is our issue together; it should not be politicized. 315 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613
This is not a political issue. It is really about human beings, human rights, and children. And, this is not about politics.
We are glad. The Department of Human Services has been impressively busy on many fronts of reform and dialogue and good work. The case assignment, I am sure you will hear about lots of those from Commissioner Martinez. We note the case assignment process at DHS, which has been a cause of great burden to the staff there, is under review and redesign. We expect that the workload issues will be addressed in that process. The hotline staff I think are going to be on call hours a day in the building this week. 19 The interface between police and DHS 20 seems to be working. Though, without a way of 21 checking on all the cases, no one can be certain. 22 The good news about place is that 23 several key agencies have identified a site for the 24 new co-located facility for special victims and the child welfare investigators. That is the Tower 316 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 Building at Temple's Episcopal Hospital at Front and Lehigh. That's public information, it has been in the papers. This site will be accessible for consumers and for professionals and it has the potential to be able to be developed into the state-of-the-art program to which many aspired for more than a decade.
The bad news -- and I know, Councilman Ortiz, you have particular interest in the movement of this project -- special victims unit has not yet moved. Philadelphia Children's Alliance and DHS --
-- have not -- real long. -- have not been able to confirm the availability of space in the Tower. We learned this week that the city prison system, which we know has a health facility on the sixth floor of this building, seems intent on staying. This means that incarcerated defendants 317 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 will be marched in orange jumpsuits and shackles down the halls and in the elevators in the presence of kids and families. Having witnessed this scene just two weeks ago myself while on a tour with city property, it was a jarring experience. I can't imagine that it could continue if this operation were to exist in the building. The office of managing director, the city property office have been wonderfully responsive to this process. Temple University has been gracious in inviting the planning effort. But Temple and the prison's continued uses of the building I believe will be problematic. Who will be in the building? Who in the city is going to make this happen? We must be allowed to get on with these commitments, architectural design, program development, and the myriad bugs that any complex system will surely encounter. Under the current structures of case scheduling and personnel assignment, the geographic distance between DHS here in Center City, the police up in Frankford Avenue, and the Children's Alliance 318 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 in West Philadelphia, even willing personnel can only get together on a limited basis. About process. The system's structure remains and the structural problems remain largely as before with some notable positive exceptions. PCAA continues to be referred only a small portion of the total child sexual-abuse case load. There appears to be an increase in the number of less formal but still important interactions between DHS workers and police investigators and ADAs. While there is improved cooperation, the D.A., DHS protocol required by state law for convening investigative teams, it remains lacking. And I understand the law department and Alba's lawyers are working to upgrade this protocol almost as we speak. There are three venues for multi-disciplinary review, but the processes of those systems is not in any way shared and the product of them doesn't at all necessarily inform what happens in the case. People might get together and talk about a case. And if those people at the table are 319 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 involved in the case and elect to follow the instruction or wisdom of the group, that's what happens, but it just doesn't happen very often. Our own group's file review of SVU cases with WAR and Women's Law Project and the Philadelphia Children's Alliance and Penn graciously was invited by the prior and current administrations, and we found little to complain about. I think we all should be happy about that. But across the system of sharing of information in common cases is often poor or nonexistent. We then observed that --
Excuse me. We have been joined by State Representative LeAnna Washington. Very good to see you. It is an honor.
We again observed that our law enforcement and child welfare personnel have been working together for many years to improve this system. The cases which get investigated collaboratively seem to satisfy all the participants. Many of the individuals in both systems 320 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 participate in joint trainings. The social workers and police officers are working together. The Common Interview Guideline is a state-of-the-art product that was built here, is being used here, and, in a sense, sold elsewhere. I don't think we are going to get any money on the deal, unfortunately. The DHS fax-referral, this simple little mechanism where, when DHS gets a case and the cops need to know about it, a fax gets sent, and somebody on the other end is designated to pick it up and follow it, has dramatically reduced the length of time and delay in the assignment process. It must be clear that these are reforms that are waiting for a home. Without a facility in which we are all working, the professionals who want to change will continue to be frustrated in their attempts to do so. I would make a side note about the process in domestic violence and child-abuse cases. There are two really neat, almost experimental, programs being run in the city with multiple agencies involved in each. And while those projects are small and 321 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 fledgling, we expect that they will have some lessons for us all. Lastly, the changes in leadership at DHS and the SVU over the last three years have made for an enormous improvement in the commitment of those agencies to professionalism and to quality and to accountability. But, in each of those systems, resistance remains. It is going to take more by way of leadership. Alba Martinez and Sylvester Johnson and their immediate subordinates can't do it alone. We need the flag raised high, and they need to be supported in their calls for reform.
Institutional cultures are very hard and very slow to change.
Those two seem committed to changing. And we hope that you will stand behind them and give them the force of law and political support.
We have been trying to just put the picture out so that change comes about.
In summary, the answer remains clear for us, at least for the children's 322 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 cases. We think as well the effect will be salutary for the adult cases involving the police, a co-located facility that brings all the key players under one roof. We must continue to change the way these cases are handled. We still need a mandate on workers and officers to collaborate. We still need a facility that will permit and foster joint investigations. We will probably be need more resources to allow these professionals to do their jobs well, although I believe as well there will be economies of scale dollar savings when they are all living under one roof. This Council and this community must make a significant investment and the political will to make that change happen.
You know, in all your testimony you mentioned DHS, you mentioned the police, but you never mention the court system.
Debbie and I appear before 323 12/18/02 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 020613 them.
-- and the horrific -- the description of the process, the ones that the woman gets before the Masters or the Court, I mean, it is an incredibly abusive and insulting process, a system. I mean, I can't believe that you -- I still, I got to keep talking about this -- that you have this partition with a hole in it, and people, without any privacy, have to speak through that hole to whoever the fact-finder is.