Yeah. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: However, that being said, despite all that, we're still seeing significant reductions in -- and reductions since years passed. A part of our -- part of our work is, you know, when we have upticks in violence, no matter where they are every -- at 8:15 every morning, my team is on a call with all the commanders across the city. It is expected during that period at 8:15 every morning that they are going through what is the issues around the violence? What are those things that we can address immediately? And then what are those long-term things that we need to do to make sure proactively it doesn't continue? The first step is to move more assets into that location, and you saw that, you know, the inspector will move additional personnel into that. We then, we'll move into our second phase. We have a shooting review team that will go through all of our shootings, in particular these shootings, to make sure that we are looking at all of the analytics. I mean, whether this is the conversation or get into what gangs were involved that we believe activity was involved in these. But we do believe this was rooted in some type of gang -- potential gang activity, that's where you get the unfortunate innocent bystander killed on Market Street or the bar job across the street where an individual walks up in a car, gets out and shoots, same thing that happens on Market Street. And fortunately, as you know, we're - we, through the work, and again, through technology and good police work our detectives have identified two individuals who are now wanted for the shooting on Market Street. We did serve search and warrant -- search warrants a couple of days ago -- did not -- the Marshals now have that, those search warrants, and we're very much looking for the two individuals. There was total of four involved, but we've definitely identified two of those. We've recovered the vehicle. We already have good leads on the job on 60th Street across from the bar. As it relates to the Market, street and the store, our expectation is that we follow-up to determine whether -- we're very careful, right? Because as you know, many of our bars and many of our stores are a place where people are waiting for someone to come or, you know, I mean, and not some. So we're very careful not to indict a business owner or a store owner as the reason why, particularly in a case where someone is seeking out someone and they're just looking for a -- the opportune spot to do harm to them in this case shoot, and unfortunately this case killing. So I don't have the information on your letter. My team is telling me a letter has been issued on that property, and we're waiting on that status with L&I. So we are following up in that regard, but that should be normal operating procedure. Commissioner Massey, part of what we're building out our community partnership, and she's done a really good job, is really being very intentional about what you described but also being careful that unfortunately some of our own business owners have nothing to do with the crime. But unfortunately, individuals will see their space as a place to engage in that crime.
That may be true, but this store does have -- COMMISSIONER BETHEL: No, I understand.
-- dozens of violations. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: No, we will definitely look through that. I don't know if we had all of that, but we will definitely look through the additional violations that you outlined and make sure we're addressing that appropriately.
I will add something to the nuisance business thing if I may, Councilmember. There are two things that we're doing internally that are -- one is the working group that we have for our nuisance folks, and that is an intergovernmental approach. And the reason why I hesitate is there is some work happening around nuisance properties that we're just not prepared to talk about publicly now.
But the Police Department is leading that nuisance business task force. We recently added the Law department to that as another element of this, obviously they're going to be a necessary partner looking at all aspects of what we can do around enforcement of nuisance properties. We also, within the Office of Public Safety, have a tactical meeting that we run where we're working with the Police Department and the various captains in the area, as long -- as well as all of the other city services that are available to address specific nuisance property issues in real time.
Thank you so much. I just want to say that I'm here to be your partner, my whole office is, in particular, if we can sort of just be watchful and maybe even ramp up what we're doing around group violence, this type of group violence locked West and Southwest Philadelphia down during the pandemic. And I would hate to see that come back when we've made so much traction. I also have to give credit to our DA that has made a focus of his work taking these groups down, right? So anything that we need to do to ramp up there. And then again, with the nuisance businesses, I want to know what we can do to escalate not just giving businesses violations after violation, after violation, while they continue bad behavior, but escalating and getting them shut down, if necessary, because it's very much a public safety issue. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: We'll definitely will follow-up. And just so you're aware, Friday we have a class graduating and part of our deployment. One of the things we see oftentimes is because of the borders between our districts, in that case, the 18th and the 19th District. So the Commissioner Stanford will be deploying foot beats that'll go across boundaries, they'll go into the 18th across into the 19th, particularly in the area we're seeing that heightened violence. So on Friday, you'll see some additional relief as a result of the activity we just recently saw.
You're welcome. Majority Deputy Whip Councilmember Cindy Bass, then Councilmember Dr. Nina Ahmad, then Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, then Councilmember Landau.
Thank you, Mr. President. Good afternoon. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Good afternoon.
How's everybody doing? So I just want to start out by saying best police department in the nation -- COMMISSIONER BETHEL: There you go.
Best police department in the nation. Absolutely, hands down. I want to say a quick thank you and shout out to Captains McCoullum in the 14th, Burks in the 35th, Bradley in the 39th, as well as to you, Commissioner Bethel, your deputies; Dales, Healy, Smith, and of course, mighty Massey. Vanore, Stanford, every -- listen everybody. I really shouldn't call names --
I should not call names because I get in trouble. But I really want you to know that I really, sincerely from my heart, mean it that the Police Department hands down has been so responsive to our needs and requests. I appreciate it and I want all of you all to know that -- COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yes, ma'am.
Oh, and I forgot on my little list here. My inspectors: Beaufort, Thomas, Dray Thomas and Palumbo. And I also wanted to mention officer, I'll just say Officer Jamir, who is my -- one of my nephews who just recently graduated from the academy and, you know, is so excited. And he has a whole village that is rooting for him. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: He's not supposed to tell you any of the secret sauce, though.
He has not told us the secret sauce. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: All right.
Not yet. But now that I know there is a secret sauce, I'll be asking him tonight. No, but he's super excited, and again, he has a village around him that intends to support and uplift and make sure that he's the finest police officer that he possibly can be. And while we talk about, you know, having a village around you, there are so many young people around us whose village is in pain and turmoil right now from the trauma of losing them. And so every year I mention some of the same cases, and I just wanted to see if there was any sort of status update in some of these cases. And I really want to say the names because I don't want them to sort of get lost in the sauce. And the first case I want to thank you for is the solving of the case of Devin Weedon, who is a 15-year-old who was walking to school down the street from Gratz, and that was solved last year. And I really want to thank you for that, for your hard work on that. I also wanted to mention Jeremiah Wilcox, who was shot and killed. He was a 13-year-old, who was shot and killed on a porch with a bunch of other people, and that case has not been solved. It's been at least three or four years now. Dayemen Taylor, who was shot outside of -- or on his way home catching a bus from Imhotep, who was a senior, which I believe that that case has not been officially closed even though we think that the perpetrator himself was a victim of gun violence. So is that being worked on or working towards closure for that family? Also, 13-year-old Amir Akers who attended Wagner Middle School, who actually lived in Councilman Phillips District, but attended school in my district, and that was just last week. And then there was a young man who was also an Imhotep student, Khyon Smith Tate, who was killed on Temple's campus in the Chipotle bathroom, you may remember back earlier this year. He was, I believe, 15 or 16 years of age, and I don't believe that that case has been solved. And finally, there was another young man, Mekhi Partlow, who was a straight A student working part-time at Burger King, was coming home on the bus, got off the bus and was shot and killed. And so, these are cases that have been, you know, I stay in touch with most of these families, I'm familiar with most of these families and connected in some way or another. And again, the village is looking for closure, and so we ask that, I know you probably don't have those cases, you know, at your fingertips right now, but we would appreciate a response in writing when you have the opportunity to go back and do some research on those cases. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah. Yes, ma'am. And first, I appreciate you keep elevating them and raising them up, you know, Gratz School job, I think about that all the time because I was the Chief of School Safety and was on location shortly after the young man was killed. And glad to see that job came to closure. Dameyen, his mom text me --
Yes. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: I made a connection with his mom and --
Yes. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: And haven't talked to her, you know, recently, but near the end of Christmas. And as she continues to honor her son and --
Yes. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: -- know -- and I know Commissioner Venore, we pushed hard on that job. So we'll -- we can share with you an update across all of these. We'll also ensure that our Victim Advocacy team is reaching out to those families to make sure they know that they have a bridge and someone to be able to continually share information as we get to gather that information. But I appreciate you bringing these cases to light, and we'll definitely follow-up with you before the end of the week with a status on each and every one of them.
I don't think there's anything harder than seeing a young person laying in a coffin -- COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Nothing.
I don't think that there's anything worse in the world than to see what looks like, you know, a young man, a child. And when I went to Jeremiah Wilcox's funeral, it's just, you know, the image is just forever seared in my mind because he looked like a baby, he looked like a little kid, even though he was 13, he looked very, very young. And so just, and I appreciate your work and I know that we'll hear a response from you all and I appreciate that. I just want to say that -- COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yes, ma'am.
A couple of things, nuisance businesses, I know that my colleagues have discussed this several times. One of my pet peeves, and I've discussed this before, is how in my district, a number of these nuisance businesses, we park a police car outside of the businesses, and the cars are there, you know, they rotate at shift changes. And it just really kind of burns me up a little bit that it seems like the cause of the trouble is getting police protection. That's what it feels like, and I know that's not exactly what it is. You're really parking cars here to keep people from shooting one another. But nonetheless, it feels as if these cars are parked outside of a problem. And so rather than working with, you know, like L&I as my colleague Councilwoman, Jamie Gauthier mentioned, rather than working with L&I to get them shut down, you know, I just think it would be a much bigger impact on police resources if we have PPD working to say to L&I, you need to close them. Like they need to go, like immediately, when we see these kinds of businesses, and I don't know how we get that authority. If it's something we can legislate, then, you know, I'm willing to write a bill, but that's something that just -- it just needs to happen. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah. I think we're really growing in this space. I don't know if Commissioner Venore, I mean, or not Healy wants to talk about it, but it's a blended approach, right? Sometimes we are working through that process of looking through a nuisance or a chronic location --
It's legal too. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: -- but at the same time --
Legal issue. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: -- we still is also important.
It's a legal issue too. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah. And so it is also important for us to put a police officer down there because we want to make sure we're sending the message, I mean, that this violence is not going to continue, particularly when we're seeing high levels of violence. But I fully agree with you, we're getting better and far better at the process going through the tier process, been laid out in the -- in the ordinance to allow us to continue that letters and going through that --
Yeah. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: -- working with L&I and all those entities. But I definitely hear what you're saying, we're definitely trying to use both approaches as -- and because at the end of the day, community wants to say, where's the cop at though? They won't understand if there's another shooting there, and we were doing some kind of behind the scene legislation and I know that's not what you're saying --
No, that's not what I'm saying. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: So we kind of like to plant the flag because the incident is already happening. We are already taking action against what they did or did not do. But we also plant the flag to make sure they understand, you know, that we're going to disrupt their flow and their business --
Right. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: -- as part of that as well.
Because if a business is causing us -- if any particular business is causing us to spend additional money for their taxpayer dollars for that individual's protection, everyone would love to have a police officer and a car parked at the top of their block. Everybody wants that, everybody would feel safer. But the idea that these particular businesses, which in my opinion, invite the foolishness, the chaos, the, you know, unacceptable behaviors, and it's all from generally the products that they're selling, then you know, like it's just, it feels really unfair for the rest of us who are spending, you know, paying our taxes to get police protection. And at the same time, they're getting more than their fair share. And then there's a question of, you know, like are they paying their fair share? I don't know, you know, there, because there's -- well, I'll just say this because the revenue department for a long time was not aware that they were selling liquor by the drink. And we know that Stop and Go's now sell liquor by the drink, and there's a school tax that's associated with that. So we weren't collecting taxes on that for a very long time, so just a thought. And I know that that's not something that you necessarily can do. And one last really quick question, which is --
Yes. My question is about obviously summertime is coming nervousness in the city, you know, that's when things, you know, there's an uptick in activity and violence as we get ready for Philly 250, we're going to see, you know, all kinds of police activity. I'm assuming PPD is going to be working with other police agencies here in the city, whether it's the Housing Authority police, the SEPTA police, that there's all going to be some level of coordination among everyone. Because the thought is that while there's so much activity downtown in the neighborhoods where there isn't as much activity, there'll be other activity which will require police involvement. So -- COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah. And I shared that earlier --
Yes. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: -- before you came in, we have a significant deployment plan. We will be using additional outsides out of the Police Department collaborating --
And I just want to make sure that's not going to include ICE, right? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: No, ma'am.
Okay. All right. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah, I mean, but we are going to have -- but we also recognize, you know, part of the Mayor's 250, we're going to have a lot of neighborhood events. And as I shared earlier in Council, that is one of our more violent days. July 4th in particular is one of our most violent days that we have historically going back decades. And so we will be doing a lot of work in the -- in the community to make sure we are -- we're providing, you know, the safety for the community as well as the events that are -- that we are going to be dealing with throughout the summer period.
Okay. Thank you very much. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: You're welcome, ma'am.
Deputy whip. You good? Straight? All right. You're welcome. No 6 issues later on. The chair recognizes Councilmember Dr. Nina Ahmad, Rue Landau, Quetcy Lozada, Kendra Brooks.
Thank you, Council President. Good afternoon to everyone to our public safety partners who are here. Thank you for joining us. I first want to start, like my colleagues, by saying thank you. And first, I want to say thank you to every PPD member who puts themselves out there every day. I deeply appreciate that you take that risk on our behalf, and I thank you and all your members for that. You know, this is obviously a collaborative space right now with Public -- Office of Public Safety and PPD here, and your dramatic decrease in homicides is extremely laudable. I wanted to also thank the Public Safe -- Office of Public Safety for your partnership in getting that $500,000 human trafficking RFP off the ground. I'm very excited of the next steps and how the city will see how that money is being used and how we are actually having a strong awareness and prevention program with all the parts that you have allocated for that. And I wanted to give a special shout out to the -- to Adara Combs, the Office of Victim Advocate within the Office of Public Safety for your leadership in moving this RFP and of course, Adam Geer for keeping the work moving forward. That said, the question. The question is for Police Commissioner, the fact that we know sexual assaults are increasing, percent increase in 2024. The department's assault clearance rate in 2025 was percent as opposed to 5 gun clearance, which was 79 percent. 6 And I wanted to know -- I did not 7 see any specific benchmark for 8 improving this clearance rate. If 9 you could speak to that. 10 COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah. 11 We recognized coming out last year, 12 and actually even in this year, that 13 we're seeing an increase in our rape 14 cases, and so part of the incredible 15 work that the Commissioner Venore is 16 doing now, is really getting into the details, exactly what is going on, i.e., stranger rapes is always a concern in this -- in this regard. And what are the assets and the things we need to do to be able to increase our solve rate? These are very challenging cases, as you know.
Yes. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Very, very challenging cases, you know this space. But we recognize that coming out of last year and even continue this year, we're seeing a slight increase in our rates this year. And so the team is working through that process now to identify where are the gaps in our deployment, in our investigations? Where do we need to increase our investigations? But rightfully, you've definitely identified an area that we are focusing on now this year because of what we're seeing.
I also wanted to follow that up with budget allocation in this space. So when you have a gun violence incident, you follow through all the way with deploying resources to try to solve that crime, right? In the case of a sexual assault, because of the sensitive nature of this crime, the -- it starts with PSARC, the Philadelphia Sexual Assault Response Center. And that's where, you know, the victims are sent, they're processed, rape kits are obtained, examination is done if they need further care, including, you know, looking at STD and pregnancy issues; those are all addressed through PSARC. Not one penny does PSARC get from the Police Department. Right now, the -- last year, they got some money, and this year the mayor, again, committed to $300,000, right? So they get reimbursed for their processing of the rape kit from the state. And that number is actually not enough to cover the general support that is needed to do that. So my question is, how come -- and we can have an off site conversation about how can this service be something we prioritize, that we support? And not just the Police Department, it also needs our hospitals to participate. Currently, Drexel University's Nursing Department is what is hosting it, and they're no longer going to be able to host it. So for this crime with this kind of low clearance rate, it tells me it's not a priority. I'm just saying, this is -- on the surface it looks to me, you tell me otherwise. I want to see how our city is taking this seriously and putting dollars, putting thought, giving us a plan, how we are going to address it. Because a sexual assault never leaves that survivor ever; it colors their entire life for the rest of their life. And for us to be -- it seems cavalier. I don't want to say that it is, I know you guys take all of these crimes seriously, but numbers talk, allocation talks. And so if a budget is a moral document, let's see how we're going to solve this, how we make this a priority in the city of Philadelphia. So that's -- maybe you want to answer that before I have a one last question. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah. I mean, so I hear you, Council Woman. And we take all of the incidents seriously, the men and women in Special Victims. One of the things we went through the national incident-based reporting neighbors they're changing in how they report, so we are reporting more rapes. So that's also accounting for some of the increase in numbers. We have 180 days to -- the state requires that you have your DNA processed in 180 days. Mike Garvin and his team have been able to get that down to 90 days. And so we are, I mean, being, you know, moving very diligently to be able to identify using DNA to address those issues. I know the issue around the center was a little bit around financing or where it comes from. I don't think there was ever any attention, ever whatsoever intention that that would, we believe that's one of the best models you can ever imagine. So I don't have that information as to what happened around, whether it came out of my funding or where that funding came, that it was just where it came from. But you're guaranteed that that's not a system that's going away because it's highly effective for our men and women. So we -- we're still continuing to move forward. We do have a strategy, the team, and I can bring or follow-up with you for purpose of time if you want and give you a full breath of how we take an investigation from beginning to end. Again, understanding the challenges, and particularly when you don't have DNA, and it's a stranger, but that -- my team is working diligently to be able to bring those individuals who engage in this type of behavior into arrest.
Thank you for that. What I would love to see is the Office of Public Safety work with you to have these wraparound services. It has to start in primary school talking about, you know, how we treat each other all the way for it to become a crime of sexual assault. So I need communication with the school district --
-- all of those things. And I need the public safety office to make this a priority because you guys are amplifying what the Police Department is doing and giving them feedback. So I really would love to see a plan of how we are addressing sexual assault in Philadelphia. Thank you, Council President.
Just for the record, could you provide the timeline and the plan to the Chair not provided to members of Council as a follow-up? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yes, sir.
Thank you very much. Chair recognizes Councilmember Rue Landau, Quetcy Lozada, Kendra Brooks. And if we have time, Councilmember -- Councilmember Isaiah Thomas and Squilla before we break for lunch. But just for the record, to all the members, the Fire Department will not be here on this afternoon section, so we're going to ask you to continue to come back so we can finish our second round. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yes, sir.
Thank you, Council President. Thank you all for being here. Congratulations to you, to everybody in this room for such an incredible reduction in violent crime in our city and in gun violence. It's -- that work only happens when working together and collaboratively. So I do want to just underscore what I've been hearing my colleagues say, which is that from the moment crime is happening in a neighborhood to actually going to a funeral for a young person, it is extremely important that you collaborate with us as well, because, and the only way to make this work is as each one of you is an octopus, and we are definitely here to do that work with you. So we'd love to see more of that collaboration. But I want to talk about drones. Yesterday, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that drones have become a staple of daily police work since 2024 with drones being 16 deployed 8,000 times in total. We 17 know that transparency and oversight 18 are critical when developing new 19 strategies around public safety. 20 And as chair of the Tech 21 Committee, last year, on February 15th, 2025, I asked for details around the program in a letter to Commissioner Bethel which he responded to, thank you so much. I was alarmed at the time because these drones were purchased with funds from the police foundation, meaning the public and City Council had little awareness and oversight over the original purpose -- purchase. After yesterday's report, I remain alarmed. There are no 10 proper guardrails in place, and that there is a lack of transparency. So I have a slew of questions I would like to put on the record right now. Does the PPD conduct any internal evaluation or reporting on the City's surveillance system? If so, can a copy of that report be sent to City Council for review and made public for concerned residents? I'm asking now, would you be open to submitting an annual report detailing drone use and related metrics like Boston requires? What protections has PT -- PPD put in place to ensure this technology is not misused by individual officers? How effective is the City's surveillance network in reducing or deterring crime? Has the department seen any correlation between the funding invested in surveillance technology and a reduction in crime? If so, can you provide a copy of or access to the data that supports your answer? When will a finalized publicly available policy for their use within PPD and other public safety departments be finalized? How do we ensure that all hardware and software contractors and subcontractors will protect all the data recorded by these drones? Where is the data being stored? Who are the --
Member Landau, like, go ahead and ask them a question because you give like ten questions and expect them to answer --
These are all questions. And are you sharing any of this information with the Trump administration, including ICE? And over the past year, how many court requests has PPD received from ICE to access data collected through the city surveillance network? Last one, can the department provide City Council, preferably made public a report on all requests ICE has made since 2020?
And for the record, I support the spirit of you asking these questions, but can you -- how are you going to answer to these questions, sir? You want to give them a copy of the list?
Yeah. Oh, I also have another list that I'd like to submit in writing, if that's okay. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: I mean, the internal evaluation, as part of our policy, we evaluate, just as we do our body-worn camera, to be able to evaluate the footage. When you talk about where that hardware, we use Axon-Skydio is our drone that we use that footage goes into our Axon body worn evidence.com, the same where our camera video codes, the same place where our body worn cameras goes, the same place where the DA's office, the Defender Association and others have access to that footage associated with a crime, so we will do. As relates to annual drone report, I'm not familiar with Boston. Our plan is to present a dashboard to the community. We're working through the finalizing of that to put up a dashboard that will show you the -- similar to Chula Vista that was listed in the article, one of the first companies in California to establish that, to be able to show the missions and that are being flown. There have been about 9,000 missions that have been flown across the city this year -- since we initiated the program. That is our goal, to have that system up and running. I don't know about an annual report, but we're more than glad to look into that. You said protection for not misuse. Our policy, first and foremost, you have to be a certified FAA drone pilot to use the drone. So an officer cannot take a drone and fly the drone without one being over --
Commissioner, I have a point of information. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yes, sir.
You said you're not too sure about an annual report. What would be -- COMMISSIONER BETHEL: No, I didn't say not too sure. I said -- I just said about Boston. I'm not sure what Boston's annual report is.
I heard you say that part. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Right.
But didn't you follow-up and you made a statement regarding an annual report. Her direct question was, as you build this out in the future, would you be willing to provide an annual report of what the drone program looks like, as a matter of transparency? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah. That's not a problem. I think what the Council Woman was talking about some more granular things that may not be provided to the public. But that's so my -- not my caution is just yes, we can provide a report, no question about that. What's in the report would have to be something we would have to talk. But we can -- we can walk through that. There's no -- I mean, because you're going to see it. That's why I pivoted to the dashboard. You're going to see what was in -- what we're flying every day, all the time, and then we can obviously create a report from that. So no 23 pushback there, sir. You know, again, talking about the men and women who are -- protection against misuse, we have a policy as you know to ensure that you know, I mean that -- what the drone can be used for. I know there are entities around surveillance. We do not do surveillance with the -- with the -- with the devices we know or we can't use it. I mean, we need a warrant to go into a home. You know what I mean? So we can't. There's certain things that we have significant prohibitions on what we use. This is a first responder model, you know, it is flying two priority one and priority two cases or in the four designated districts we have now. In that case, the officer is hitting the CAD, the button on his CAD's, Computer Aided Dispatch system, where that drone will automatically fly to that location and where the pilot will take over. So we're not doing surveillances; we're -- you know, that is not how the process operated. It operates as an emergency response to be able to do, it operates as a situational awareness to make sure that the officers help -- give them live feeds of what they're encountering on the ground. We believe this is going to be a benefit for us. It improves, you know, deescalation and some of the staffing gaps that we have as it makes sure that an officer who's on the ground, oftentimes by themself responding to a priority one case. Then finalizing, the policy, I believe we -- the policy went out on 4/25 -- 4/28/25.
Okay. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: The policy is -- but it is redacted because there's certain things that is not exposed to the public. I believe there was some incident that was pulled down. I don't know if that be the case, but I will double check that. I think ICE, we do not -- we do not provide any of our footage to ICE. However, just like any federal entity, if they were to get a federal subpoena requesting that there was something that engages ICE, but they have not asked us to deploy with them, we have not deployed with them. But as you know, as a -- as an attorney, if we were to receive a federal subpoena for any of that activity, we would be required to turn that over. I think that was the last thing.
Thank you, I think you got the majority. I have a question. You're saying that the policy that's online now that's redacted is the current final policy, or is it being updated? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: I believe so. That'll be the case. That is correct. And just so you know, Council Woman, now, we had a video earlier, we weren't able to show it. We would've shown you in that video an incident on the park where a young man with special needs who got lost from his parents. And because we were using the drone, we were able to find that child in eight minutes. You would have seen in that video where Marshalls are doing a high-risk warrant, and an individual retreats himself in a -- in a kind of a -- what do you want to call it? Some kind of box or whatever. He was -- some shed that was in the back of a yard. That situational awareness allows those men and women to come in different tactics knowing that the person's in there, to potentially minimize the use of deadly force. And so we see this as a force multiplier. And we also recognize that it's ahead of the courts. It's ahead of the, you know, folks who think that we're surveilling and we have been very -- and finally, I know you have, you've kind of talked about the foundation. The foundation was a feeder into what the city gave, over $2 million, to support our drone project. We started this process, and here in 2023 came out of the blueprint for Philadelphia around drones, and bringing drones as a -- as a tool for us to be used in this space. From that, we took that charge from this body and moved forward with implementing what we think is one of the more formidable drone programs in the nation. We are one of the top because of how we're operating, how we're doing it effectively.
Thank you. Chair recognizes Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, the Minority Leader Kendra Brooks, Isaiah Thomas, then Councilmember Squilla will wrap us up for the first round.
Thank you, Council President. Good afternoon at this point. Thank you for being with us. Thank you for your partnership. I know every member has a different relationship with different city departments. I have to say that last year, the year before last, and probably the year before that, there were a lot of folks who said that we would not decrease public safety or we would not improve public safety and decrease crime in districts like the 7th Council District because it was just too out of control. And working in partnership with the Police Department, but very specifically with Deputy Commissioner Rosario and the men and women in the 24th, 25th, and in the 15th. I think that the reason why we are seeing the historic decrease in crime is because we have been able to stabilize to a certain extent the Kensington community and quality of life in the 7th Council District. I work very closely with you all around the 24-hour cleaning pilot business curfew, we've done program oversight, we've increased police presence, we coordinated mobile services, we've supported the Wellness Center, pad officers. And you've done all of that prioritizing community voice, community support, community buy-in, and for that, I have to say that I'm extremely grateful because we would not be here today. And I'm not saying that life in the 7th Council District is where it needs to be, but I think that life is significantly better in the 7th Council District because together allowing the community to be a part of the strategy and the work that is being done on the ground is why we are where we are today. And so for that, I am extremely grateful. That being said, what are we doing to ensure that all of the work that has been done is sustainable and that we are going to continue to see an increase and an improvement in quality of life in the 7th Council District? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Well, first I want to thank you and the caucus. I know when the time I arrived between you and the Kensington Caucus has been laser focused on this work. And so I just want to say thank you. I mean, this doesn't get -- this doesn't get happening if you don't have the supports from the -- from the -- from the team and more importantly, giving us the tools to be able to put in place to help us along this journey. I know it's taken far longer than you at, you know, and we know that. And so what I like to do, I know I've talked a lot, but I want folks to hear Commissioner Rosario, I want him to come up briefly and just talk through what he's doing. What are the next steps? I mean, here's a person who's been leading the Kensington area project since the day I arrived. And I think it -- it's fair to him and to -- and it's to his body to hear what's happening on the ground, what he's doing. The things that he's done to set the foundation and our steps moving, particularly as Mr. Stanford has pushed him to elevate the work for the summer period coming.
Thank you. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Come on up. I won't be able to roll my R's like he does, but we'll make it work.
Good morning, Council Woman. Good morning, Council. Council President -
Yes, sir. Pedro Rosario, Deputy Commissioner for the Philadelphia Police Department. To your point, ma'am, the -- one of the biggest concerns that we've been -- we've been focusing on is the summer surge, right? We know as the weather gets warmer in Kensington, we see an uptick in our unsheltered and the focus really for us to really stabilize that quality of life in that area has been to slowly, gradually address that number of people that are constantly in our -- in our space. And I cannot tell you the amount of collaboration and effort that has gone to work with all of my colleagues in city government, especially Office of Public Safety. Director Geer and his team really lockstep with us in being able to support the Wellness Center and those operations that go on there. You know, I'm very proud of that work. Initially -- also, I'm someone that I don't want to leave out at acknowledging the support is First Judicial District from the courts, right? They have rolled up their sleeves along with us understanding that this is a societal problem that requires a very, very complicated and collaborative response from all of the government, including the courts. So having them in hand with us has been able really to address that population and we are continuously, although gradually, to bring that number down each month as we compare over the last couple of years. One of the big things was, we just -- recently, we stepped up to a second day of wellness operations, so now we're operating two days a week. The anticipation is that we'll be able to expand that very quickly before the summer approaches to be able to continue to address that populace there. But the other thing to what the Commissioner was leading to or so is also the enforcement piece, right? We're not slowing down with regards to taking the dangerous criminal element off the street. We're doubling down on our efforts and making sure that the officers assigned to the -- to the mini station, we're trying to provide them additional training and partnership with our narcotic strike force to be able to give them that added situational awareness when they're operating on the street to be able to be proactive against the drug dealer, right? So that's a lot of that specifics -- specificity that we're addressing now to be able to attack some of the issues that we're still dealing with today. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: And I want to be clear, I mean, I attended a meeting, as you know, last -- was last week. And you're in -- and I will tell this body was one of the most phenomenal meetings I've been in. I go to a lot of great meetings, and so I'm not cherry picking, but to see the number of people, almost 200 to 300 people. The energy of -- their zest for making sure their support, and seeing Principal Green from Conwell Middle School, sitting in that crowd still there from the day I met her when I was at the School District, and that commitment, and she sits her school in the epicenter of that area. We will not -- we will not, and that Mayor has made that a very clear, going backwards; we're going to hold and move forward and hold and move forward. There is no 8 holding and going back, that is not in our structure. It's not in our DNA. And there has been too many commitments, too much investment. And when I look at that community, I walked away from there filled with pride and filled my engine up to say, we know our why, Council Woman. We know our why as it relates to that community, and we know your caucus, and all of you, your why. We're honored to be serving in this place, and we're going to win. We're going to win for you.
I believe that, right? I think that there is a sense of hope to win in the district that there was not for many, many years, and so I appreciate that. And it has -- it speaks a lot to the fact that you have someone leading this work that people trust, right? And that people can relate to and who is brutally honest with us when things are not right; he's not afraid to say this is what it is. And so I appreciate and applaud the work that Commissioner Rosario has done in the 7th Council District and in the Police Department. Like many of my colleagues, business -- nuisance businesses are very problematic, right? The 24-hour business curfew was a tool that we put in the police department's toolbox to help us respond to some of the public safety issues that we have. Some of the challenges that we are experiencing is that many of them don't fear a CBN.
-- point of information, Member Lozada, if that's okay. Do we still have the Jump Out Boys? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Jump out? No. 17
Well, excuse me. Narcotics team that goes out into their stores, because I've worked with Member Lozada on this issue and I did a tour in Kensington. And a lot of times, what I -- what I've learned is the store owners are held hostage to the young guys doing the hustling -- COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Oh, yeah.
So they're not going to tell because they're in fear of their lives. And so the reason why I was just thinking about the narcotics team, because you got plain clothes guys that can run up in these stores, do the operation while -- do this thing while they're outside hustling, while they go inside and do safe harbor inside the stores. And so I was just wondering, because I witnessed that with her, we come down the corridor together, group of guys standing outside, not worrying about if we the Council people or not. And I watch the dynamic of basically we're going to hold the store hostage. And obviously, in that situation, store owner, he's worried more about his life than calling Deputy Commissioner Rosario and saying, hey, these guys are hustling inside my store, because that's putting his life at risk -- COMMISSIONER BETHEL: No --
And so I just want to get an idea about -- COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah, and we have our violence --
If you could just talk about it for the record, COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yes sir. We have our Violence Response Ream, our VRT teams, we have our narcotic strike force that do a lot of street drug activity. But one of the things we see that there's a gap, and that's what Commissioner Rosario is talking about as it relates to Kensington with the number of officers that we have down there now that we're keeping them down there longer, is now the objective is to give them the better skillset to be able to go after those stores and those locations, Clementine, they know, I call them all the time. If I go by that store one more time and see, you know, 10 people outside of that store, there's a problem. So we are looking at that. We understand what we need to do in that space, but we don't have to --
We're not allowed to just run up on, like back in the day, like get against the wall, pat them down.
Yeah. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: I mean, now listen, if you put in a bill to give me, you know, we will -- we would entertain it. But --
Understood, sir. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: -- may be walking out with handcuffs.
-- focus on that because as we -- as we move closer to the events that are going to be happening in the city of Philadelphia, and as we talk about economic opportunities for all, I want the businesses in the 7th who have not been able to benefit from those economic opportunities because of all of the social injustices that are happening on the ground. I want -- I want them to feel like we're creating that opportunity for them. That they -- that they matter too and that there is that opportunity for them. Businesses are not going to choose the Kensington corridor, the Wyoming Street corridor, the North 5th Street corridor, the Hunting Park corridor, if we allow for these types of businesses to continue to occupy neighborhoods. These men and women who don't feel like there are -- there are things to do or there is another way for them to be able to put food on the table and they continue to occupy neighborhoods. If we allow for people to continue to openly use, those things are going to keep those economic opportunities that we are praising and talking about away from those commercial corridors that are supposed to be the economic engines of neighborhoods. And so I just want us to continue to prioritize those neighborhoods that we as government have, for a really long time, ignored and that we've started to make better, right? And that as all of these visitors come into the neighborhood, that when they go to Kensington, because they've seen it on the national platforms for all of these negative things, that when they get there, they are faced and confronted and find something different. So -- COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yes, ma'am.
Thank you very much. Councilmember Brooks then Councilmember -- well, just Councilmember Brooks.
Okay. Thank you, Council President. I have some questions --
Speak into that microphone, Minority Leader Brooks.
Okay. I have some questions for the Office of Public Safety. I have a bunch of questions, but I'm going to -- I just want to get these on the record. So I'm going to just go through real quick and then when we come back for the second round, I'll do Police Department and the prisons. So my questions about the Riverview Wellness Center, you know, it has been touted as a success by the administration, but we've had a hard time getting details about the operations, including specifics on the total number of patients and outcomes. So the administration is proposing an additional $211 million in operating fund. What exactly would this $211 million go to? And how is the administration thinking about the long-term financial implications of running this wellness center? Because last year the administration sent a letter to council about Medicaid reimbursement and additional avenues of funding from the state and the feds. What is the status of these reimbursement rates?
Good afternoon, Councilmember. We did have representative from the Riverview Wellness Village, in-charge Director, and I do not see her here. That is an operation that is run out of the Managing Director's office. So I'm not prepared to speak to that budgetary item today.
So how is the office refining success -- I mean, sorry, defining the success of Wellness Court. Are we talking about reduced arrest? Reduced overdoses? Or in date -- engagement with long-term recovery? And this is a series of questions, so I just want to get them all on the record. What is the officer's goal for Wellness Court? What percentage of participants successfully complete Wellness Court and how is completion defined? What are the most common reasons participants do not complete this program? And how does the program track rearrest rates compared to traditional prosecution?
Thank you very much for those questions, Councilmember. We are very proud of how far we've come with the Wellness Court pilot under the leadership of our Director, Eleni Belisonzi. We have undergone now, thanks to the funding last year, we're just about to complete our full funding, full rounding out of that staff compliment, which will be about 9 individuals. 10 You raise really, really, 11 really great questions about how 12 we're defining success, what we 13 think success is in the program, so 14 if I can get into that just a bit 15 here. Success for us looks like 16 what we're seeing, and it is 17 somewhat difficult to find, but what we're seeing is lower street number, counts of folks who are experiencing homelessness on the streets. We're seeing lower overdoses, we're seeing a lower prison population. At the same time, we're seeing more folks engaging with services, more folks being offered services.
Just a point of information. Could you also provide the minority with the actual data?
So the key things that you're saying you're reducing, either you can provide them today or just provide them to us in writing, just for the record, sir.
Absolutely. We absolutely will. I can get into some of those numbers now for you. We had 339 total neighborhood Wellness Court arrests. Now, portion of them won't make it to Wellness Court for various reasons, whether that's the first person they see is a doctor, a nurse rather. So if they're decompensating or if they're not feeling well, if we don't feel that they can continue on, that person will leave the track for the day. They also might have bench warrants, which would preclude them ordinarily from being able to access services. But out of the cases that had bench warrants, we were able to clear approximately 69 percent, and my team will correct me if I'm wrong, 69 percent of those cases. And -- so we're -- that's a first, right? And that is actually operating five days a week where folks are able to have their bench warrants cleared the day of and not have to be taken up to State Road or held in custody over the weekend or something like that in order to -- in order to have their case to continue on in the system. So we define all of those things as success. 165 people received same day behavioral health assessments, 51 were referred to inpatient, 77 were referred to outpatient treatment, 55 people received same day housing assessments. I will give you some more numbers here. And this is one that I really -- I think gets to your point. This is provided by Merakey, one of our primary service provider with our Wellness Court operations. Of 281 people who interacted with wellness court, so of 281 of the people they interacted with, 96 or 34 percent unique individuals subsequently engaged with the Merakey Program after their arrest. So this is after their arrest, 34 percent are actually coming back, so they're aware that resources are available. We've had that initial contact point, which is part of the point of just re-engaging folks. They know that the Wellness Support Center, again, that Director August oversees, is a welcoming place even though the police department staffs a segment of that building pad. They've built up trust in what that location means in the community where folks are coming in, they're getting real meals. Director August said, Adam we need a shower. We need a shower in the Wellness Support Center. This is about dignity. There's a shower where they can come and take a shower. We have medically assisted treatment now, which is in the really nice parking lot where Mural Arts did a mural. So this is all getting to the point of how we're defining success, and that's what success looks like to us. There is a very real -- there's a Court Number that we have to run by the court, which is their definition of the cases complete from the first judicial district's perspective. And I think it's important for me to reemphasize as Commissioner Rosario did, that they have been tremendous partners. We have asked them for a lot; they've dedicated a judge, Judge Losier, who now sits. That's all she does, is sit over Wellness Court for five days, and she's absolutely tremendous. By the court's definition, folks have completed the program. 19 That's a hard court -- hard deadline 20 of the court's definition, right? But success looks to us like they might've pled guilty and their case is over, but a week later they're walking into Kurt's Center and saying, hey, I was just here last week, what -- can you help me?
Thank you very much. Thank you for the data as well, just also make sure we getting in writing though --
-- very comprehensive. To wrap us up before we go for -- we go into our break as Councilmember Majority Whip Isaiah Thomas.
Thank you, Council President. Good afternoon, everybody. Similar to my colleagues, thank you for the work that's being done. I hear a lot of dialogue today about the crime rate being down. I want to try to go into a different direction. And I do want to apologize publicly because I did tell you I would get you questions ahead of time, and they did not come to you in a timely fashion. So I will own that because that is on me. So I do apologize to that -- for that. But we did get your questions; a couple I do want to get on the record. From 2020, and I -- this wasn't one of my questions, just came to me from sitting here. From 2020 to 2022, the clearance rate was between 50 and 55 percent. As of now, the clearance rate is over 70 percent on homicides. I remember when I first got into office, one of the things that I thought was unique was when you guys took us down to the Delaware Valley Intelligence Center, and you briefed us specifically on non-fatal shootings. And I thought it was ironic that we had a better clearance rate when someone actually died compared to when someone actually survived. So, two questions: No. 1, where are we now as it relates to our clearance rate on non-fatal shootings compared to shootings? And No. 2, let's pretend, you know, 10 or 15 years from now, unfortunately something else presents itself. What advice would you give to Philadelphia ten years from now if we were to see a spike in gun violence as it relates to how we were able to address the clearance rate specifically on homicides? What did we do different over the last couple years to get that clearance rate to jump about 20 points? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah, I think there's a multitude of factors. When you have a situation where you have over 560 homicides, I mean, that's unheard of to have detectives having on average, frankly, maybe two cases a year, three. When you -- but you're, when you have that level of violence, it becomes far greater and far more challenging to be able to investigate those cases effectively, right? And so you -- so part of that process, one, is how the -- as the crime comes down and the homicides come down, you know, today we are at 31 homicides. Those men and women are digging into all of those, and we have a clearance rate that's over 100 percent -- I think it's 140 percent -- because we're clearing so many of those cases now because -- one time. But technology has evolved today as well.
So you -- so your technology improved -- MR. BETHEL Yeah.
-- from 2022 -- COMMISSIONER BETHEL: It is what I said.
-- when we were at 50 percent? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: It is this progression, right? I mean, from the forensics part of it, from the DNA that -- what the DNA team is able to do, whether it be touch DNA, rapid DNA, that kind of DNA is important. The technology that we now have in our homicide, we have the same technology that our federal partners have as it relates to phone technology and other things. We now have license plate readers and the video camera system that we have across the city, you know --
So you would say the investment in technology has the -- is the biggest single because only because -- COMMISSIONER BETHEL: No, it's not the biggest single. No. I talked about --
Point of information. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: I'm sorry.
Can I also press you on one issue? Because what's the difference between the strategy in terms of targeting versus cops just going out and just locking everybody up? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: I mean, we've always embraced that strategy. You know, that has been the strategy I had before I came back. Commissioner Stanford re-engaged that and the team have been reengaged when it came back. It has been very strategic. We know where our violence is. Even though it's come down in the city, even not talking about the 31 homicides, 130 plus shootings, it's still in the same areas that we always have.
Sure. So a combination of intelligence and technology has -- COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah.
-- put us in a position to -- COMMISSIONER BETHEL: So a piece of it, right? I mean --
Yeah. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: So when I talk about that, I say if I'm 10 years, I won't be -- I won't be here 10 years, but 10 years from now, I mean, if you're sitting here, I will say the greatest failure is that we did not stay focused on that technology, that we allowed it to fall back. Because that's what we do. It looks great. It's great, it's shiny. We want it, we tell you it's great, but then when it comes to a budget cut that those things are cut, right? We talk about the -- with this giving money to our community groups and out there in the field, okay. I mean, that is working, right? And so we know that is working, the work is working on the OPS. So a part of what we need to do is memorialize all of these things that we're doing. I know with his strategic plan and our strategic plan, linking them together and saying, hey, here's where we are, here's the blueprint. If we -- if it's -- if we believe in the strategy --
Sure. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Everybody is waiting for this to go back. I don't do that.
No, that's just that -- COMMISSIONER BETHEL: I mean, not you. I'm not saying you're saying that, but every time I -- hey, man, you know -- no. If we believe that the strategy is right, if we believe that the technology is right, if we believe our focus on our core areas and those areas, so to your point, the time we -- I go to hit 10 guys on the corner, I don't need to do that anymore. I just get the one because I know he's the one who -- or he/she is the one who is engaging in that level of violence. So being very strategic with the intelligence. And when you went down to the Delaware Valley Center, I mean that is one of our core areas, right? We can get into the data.
Sure. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: We can determine, hey, guess what, two people shot each other. No longer are we trying to figure it out, oh, he's from north side, he's from south side. We got a problem about --
You got the intelligence. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah, and --
So where are we at with our clearance rate compared to homicides, compared to non-fatal shootings? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah, I mean --
What are we looking at? Can we just get those numbers on the record real quick? Then I want to switch over to driving equality. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah, last year, we were -- so one of the things that commissioner brought to the department before I even came back and was under Commissioner Stanford, was really looking at those shootings in like homicides, bringing those men and women, like what they did. We centralized it to a homicide and they sit right next to homicide. So we got two beasts in our space now. 43 percent clearance rate on shootings -- non-fatal shootings. When I left the department, Councilmember, I think it was 12 percent --
19, 20. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: I mean, I don't even know it was there.
I remember. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Right? The numbers that they are doing are absolutely some of the best in the nation as it relates to going after those entities.
So Commissioner Bethel take -- because my -- that's my bell and I got to get to driving equality. Take 12 seconds to tell the general public 13 why is it that your clearance rate 14 is higher for a homicide than a 15 non-fatal shooting? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Well, I mean, I think it's accommodation. One is a smaller number, right? We only have 31 homicides. Two, the clearance rates carry over from previous years. So as they're solving crimes and -- say it again? MALE VOICE: It's calculated different. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah. So calculated a little bit different. So our SIGs are being calculated in the year that they're happening.
Sure. So I referenced 2022 for a reason because that was the year we passed Driving Equality. And unfortunately, right now, we're still dealing with fights. Whereas though the Supreme Court and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has actually taken the driving equality case as it's been appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, which is unfortunate, but it's the situation that we're in. Looking at the fact that crime has dropped significantly since Driving Equality has been into place. Can you talk to me a little bit about how the Police Department is enforcing the law and the impacts it's had on the city since it's been implemented? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: I mean, as I share with you, I mean, we categorize -- every time an officer stops an individual, they have to talk, tell the why, you know, what that purpose is. And so what that data has been able to do is really laser-focus on and train them and change the culture that they need to be driving -- stopping cars for these primary offenses. No 14 longer are they able to do those, you know, stops, those pretext stops, that we -- that you identified in your bill. But again, as I shared with you, 90 percent of our work was not that, right? 90 percent of the total number of stops we were making were around car stops. You know, I mean, for individuals who were engaging in things that were outside the scope of the -- with the bill 2 you put forward. And so we've been able to track that information as I shared with you, is a little bit more challenging, getting to more of the granular piece. And we're still working through that, but we can see through the data now, I mean, as we go through our car stops that the men and women are stopping those vehicles appropriately. Obviously, you know, that information is on their body-worn cameras so we're able to capture that. And now, Councilmember, we are able to capture that on their in-car cameras. The in-car cameras, every time the officer turns on his overhead lights to pull over that car, we can now capture the full context of the stop. I mean, and what's engaging in that process. So I think we're in a good place as it relates to moving away from those pretext stops to the more, you know, more egregious type of activity, more aggressive. And we're doing that now as Commissioner Cram has led that effort where we're doing surges in different areas because we are getting a lot of complaints in community meetings about the aggressive driving. We are getting complaints about, you know, folks are not adhering to, I mean, now Broad Street, man, you came -- you know, the lights, the cameras, man, I --
Broad Street is rough. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: I got two -- I got $200 worth of tickets my wife got --
That's rough. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: -- so I tell her she can't drive down Broad Street anymore.
You got bike lanes on 13th Street; that's rough too. Member Thomas, go ahead, sir.
It's ironic that you are getting complaints about people driving aggressively while we're actively trying to do everything we can to calm that. Just for the record, in 2020, we seen more hit and runs in the city of Philadelphia than what we had seen in recent history. It was a significant spike. And based on the work that you and your team has done along with this legislative body, while people are upset about Broad Street cameras, that stuff has been down significantly. And, you know, I always commend Captain Overwise, who's no longer here with us as relates to being with the Police Department for the work that he did leading that effort to put us in a position to try to address those things. As I close out, Council President, in 2024, officers failed -- no. In 2024, officers failed to document violations in about 25-ish, a little less than percent of 14 traffic stops. And we know a big 15 part of driving equality was the 16 data that comes with it. And so 17 we're concerned around the reporting 18 of the data. We haven't been able 19 to put us in a position to 20 essentially collect the data the way 21 we want. 22 But in the midst of what 23 has been reported, previously tint 24 stops made up 19 percent of all traffic stops in 2022. That's only 1.5 percent of traffic stops now. For the record, dent is not a part of driving equality, so someone can be pulled over if they're violating the law as it relates to the amount of tint in their car. So in 2022, that was 9 percent of stops. Whereas though in 10 2024, that number dropped to about 11 1.5 percent of the stops. 12 What are we doing 13 different? This is my last council 14 -- question for this round Council 15 President. What are we doing 16 different as it relates to traffic 17 stops? Is it how we're categorizing 18 the stop? Is it what we're stopping 19 people for? Why do we see a significant drop in that number? Is it a strategy thing? Help us understand as it relates to that particular thing, and then that'll be it for me, Council President. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Thank you, Council, I would have to follow-up. I don't have the specific data on that, but I'll have my team, I know they're capturing that now, and be able to follow-up with you.
That's why I started with an apology because I did get that question to you and I apologize for getting it to you late. And just as a moment of personal privilege, Council President, today is my mother's birthday, so I want to say happily heavenly birthday to my mother. That's been on my mind all day today. Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you.
Also, Commissioner, just in the line of questioning of Councilmember Thomas, and if you could also provide data regarding guns recovered from pulling cars over, just want to get an idea. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Guns car from --
The recovery of guns when you pull a car over, right? You know, I come from that era, you know, driving and under the seat and all that. I want to get an idea where we at in this day and time. Just, you know, because we still see the shootings of homicides going on. Like let's not act like that's not a thing. And also it's normally not with these guys using their own cars; you rent a car now. That's for the most part -- COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Or they steal. They -- most of them steal them, but --
Yeah, or steal them as well. So just want to get an idea of what that looks like. But we're going to wrap up for right now, and I do want to just say two officers that you have walked me through the process when I showed up on the scene in Grays Ferry where the garage fell -- COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yes, sir.
-- on the members of Iron Workers 401. It was the captain of a 17th Police District Captain McKinney and also Inspector Jamil Taylor, who's also a childhood friend. And they walked me and my team through the processes. So I just want to personally just say I thanked them, I thank them for being very thorough and very detailed on a very traumatizing experience. And they just walked us through everything and made sure we had all the details and because there was a lot of misinformation going at the same time during a very, very serious situation. So I just want to acknowledge them publicly for just being at the right place at the right time, but also being thorough in terms of their service to the city. Thank you very much. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Thank you for that, Councilman. I mean, leadership matters. They were on the ground from the time it happened, working all the way through countless hours to make sure that went successfully. And I appreciate you bringing that up, it means a lot to them and it means a lot to us. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Council will be at recess until 2:30. (Recess.)
I feel safe with all these officers in here. I hope you-all come back during public comment, on Thursday. I appreciate the support. We're going to now resume this committee hearing, and before I have members ask questions for a brief second round, I'm going to turn the floor over to Commissioner Bethel, who will show the video that we were attempting to show earlier today. Commissioner Bethel, the floor is yours, sir. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: We're going to give it one more shot. I appreciate it, Council President. As you know, I opened up the session, and wanted to share, well, part of my comments was showing a video of the work that we're doing and the investments that made by --
Commissioner, excuse me one second. Council be at ease. I just want to make sure we're showing you respect with the level of quietness as we start off the second half of the Council Committee of the Whole. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: All right. Thank you again, Council President. So as I indicated in my earlier opening, I talked about, you know, just showcasing some of the work in the men and women of the department. So I thank you and I thank this body. Allow us to put it on the record. I think we got the technical things figured out. I want to thank your entire team and have at it. ) "Elevating the work that men and women of the Philadelphia Police Department do to keep the diverse communities throughout the city safe is what matters. And to see your support of the work is paramount to our success. When residents call us about illegal dumping, loud disturbances, abandoned vehicles, open air drug activity, or chronic disorder on their blocks, they're not just asking for enforcement; they're asking for dignity and stability, and a sense of safety in their everyday lives. "Because of your support, we're able to deploy officers not just in response to emergencies, but proactively disrupting cycles in neighborhoods before they escalate into serious crime. "Technology plays a huge part in how we work to prevent crime throughout the city. We have access to 6,500 cameras, and that access makes us more effective as a department. The launch of our drone as a first-responder program deploys autonomous drones to 911 calls and critical incident arriving before our alongside ground units to deliver live situational awareness, tactical intelligence, and enhanced safety for the police officers and the public. "During the Philadelphia Marathon, a drone assisted the Police Department in locating a young man with special needs and safely reuniting him with a family member. From the time the teenager was reported missing, it took officers just under eight minutes to locate him. "The automated license reader is a controlled camera system that automatically captures images of license plates and alert investigators in real time with identifying and then recovering stolen cars. "The signal sensor sidearm ensures that the moment an officer draws their weapon, their body-worn camera is automatically activated. The in-car camera system further supports this effort. When officers respond to rapidly involving situations, these cameras capture key moments inside and around patrol vehicles. E-bikes have been a game changer for the department. They allow officers to navigate neighborhoods more effectively. They now cover more ground, navigate heavy congestion, respond faster to calls, and engage more directly with the community. We'll be adding 50 more e-bikes to our inventory that will be deployed into commercial corridors citywide. "While we were able to utilize grant money to bring these technologies to our department, the ongoing support of City Council will be instrumental in keeping these tools on Philadelphia's public safety tool belt. "The Office of Community Advocacy and Engagement puts the victims first. Being strategic in placing someone to oversee this unit that deeply understands how crime can affect individuals, families, and entire communities is important to the work. Creating this office allows victim advocates to give support, compassion, and meaningful resources to families who have experienced trauma due to crime. We believe all victims are entitled to justice, and when possible, a sense of closure. "Kensington has become a focal point in this conversation, not because it defines our city, but because it reflects some of our most complex challenges. Because of funding, we've been able to increase officer presence in targeted areas of Kensington. Not just for enforcement, but for engagement. Officers are walking in bits, building relationships with residents and business owners, and working to restore a sense of order block by block.
"All of this work and so much more culminates to what is inside this five-year strategic plan. Every page explains how we are moving beyond traditional policing to establish a holistic department-wide framework of public safety. We could not have accomplished this by ourselves. The plan was put together with several hundred voices from across the city. "When this plan is put to action, we can continue to allocate funds toward programs that make a difference, such as the Juvenile Diversion Program. This program redirects a young person away from the justice system and those cycles of arrests and incarceration and pushes them toward mentorship, education, workforce development, and community-based services, essentially giving them a second chance. )
I feel like clapping. Very well done, sir. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Thank you, sir.
Very informative as well. I saw on the news, though, you have a behavioral health outreach team that deals with the homelessness, but it was a young lady who was newly as -- I think she's either a new officer or newly assigned. It was on the news a couple weeks ago. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: We have our search unit, we have our behavioral health unit. I'm not sure if Micah is familiar with somebody being on the news recently.
They were down on the parkway, and the cameras was following them. They were doing an interview. Okay. Don't worry about it. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: I apologize. I missed that.
All right. Well, it's still another kudo as well, so. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Well, we appreciate it.
Somebody doing something good. But I did see it and thought it was very, very interesting, because the young lady was talking about -- and her partner was talking about how people can interact with her versus her partner. Right. And she just talked about, you know, having a sense of compassion. Now she's interacting and talking to the homeless population. It was on the -- it was outside the parkway near the library, so. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: No, I apologize for that. I mean, we have a couple of entities that we work. We have the homeless team that works downtown with behavioral health. We have our CERT team that works with clinicians from Merakey, who work with police officers. It could have been that as well. And our service detail that works downtown as well. So I'm glad we had a great story. I apologize; I missed that one.
I'm going to be brief in the members. We also have Department of Prisons that we have to address as well. But give me an idea of the work you're continuing doing with the Gun Violence Task Force. Also, the use of the jury indictment process that I know the district attorney has been using to go after these gangs, which I think seems very effective thus far. And then just give me an idea of how you are moving forward with your crisis response team as well. I know after Walter Wallace incident, the crisis response team was developed just to make sure that when, you know, officer arrives on the scene, the person's having some level of mental health issues is being addressed properly. But my main thing is also that gun violence task force. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah. So the gun violence task force, which Commissioner Vanore and the team oversee -- work in collaboration with the DA's office is going extremely well. I mean, part of that work is member of his shooting investigation group. Oftentimes, as men and women from homicide are working with the DA's office as they go through the process of using the grand jury for indictments. You saw most recently, you know, the announcement of our indictments. One of the other layers of that is working with our federal partners. So, you know, our federal partners are working in collaboration with that. Their violence team, you know, is really doing a phenomenal job of supporting us as we bring all of that, you know, information together into the grand jury. As you know, the grand jury is a phenomenal place for us to bring fort the continuing behavior, the -- you know, the criminal enterprise, the drug element, and bring all those elements to bear into that one setting. So that's going extremely well, and we look forward to continuing that process. As it relates to the crisis intervention team and our CERT team, I would say, you know, coming back to the department, it was probably one of the best things I've seen being away from the department. And what the team has done, you know, I know Commissioner Kramer let that work, and that Dr. Best is here now, who oversees our behavioral work as well. You know, first starting in the -- in the -- in the 911 process, I know, you know, Councilmember Gauthier was involved in that, and, you know, I mean -- but, you know, we have, you know, almost 50,000 call jobs that have been tagged as it relates to when a call comes in, they're screening with specific screeners. If it's maybe a drug or kind of a drug issue as it relates to a behavior, a mental health issue, those jobs are screened, and then those jobs are either sent out to a crisis intervention team -- a large -- over to almost 85 percent of our department is trained in crisis intervention team. Commissioner Healy has led that work. And to -- so they give that to someone who has the expertise and the skillset. But then we also have our CERT team, they working with clinicians are deploying weekly throughout the day. I can tell you just my personal anecdotes, I can't tell you how many cops are going to air. Is there a CERT team available? Is there a CERT team available? They get it, right? They see that in what they've been doing last year alone, or they had 815 calls, 804 engagements, 74 of them juveniles. Veterans, I mean, you know, a part of that process. Engaging them with 30 engagements of that. 115 have been connected to services, 302 process. The social workers have supported that 165. So having a social worker to be able to do that, the CERT team has done about 27. I can go down the list and really rattle it out, but it is going absolutely phenomenally well. We are looking to expand as we build up our staffing, because we see the immense value that they have in being able to come into a situation. I will give you a really -- and a quick story as the Chief of school safety, they had a young child who went on the roof of a school.
I won't get into where, and I watched the officer go up the ladder to the top, but I watched his -- the code responder, go on the other side of the fence and talk the child down, right? And so that -- and when you see that in action, that was my experience. I think we're definitely set us up. Again, we thank the body for supporting that work, because again, you're seeing the benefits of when you invest in this work. Some resistance probably early in the process, but we're all in now, and it is working well.
That's what's up. I want to acknowledge the work of my colleague, Councilmember Kendra Brooks. She led that effort after the Wallace -- Walter Wallace shooting, and particularly, around the budget and making sure that we had the proper funding to support that unit. And really kind of changed how we do law enforcement as it relates to those who have mental health issues. So thank you and your team for really embracing it and continuing using it as one of the tools in the toolbox. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: We even answered -- we all -- we had a comfort dog, man, we have Bailey, but one day I'll bring them to you. You would fall in love with him. But we have a comfort dog who also helps us in that space when they go into, and that's going phenomenally well.
Okay. I don't want to talk about dogs, because I lost my -- I lost mine last year, so. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Sorry for your loss.
But I get it. I might have to come talk to Bailey as well, because it is rough you-all. You-all have no 4 idea. But thank you and your team for being on the case, particularly when it comes to mental health, and also what's near and dear to me is the issue of gun violence. And so I'm going to ask members, just be direct in your questioning, be direct in your response, because obviously, we have Department of Prisons being here. So this is going to be a brief second round so we can address Department of Prisons. And so to kick us off this section, he wasn't here for the first round, is Councilmember Nicholas O'Rourke.
Thank you, Mr. President. I'll pass to the next member.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Dr. Nina Ahmad.
Thank you, Council President. I'll be as direct as possible. As a follow up question on human trafficking. And I wanted to know the training of our police officers on the street on the beat cop with respect to human trafficking and how we are apprehending those who are doing the trafficking, those who are consuming the trafficking, but not those who are being trafficked. Those three sets; how are we addressing that within the Police Department? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: So, as you know Councilwoman, we're still moving through that process. I don't think we've -- I don't think we started the training of our men and win yet. The part of what your grant was to raise awareness was obviously a benefit for us. So I will not say we've done the training yet, we will move to that process and hopefully move that quickly before we get to the FIFA events. But that's a process. It's a challenge, and we have 5,200 men and women to get them into the training space. But part of that is the awareness. So part of that is setting up a hotline. The Special Victims is going to be setting up a hotline to make sure we do so. We have an operational plan so they know what we're doing. We also will be doing the preparation meeting, working with the FBI and others as we go through that planning process. So we're moving in that direction. But I thought about you the other day, and why -- the what you described in the work is so important. They made an arrest, I think last week of a trafficking. A young lady from, I think Louisville, Kentucky, who goes online on a chat. It's on a Reddit -- the Reddit chat -- the Reddit group was a Reddit runaway group chat. In that chat, she said that she wants to run away. An individual here in the city of Philadelphia said, "Well, okay. You can come here." Sent her a ticket. She came to this -- came here, you know, part of that was engaged in sexual activity and taken pictures with her. Finally, after a period of time when she realized she was in a trap, she called, I think a relative who ultimately called police. And Frank and the team and Special Victims was able to make the arrest. And at that moment when I was reading that white paper, I said, you absolutely highlighted why this work is so important and why we need to make sure we're engaged. It just was that simple and that easy to be able to draw that young lady from Kentucky here to the city of Philadelphia with a -- by just giving her a ticket and a plane ride here. And so we do have some things to talk about, as you -- we've opened up the awareness campaign, the things that you've brought to bear the hotline that we will be doing that with our men and women. I won't say ask for grace, because time is moving, but we have a lot of things happening at the same time in trying to make sure that minimally our men and women know what to do when they're in that scenario: To be able to call Special Victims through the hotline at the plan that we have, the response team that we're going to have for the FIFA activity. But I think your work and our work has to -- will continue well beyond this. Because we, as you know, we're still in the infancy stages of really, really understanding how to dismantle this issue. But I thought about you in that white paper, and I appreciate the effort you're putting into this work.
And thank you for that. And you do get grace because we've embarking on this, but not much longer because we need to actually see a plan of action. But we also will be talking to the DA about what they're doing with who you are arresting in terms of prosecutions, and that whole loop. So I thank you for the work, I thank your officers for understanding this should be a priority, and to get the training. Because this also directly -- the training piece is really important, including, I wanted to ask about, you know, FPFAs and how when officers approach a domestic violence situation, how well they're trained to understand what is going on and how they can proceed. Because a lot of times the anecdotally, we hear, people just, you know, officer goes, oh, no 10 problem, and they leave. But if they were trained to really understand what is the dynamic that is going on, they might not have left, and that might not have resulted in somebody get either severely beaten or killed. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Right. Fully understood.
So I just want to know that piece as well. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah. And a nugget to that when you talk about training, Dr. Murray is here, who joined my team. For -- Dr. Murray joined our team to take over our training, professional development training at the academy, so we split our academy. And part of what Dr. Murray, she comes from 30 years of being a principal and a school leader, moving into public practice. And Amazon helped create their leadership, able to lure her into our field of work. And so one of the things she's working on, the learning management system. Because with these trainings, like we can use, you know, that model to be able to train our folks more effectively. And we're on that -- because we have a city model, we're going to be able to adjoin to the model, they have the city, and build out our structure so we can train our men more efficiently and more effectively. We're trying to bring them into our classroom, so thank you for that.
Thank you, Council President, and thank you commissioner for being so proactive. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yes, ma'am.
And being willing to try new things. I appreciate that. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yes, ma'am.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, then Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, then Councilmember Kendra Brooks.
Very quickly, I just have one question. And that is about the use of ShotSpotter. I know that we've responded to some violent crime and shootings in the district and in the city, and so I'm curious. I know that the city of Camden was able to significantly reduce their gun violence by using ShotSpotter. Do we use ShotSpotter? How effective is it? What is the impact on response, and if we don't, why? And what are some of the controversies around it? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah, I -- ShotSpotter, I mean, it's great, but I don't sometimes think as effective as indicated. I mean, we've done the research, so, you know, in part of what you see. So, for example, PHA has ShotSpotter. We don't have ShotSpotter. I talked about a model we have, and it's in the 22nd District. And that day it had 771 jobs, where it came into our radio that ShotSpotter was deployed since February -- I mean, May 1st, 2025, just under a little of a year. In of those occurrences, where it was confirmed shooting incident, so we weren't able to capture anybody. But that's three percent rate with that. So again, we have what's called acoustics gunshot detection system that we have deployed. That system, we have 436 activations and 432 is estimated over last year. And again, it's still really inconclusive as to whether this tool is really just another tool in the toolbox, but definitely not a primary toolbox. I mean, we are getting some detections, we're seeing that at absolutely, but the confirmed shootings and the found shootings and getting us on location, we're not seeing a significant increase in that. And so again, I'm not parsing it. I don't see that as a primary tool for us. We're far quicker to get a call from the neighborhood and somebody on the block than the ShotSpotter, which is a great tool, but I think something in the toolkit, but definitely not a primary tool.
Thank you. Do we use AI in any type of crime-fighting, public safety tactics, just in general? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah. I mean, I think when you go across the technology, AI is literally through everything now. So if my team was here from -- you know, still here from the drones, you know, the AI technology is allowing the drones to not hit a wall. You know what I mean? So these -- that my drones will not run into a building because it has technology in it to prevent it from happening.
Do our drones have heat-seeking capability? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Well, it has a -- it has infrared -- not heat seeking, but infrared capability. So we can -- when in -- and during the day or night, but easily at night, it can open up its flare to see if a body -- that video you saw was during the day, and you could still -- it still was able to show the, you know, the person's body. And we are going to be moving shortly, I think I shared before, translation with our body- worn camera. So our body-worn cameras has the capacity to translate 120 languages. We will be launching that very shortly in our body-worn cameras. So an officer, when he arrives and someone speaking a different language, was able to hit the button, listen to that language, and then when he speaks, it will speak back to them in that language. That, again, is AI technology, transcribing of our body-worn cameras. Again, we won't be able to use that for court purposes, because we have to have that validated, but it does not require, so AI is absolutely woven into all of the technology. LPR readers, the license plate readers, the AI is reading the tag and matching that up into the system. But that technology is very much rooted in the work that's underway. But what we do not do, and I know the AI conversation is using that generative, you know, we putting our information in to build more information, really using it as part of what is built into the model that we're purchasing.
Thank you very much. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yes, sir.
The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, then Councilmember Kendra Brooks.
Thank you, Council President. Commissioner, I thought I heard in your testimony that the number of youth going into the juvenile justice system had gone from 1,600 to 70. So first, can you confirm those numbers? And then can you talk about the elements of your juvenile justice diversion approach that has led to such a drop? And can you also tell us what's next for diversion? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: All right. I did have juvenile on my cheat sheet, but I'm not finding it. So I'll talk through, and John -- as John walks through some of the -- pulls up some of the data. So when I talk about -- I think when you're talking about the school diversion, or?
I believe you quoted some numbers when you were giving your initial testimony. I thought you said that the number of juveniles going into the system had gone from like 1,600 down to 70. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Oh, yes.
And I took that to mean inclusive of every juvenile diversion program that we have. But if you can break that down somewhat. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah. Yeah. So what I -- what I -- what I referenced is -- and my journey in 2013 when I was here as a deputy commissioner in 2014, and then I retired in 16, was around kids being a lockup in school district, and in the juvenile justice system. And in 2014, I had traveled around the country and became very much aware of the number of kids of color being put into the criminal justice system. Part of a national model that asked us this question, how are you going to change the number of Black boys and girls going into the system and Latino boys and girls, if the police kept locking up 100 percent of them. And so that journey would take me to a school district. As part of my work, I here as a deputy, looked at the school district where we had 1,600 children being arrested, in the school district every year. And it was a tragedy. And I tell people -- I sit down, and President Johnson knows my story. I sat down, looked at a piece of paper, and I said, "Oh, my God." You know, and it's kept me, a kid who graduated from John Bartram in school who saved my life. How the hell did we turn into a place where we're now locking up children? And so that would embark on my journey to reduce the number of kids being locked up in the school district in the city of Philadelphia. And so we would do a school diversion program. The diversion program, the Department of Human Services, wherever they are, I love them, I appreciate them. I did not have any place to move young people to. And DHS would start in 2014 and been with us for 12 years now, using their CUAs to be able to divert young people to different programming. And so we would create a school diversion program, but I also became very much trauma informed. I'm a kid who grew up in the neighborhood, pulled up by your bootstraps, who the hell cares about trauma? And I said, well, how's that possible when you got a 10-year-old child putting him in a cell block for six hours, and what was the impact on that? And so we would go about --
I remember that cheese sandwich. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yeah.
That cool tea. I think about it today as Council President, but go ahead, sir. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: And, you know, I know we're talking about it. I put my daughter through the arrest process. I had my daughter arrested, ladies and gentlemen, on a Saturday morning and walked her through the process. And it was there when it says what I -- and we were just filming it. Because I wanted people to know what it was like. Putting her through that process, I said to myself, "I would never let anybody do this to my daughter. And why am I allowing it to happen to others?" And so that would change the viewpoint. It's okay when it's happening to somebody else's. And so today after a great work, Dr. Goldstein from Drexel University and others helped us through this process. I mean, I'm proud to say that we had 70 young people who were arrested last year, and I'm proud of that, don't get me wrong. But from a system that used to do 1,600, today we're at 38. Today we're at 38 kids from a system that did 1,600. We've now expanded that into -- I came back and I drove right back into my juvenile work. We now have a three-tier process where we're diverting young people across the city of Philadelphia. I mean, those numbers over here, I can provide them to you, but we are diverting young people and we're using age appropriate as well. So --
And what's next for that work? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: What's it? Excuse me.
What's on the horizon for that work? What's next? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: For that work, that is our process now. That is our next, right now. We have a three-tier process, where we're diverting young people for a variety of simple assault. I mean, well, that's a little different category: retail theft. Most of our kids are being diverted today in the community of retail theft. We also took an age appropriate. If a 10-year-old child shows up in a stolen car, something's wrong.
Yeah. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: And it sure is not a criminal justice issue that a 10-year-old child or 11-year-old child. So we move to an age-appropriate process too, so we get a 10-year-old or 11-year-old child, we're diverting that child into the criminal justice -- I mean, into a diversionary model that makes that very effective for him. And we do that with by Juvenile Assessment Center. The JAC has been a great partner in that work. I see my partner leaning forward as his team, the JAC, comes under his charge, and we support that as we go through our work.
Thank you so much, and congrats on that success. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yes, ma'am. Thank you.
And I just want to acknowledge that when I worked with then Commissioner Bethel in the Point Breeze Area of South Philadelphia, and I know there was a time period where we just had significant gun violence, like every single day we were on the ground, you, myself, Wally Smith, right, and other community activists trying to get a grapple on this. And I remember you taking one of the young men under your wing and being a mentor. Right. And that exemplifies your character beyond your position. Because you got your own children to take care of. You did not have to take that young man under your wing and try to give him some guidance. I remember also working with then Captain Commissioner Ross, and went out Tasker, and knocked on a young man door. You got a decision you wanted to make, right? Because these guys kept shooting back and forth Wilson and Tasker Park. And so we recognize that in the context of the work that you-all are doing, really putting your heart on the line and trying to get to some of these young people beyond just the typical, you know, we can just lock them up, and it -- that -- to me, that's shifting the paradigm in how we address law enforcement. But it's also exemplifies your character in terms of the mission as well. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: I know you want to wrap it up, but I can't tell you, when I looked at the sheet before we locked up -- before we start our diversion, and the thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of children we had locked up, and where they were going. And we knew that 50 percent of them would stay in the criminal justice system. And what were we doing, right? And so that realization for me remains in my heart and my mind today, because I could have been any one of them, fate and circumstances. I didn't get caught, ladies and gentlemen. I just didn't get caught. Right? And look where I'm at today. I am leading the -- one of the fourth largest police departments in America. And so those young people are out there, and you know, your -- I know your story as well, my friend.
Uh-huh. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: And so that's where we're going to continue to be that space. That is my legacy work. And, you know, Commissioner Healy's over there, he is been my ride or die guy through this process of writing all my MOUs and agreements. But, you know, we've been at this road and it will be forever be the most valuable thing I've ever done, no matter what you hear me say or hear you say what I do, that is the most telling thing for me in my lifetime, is to be able to change the trajectory of young people's lives.
Thank you very much. We have Councilmember Brooks, and then we'll wrap up with Councilmember Phillips and bring up prisons.
Thank you so much. I have some follow up questions I didn't get to ask yesterday. And it's about a U Visa is an important visa that set aside victims of certain crimes who have suffered abuse and are helpful to law enforcement. We have heard that the city is denying far more U Visa applications than they were previously denying many victims chances at legal residency. Let me just ask all these questions, because they're all related to our ICE Out legislation. In what situations is a U Visa request denied? Does the city deny U Visa applications on the ground that the person has an immigration violation? Chicago has a UNT Visa Police directive spelling out the U Visa approved process. Does Philadelphia have a similar police directive? And my next round of questions is related to the license plate readers that you showed up here. How many functioning license plates readers does the department have? How does the department manage the data that is collected from the LPRs? How long is the data kept, and who keeps it, and who has access to it? And can outside law enforcement departments such as ICE access LPR data? And if so, could the Police Department let ICE access the LPR data? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: So I think I'll have to follow up on some of those questions. I don't think I captured all of it, Councilwoman. One other thing I can tell you that over the last five-years, we received 1,054 total received UVA U Visas, 703 of those were approved, and 342 of those were denied. I can get you more detail as to what we resulted in that denial. 2026 alone, we've had 60 applications. 32 of those were approved, 28 were denied. So that's a 53 percent approval rating in that regard.
And do we have like a directive that spells out the distribution of the UT Visa? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yes. I'm talking -- Commissioner Healy, just for the purpose of time, we can give you. But he said we do have a policy that outlines. SOP, Standard Operating Procedure. So it's not a directive; it's an internal SOP.
Okay. And the other one around, the license plates, how many do we have in the city? How's that based for -- COMMISSIONER BETHEL: So we have our -- I think we have over -- so -- no, I'm talking about total. So total number of -- so one of the things that we have that this body purchases -- purchased over, I believe, 100 of those devices. However, when we installed the license, the in-car cameras, those in-car cameras have license plate readers attached to them. So that was able to be a multiplier of our cameras now. And we are able to capture that in our internal system. That information also goes through our Axon and our evidence.com to be able to capture, obviously, if we need it for evidentiary purposes. That is tracking a lot of activity, not just around whenever the police officer turns on his or her overhead lights, the interior camera, when they have somebody in the back of the car to make sure that we can see that full circle behind them. They have the -- they have the ability to see inside the car. I can follow up with you as to how many. It's quite -- it's a lot of reading, you know, quite a bit of reading as it relates to that. Your question was -- I may have been missing your final question in that regard.
We have missed how long -- COMMISSIONER BETHEL: No, we don't share -- we definitely don't share that with ICE. That -- that's the -- we don't share that data with ICE, as it relates to our license plate reader. They can't come to us and ask us if we saw a plate or something and put that in a reader. That's not what -- that's not what we do.
Okay. Can we get that in writing? Like who has access and how is that information shared? COMMISSIONER BETHEL: Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Right now, we -- with the license plate reader, we minimize it. It can open up to a variety of things. We keep it in a very finite categories, recovery -- vehicle recoveries. So stolen autos are going into the system. Things that may be a form an investigator process. There was a shooting, or some other high level, the investigators have access to that part of their investigative process. And so we were very, very narrow in the use of those. And because of that -- and stolen autos, but we -- again, we have a very strong policy around. So where we -- stolen autos, missing purses, and then alerts that we put into the system. But much of that work is being done by the detectives when we are solving cases and going after individuals.
Thank you so much. And I just want to add, it's been much easier working with you guys around this ICE data. I want to just thank you for all the cooperation and the support you gave us in trying to get to a answer around the legislation that we were able to pass out a committee yesterday. And I just want to say thank you. I want to thank the Police Department for being cooperative and kind of collaborative in moving it forward. I just want to let you know I appreciate that. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: And I have to carry it over to Commissioner Healy as an attorney and everything else --
Yes. Healy, he's been amazing. COMMISSIONER BETHEL: He's just -- he's been very formidable in that space and I appreciate his work.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Dr. Nina Ahmad.
Point of information. I just wanted to make sure I, again, reiterated that we just introduced to bill about the UNT visa around streamlining the process. We've been in conversation with the Police Department about this already. This is about designating how much time it takes to turn these around, and to make sure that those who are applying understand why they were denied. So there was a few provisions in that that just got introduced, so that would clarify the process much more. I just wanted to make sure everybody knew about that. Thank you, Council President.
Thank you very much. And last but not least briefly, Councilmember Dr. Anthony Phillips, and we will move on to the Prisons. The floor is yours, sir.
Thank you, Council President. I just want to also reiterate that I believe that the Police Department is one of the top two departments in the city of Philadelphia right now. And I want to commend you all for your work. I just want to just clarify from earlier, because I'm going to be really brief. I was asking, I am profoundly grateful for what Town Watch Services does in our city of Philadelphia, but I'm asking upon you and your leadership, Director Geer, that you work with Anthony Murphy to identify neighborhoods in our district and districts across the city, where we're going to do a strategic plan and say they're going to organize the town watch. They're not going to ask us what -- where -- you know, to organize it. They're going to organize it and say, Hey, can you help market it? We're identifying this neighborhood, we're going to do the town watch there, training there, can you just help market it? We're going to market it too and hand out flyers. That's all I was just trying to say in that regard. And then I just had one last question: public access to information, there's $25 million in funding that is -- that is given to grantees, organizations for office violence prevention. On the website currently right now, there's a list of names of individuals and they grant the addresses, but it does not say how much funding they're getting. There's not a record, there's not like at a nonprofit that I used to work with or a lot of nonprofits annual report of what they've done in neighborhoods. And I would just like for that to be something that going forward that we see in terms of public access information. And then also last question -- I'm sorry. The last question is, what is your standard operating procedure when working with Council offices when there is a victim circumstance or homicide?
Great, great questions, Councilmember. The information, the more robust information, rather, on the grantees can be found on Philly Stat 360's webpage. There is information on our webpage, Office of Public Safety, but as you say, it is just the list. That's in Philly Stat 360. I believe you go to Public Safety tab, and then there should be a Grants tab after that. And with respect to the second part of your question, which now I'm just blanking on -- oh, I'm sorry, contact. We do have a rapid response standard operating procedure. Based upon our conversation this morning, it would make a lot of sense if we updated that standing operating procedure to make sure that there is explicitly outreach in certain incidences. As of now, as some of the council members will know, there are events that occur that we we're reaching out to council members. We're doing stuff behind the scenes; we're doing everything that I described. And as you as you might suggest, again, having a standard operating procedure where we're now thinking about, okay, these are the types of cases where we for sure going to check that box, makes sense.
Thank you so much, Council President, and we'll continue to have this conversation. Thanks a lot, Director Geer.