PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia’s Citizens Police Oversight Commission has decided to extend an already lengthy search for an executive director — by starting from scratch. The action comes in the wake of the resignation of one-third of the commissioners.
In the fervor after the murder of George Floyd, Councilmember Curtis Jones sponsored the bill that presented a ballot question to voters, asking them to create the commission, with increased power to investigate police misconduct.
In the year since the commissioners were chosen, it hasn’t heard a single case of police misconduct. Instead, it has engaged in squabbles at its public meetings, with staff and each other that have occupied time former Vice-Chair Afroza Hossain had hoped would be devoted to improving police-community relations.
There were a number of other issues behind the resignations of three of the nine commissioners last week. Only Hossain would talk on the record.
One issue was the budgeting of staff salaries. The Commission had instructed its staff not to ask for a budget increase for next year — which would have been normal and expected for a new agency trying to grow its capacity.
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Hossain says it’s evidence of deeper problems on the commission.
“They will make this commission a laughing stock, and I cannot in good conscience be a part of that,” she said.
Hossain cited the contentious executive director search as one main motivation for her resignation. She said a faction of the commissioners were so determined not to hire Anthony Erace, who has been doing the job for three years on an interim basis, that they were about to violate the terms of the legislation that created the commission and hire someone who had been a member of a police union.
“I’ve never understood their bias against him,” Hossain said.
At a meeting last week, Chairman Jahlee Hatchett denied there was any bias — but then he went on to throw out the year-long search process, when Erace was the only finalist for the job eligible under the legislation.
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Councilmember Curtis Jones, who sponsored creation of the commission, says he is distressed to see the factions that developed, which he calls growing pains. The problems have become so serious that he is enlisting help from Temple University and Saint Joseph's University to train the remaining members on appropriate conduct and to work with them on developing as a body.
“What we’re going to do is try to help them be the best versions of themselves,” Jones said.
He says it is an urgent need “for them to better understand their important role for the city of Philadelphia — and we hope and pray they make the right decisions.”
Oversight of police interaction with citizens requires a functioning board, he said.
“It’s not a question of ‘if’ — it’s a question of ‘when.’”
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