PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia City Council is being asked to permanently ban police use of tear gas, rubber bullets and other non-lethal crowd control measures. It also got a bill that would put restrictions on companies that solicit homeowners to buy their homes.
Councilmember Helen Gym, with seven co-sponsors, introduced a bill that would give the force of law to the current police department policy against the use of less lethal force.
It came just hours after a hearing in which protesters and residents testified about the police response to civil unrest in June.
“They were met with a show of force that had not been deployed on such a scale in our city in decades. Militarized vehicles rolled down 52nd Street. Tear gas, pepper spray, acrid chemicals filled the air,” Gym said.
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"We are currently reviewing the details of the City Council bill introduced by Councilmember Gym," Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said in a statement. "The Philadelphia Police Department remains committed to identifying and utilizing best practices in our responses to incidents of civil unrest to ensure the safety of all involved."
Councilmember Allan Domb, meanwhile, is taking on what he calls residential property wholesalers — the companies that send flyers and post signs offering to buy your house, for cash, as is.
“We’ve heard the horror stories from so many homeowners who undersold their homes or fought along someone to regain ownership of their home after unknowingly agreeing to what they thought was a fair deal, but in many cases was not,” he said.
His bill would require a license to conduct such sales and a background check to get the license.