PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The death of George Floyd and resulting unrest has brought in a wave of policing reforms in Philadelphia.
Advocates have said that it’s just the beginning.
Much of the police reforms have been in the works for years, but the civil unrest provided momentum needed to push lawmakers to get it done.
“It is sad, when you think about it, that Black people have to die to make things happen,” said Rev. Dr. Mark Kelly Tyler, pastor of Mother Bethel AME Church.
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An advocate, he works with POWER Interfaith as well as other groups, and has been on the frontlines of the push for police reform for decades.
He was on the ground in Ferguson, in West Philadelphia following the George Floyd protests, and in Cobbs Creek after Walter Wallace, Jr. was shot by Philadelphia police.
He joined cries for defunding of police and a reimagining of public safety.
The Philadelphia City Council heard the calls from the community. In recent months, the council passed the Let Philly Breathe Act. It bans police use of chokeholds and similar restraints.
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The council also passed a bill mandating public hearings on the city’s bargaining agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police.
Other bills are in the works, like the Driving Equality Bill. It would reform police policy over car stops.
However, Tyler said the one with the most impact relates to the new Citizens Police Oversight Commission.
“It would be a group that would have full access to police data, just like internal affairs,” says Tyler. "They’d be able to look at body cam video and not have to get permission.”
Tyler and others had been critics of the city’s Police Advisory Commission, which they claimed was underfunded and had no teeth. They’re hoping the CPOC will have real power.
Now the focus is to both get the City Council to codify that power and fully fund the effort.
“How many more people have to die until we get change?” asked Tyler.
On the state level, there is now a police officer hiring database that allows departments to weed out bad cops.
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Police who use deadly force are now legally obligated to undergo a mental health evaluation before they go back to work.
Governor Tom Wolf and Attorney General Josh Shapiro created a new Deputy Inspector General position focused on police oversight.
Sha S. Brown, a former Maryland State Trooper was appointed to the position in October 2020.
He is also Chair of the newly-formed Pennsylvania State Law Enforcement Advisory Commission. The group met in January for the first time.
“We’ve worked together to try to address as much as possible, from a systemic perspective, police reform,” says State Rep. Jordan Harris, (D-Phila.) and House Democratic Whip.
Harris helped created and lead the Police Reform Working Group, a collective of state and city lawmakers, as well as criminal justice reform advocates that pushed for reforms.
“But while there has been much work done, there’s much more that needs to be completed so that we can have faith with regard to police and community relations,” he says.
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Harris says the focus is now on changing Act 111.
The law currently makes arbitrator decisions on the termination of police officers final. This means that the Philadelphia Police Department can fire an officer, they can appeal and be reinstated on the job.
“There’s officers who cannot testify because of their past. There’s officers who cannot perform certain duties because of their past,” says Harris.
"We are paying taxpayer dollars for officers who cannot fully perform their job because Act 111 protects them.”
Harris says the group of advocates do not want to repeal Act 111. However, they want to insert a procedure that allows an arbitration decision to be appealed to an independent body.
“Good police officers want this to happen because they want the bad actors off the force,” he says.
Other priorities for statewide reform will focus on Pennsylvania’s “use of force” policies.