At a May 1998 Task Force convened public interest meeting with Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Timoney, a diverse range of community-based leaders [1] asked the Commissioner to:
(1) agree to biannual meetings (a second meeting to be scheduled in November 1998) would focus on the Department’s response to and/or implementation of a wide range of public policy recommendations to enhance effective and humane law enforcement, and
(2) to issue, immediately, a policy on the matter of "reporting and investigating bias crime incidents" to guide all police (cited below).
In an October 21, 1998 letter to Task Force Executive Director Rita Addessa, Police Commissioner John Timoney informed Addessa that he had issued the Bias Crime policy as requested, excluding, however, the category "gender identity," which will remain a matter for further discussion with the Commissioner.
In a late afternoon conversation on October 23, 1998 with John Gallagher, Esq., assistant to Commissioner Timoney, Gallagher asserted that he believed that gender or "perceived" sexual orientation would adequately cover people who are transgendered and that, in addition, the Commissioner could not be a "trailblazer" on this issue.
The policy as issued follows:
Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Timoney
Issues Bias Crime Policy. Press Release 2 of 2. October 26, 1998
It is the policy of the Philadelphia Police Department to ensure that rights guaranteed by federal, state and local laws are protected for all citizens regardless of their race or ethnicity, gender (or gender identity – excluded from police policy), sexual orientation or marital status, age or disability, religion or economic status. When such rights are infringed upon by violence, threats or other harassment, the Department will use every necessary resource to rapidly and decisively identity the perpetrators, arrest them, and bring them before the Court. All acts of violence or threats, including bias-related incidents, will be viewed as serious, and the investigations will be given priority attention. Such acts generate fear and concern among victims and result in loss of public confidence.
(Police Addition to proposed and now issued policy).
Commanding officers will ensure that all personnel under their command receive a copy of this change by having the officer sign their training material receipt/record from 75-578. In addition, the district/unit reference file will reflect this change. To be read at all roll calls for three (3) consecutive days
[1] May 1998 Timoney Briefing Participants:
Community Participants In Order of Presentation
Karen Black, Esq., PILCOP
Will Gonzalez, Esq., Executive Director, Police Barrio Relations Project
Will O’Brien, on behalf of Sr. Mary Scullion, Project Home
Larry Krasner, Esq., member of the September 12, 1991 Citizens Advisory Group
Judge John Braxton, Legal Counsel, Barristers
Larry Gross, Ph.D., Task Force CoChair, co-author of the Study of Discrimination and Violence and, a member of the September 12, 1991 Citizens Advisory Group
with Rita Addessa, plgtf executive director, and meeting convenor.