Excerpt I to V Provided Only
Remainder subject to individual organization’s release
Compendium of Policy and Program Recommendations
to and about the Philadelphia, PA Police Department
Primary Excerpts
(Compilation: Rita Addessa May 1998 [1] )
I. Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force p. 2
(1986 and continuing)
II. The Mayor Goode Appointed Citizens Advisory p. 2-3
Group re: the September 12, 1991 Police Confrontation
III. Police Civilian Review Board: 1994 p. 3-4
IV. Project Home: 1998 p. 4
V. Police Accountability Coalition to Police Corruption p. 4-5-
Task Force Draft. March 17, 1997.
VI. The NAACP/Police Barrio and City Agreement p. 5-7
in part (year)
VII. Report of the Philadelphia Police Task Force p. 7-10
Summary of Recommendations (1987?)
(For full detail, see the original documents submitted)
Note: Reports referenced in the recommendations include:
Police Stress Report of June 1995
IAD Strategies and Action Plan of 1992
Vitteta Report
Mollen Commission Report
Tucker Commission Report (VII above)
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[1] Draft 1 Compilation subject to review and edits by community groups. Not for public distribution until relevant parties comment that the compilation is representative and summarizes major points/recommendations. Task Force, Room 1005, 1616 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103. 215-772-2001 and fax 2004 (1.crloc. 98compiledpolicerecommd.doc)
Compendium of Policy and Program Recommendations
to and about the Philadelphia, PA Police Department
I. Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force. Task Force. recommendations on criminal and civil law were made in the course of meetings with the Pennsylvania Governor, the Pennsylvania Attorney General, the Philadelphia District Attorney, and the Philadelphia Police Department (1986-1994). In 1986 and continuing, the Task Force submitted specific policy and program recommendations to then Police Commissioners Tucker, Williams, Neal and now Timoney.
In sum, the recommendations to the Police focus on: Leadership and affirmative public policy; swift and serious discipline of officers for brutality, abuse, negligence; comprehensive professional staff development training programs to address diversity and bias crime issues (9 day training module for all police including top command); affirmative recruitment and hiring of self-acknowledged lesbian and gay people; increased staffing particularly for center city districts and for the Conflict Prevention Resolution team in tandem with the adoption of the NOBLE protocols; precise reporting standards generally and specifically, a uniform bias crime reporting system (quantitative and qualitative) for common use by the Police, the DA, and the PCHR (inclusive of one id tracking code); and state of the art technology generally.
(We recommended originally but would not recommend now under Abraham’s or Fisher’s leadership, that the DA’s Office or the Office of the Attorney General, respectively, house one centralized office for the oversight, tracking, reporting and monitoring of all bias crime and that the Attorney General handle all Philadelphia police abuse cases.)
II. The Mayor Goode Appointed Citizens Advisory Group re: the September 12, 1991 Police Confrontation (Gross, Krasner, Ridley and others)
1. The Police Commissioner must assure that the Internal Affairs Division investigate thoroughly all instances of police misconduct (related, in this instance, to the September 12, 1991 confrontation ); that police should be held accountable and subject to serious and appropriate discipline for improper conduct.
2. The report called for the establishment of a Police Civilian Review Board with subpoena power . (This body was established by City Council after extensive lobbying by the Coalition for Police Accountability.)
II. The Mayor Goode Appointed Citizens Advisory Group: (continued)
Training Issues
3. The Commissioner should appoint special designated units within departments that should be trained and assigned to support civil affairs to handling large demonstrations.
4. The Department should mandate training for recruits and in service training for uniformed and plainclothes personnel of all ranks re: crowd control; rights and history of demonstrators; pertinent and timely political social issues – inclusive of AIDS education.
5. The Department should mandate all police personnel to attend human relations training , e.g. Urban Diversity sequence. Recruit training should include dispute resolution, role playing and techniques for handling civil disobedience.
Demonstration-Specific
6. The Department should establish standard procedures for future demonstrations and assure advance preparation at roll calls and special meetings with assigned personnel; should require supervisors to supervise, not participate; should assure that police activities comply with the protection of civilians’ constitutional rights; implement and enforce departmental policies prohibiting the use of force beyond the minimum necessary; enforce departmental policies which make civil affairs officers responsible for making arrests; communicate in advance with demonstration organizers and with legal experts; set aside a specific press-only area; plan in advance the videotaping of all major demonstrations.
III. Police Civilian Review Board: 1994 (related to the DeJesus matter)
1. The Detective Bureau should be provided with one format for taking statements which is precise and thorough. It should include the date and time of the beginning and end of each interview, the date and time of each incident, and should provide a detailed statement of what happened, not a general summary.
2. Internal Affairs: Must be more professional and thorough. Its mission should be to conduct thorough probes to fully uncover all of the pertinent facts. Counsel should never be permitted to substitute for a witness. Derivative questions to probe all of the details which emerge in
III. Police Civilian Review Board: 1994 (continued)
first interviews should be resubmitted to all witnesses. Interviewers should be thoroughly trained on how to question witnesses.
3. Police supervisors need to show leadership, exercise control and in essence supervise.
For the Record: Police Officers involved in the DeJesus beating: Nicholas DiPasquale; William Suarez; Raul Malviero; Michael Paige; Chris DiPasquale; and Donna Young. .
IV. Project Home: 1998 and continuing
Project Home will be creating more detailed recommendations, and encourages now the Commissioner to agree to work with homeless service providers and the City to ensure that negative police activity desists and that officers receive appropriate training on sensitivity to the homeless and cooperation with outreach workers. Inappropriate police conduct includes: street citations, arrests, forced removal; threats and in some cases, physical force.
V. Police Accountability Coalition to Police Corruption Task Force Draft. March 17, 1997.
1. End race-based law enforcement harassment. Examples of "sweeps" e.g. Operation Cold Turkey (1985) and the "Center City Stalker (1988)
(Another sweep involved Judy Garland Park and the false arrest and harassment of 20 men presumed to be gay the weekend of then new Police Commissioner Neal’s appointment - 1992)
2. Citing the Tucker Commission Report (1987), the Coalition remarks on extensive corruption within the police department as a barrier to systemic change and the need to develop clear policies and procedures to eliminate such corruption, informed now by the wealth of data that has emerged from the investigation of the 39th police district related to corruption, perjury, and abuse.
3. Citing the March 1992 Mayor Goode appointed Advisory Panel which issued a critique of brutality, subsequent coverups, false cover charges and the failure of the police department to properly investigate and discipline its own. , the coalition supported the group’s recommendations to: (1) establish a permanent police civilian advisory board; (2) reform and strengthen the IAD complaint procedures.
V. Police Accountability Coalition to Police Corruption Task Force Draft (continued)
4. Citing the Mollen Commission, the coalition recommends a serious attention to hiring and training decisions to reduce abuse and corruption. One recommendation focused on integrating college education with police training for recruits who have lacked educational opportunities and to raise the service eligibility age.
End of Excerpt Provided ###