After Decades, Civilian Oversight in Philadelphia Takes Shape

Philadelphia Police Advisory Commission, days away from securing officer-involved shooting data, confirms improved relationship with police department.

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Excitement and optimism coated Mr. Kelvyn Anderson’s voice as he spoke about the present opportunities to make significant changes within the Philadelphia Police Department and what that’ll mean for the future of the City and its residents, particularly those who are black and brown and often express distrust or fear of law enforcement.

Mr. Anderson, who’s often critical of the Philadelphia Police Department for their lack of transparency around officer-involved shootings, applauded the Police Commissioner’s courageous step to ask for a Collaborative Reform Review from the Department of Justice’s COPS (Community Orientated Policing Services) Office and said the police department has since been much more cooperative, which was one of the 91 recommendations laid out in the report, “An Assessment of Deadly Force in the Philadelphia Police Department”.

In an exclusive interview with Techbook Online, Mr. Anderson reveals that the Philadelphia Police Advisory Commission, where he serves as Executive Director, is just “days away” from inking an agreement with the police department for eight years worth of officer-involved shooting data which was being kept under tight wrap, so much so that the PAC, claiming the police department was undermining the Commission’s independent role, considered leveraging their subpoena powers for it.

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Also, a conversation about giving the PAC a seat on the firearms review board is underway, which is a monumental move towards full transparency, implied Mr. Anderson, who said his agency, after more than two decades, is finally taking the shape of a real civilian oversight board.

These success stories, which Mr. Anderson categorized as a big deal, are expected to be included in his remarks to an audience of nearly 200 young Philadelphians this afternoon at Securing Our Future: Re-imagining Philadelphia’s Community-Police Relations, an event at the Philadelphia Convention Center sponsored by My Brothers’ Keeper and co-organized by The Philadelphia Human Relations Commission, The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant and Multi-Cultural Affairs and PAC.

An audience of youth this size, said Mr. Anderson, has never been assembled in Philadelphia to give voice to the issue of improving police and community relations.

The attendees, many who will be traveling to Center City Philadelphia from their middle and high schools which close early today, will convene in small groups at their tables with MBK facilitators, and others, to work through and document their thoughts on critical issues, like stop-and-frisk.