9.15.17: Philadelphia – (Politics): On the same day that a handful of activists protesting police violence were dramatically escorted out of Philadelphia City Council chambers, Councilmen Darrell Clarke and Curtis Jones, Jr., co-introduced a bill that would strengthen the long-neglected police oversight board.
While it’s not clear whether the bill which would quasi-stabilize the Philadelphia Police Advisory Commission by providing it an indefinite minimum budget of $500,000 was the result of summer-months protest related to the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man, Mr. Jones did imply that building the political will of councilmembers to support a bill that grants the PAC permanency would be.
“Pressure coming from direct actions gets a response,” Mr. Jones, the chair of the public safety committee, said.
Mr. Jones before had introduced a bill that would’ve made the agency permanent. However, it failed to get the nine votes needed to pass. Since that time, though, it appears that community-police relations have faltered, thus, such a legislation could exist in a newer context where a sense of urgency is embraced.
To that point, Mr. Clarke, the council president who’s a Democrat, on Thursday afternoon spoke to the issue of community-police relations with an urgent tone. He said the City must “figure out a way” to close the trust gap. He also acknowledged that there are some citizens who genuinely don’t feel that there’s appropriate oversight of police, nor that they’re treated fairly by them.
“We can’t allow this to continue,” the council president stated.
Mr. Clarke supports the idea of a permanent police oversight board. In fact, he went as far as to say that the PAC, as it exists today, is “insufficient.”
For years, the problem has been that the PAC hasn’t had enough investigators to handle complaints nor funds to further professionalize the operation through training.
“A commission with that much importance should not be starved,” said Mr. Clarke.
The council president mentioned the city’s board of ethics in comparison with the PAC. It’s permanent with a “fixed dollar amount,” he asserted.
“I don’t know why we couldn’t do the same thing with the police advisory commission,” he said, adding “it can’t be at the whim of a Mayor.”
In May of 2018, Philadelphia voters will see the ballot initiative that emanated from Mr. Clarke and Mr. Jones. It’s assumed that voters here will be overwhelmingly in favor of moving the needle on funding the PAC.
As to the bill on permanency, Mr. Clarke said the council is “moving towards” it. And Mr. Jones was bullish, saying “I think we’ll get nine votes”
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