PPD Commissioner Rick Ross Meets with City Council
City Hall — Philadelphia City Council commissioners questioned PPD Commissioner Rick Ross and his deputy commissioners on Tuesday during a budget hearing about police tactics, requirements and reforms.
On Tuesday, City Council President Darrell Clarke along with council members Quinones-Sanchez, Oh, Domb, Jones, Henon, and Brown held a meeting with Philadelphia Police Department leadership to discuss the next fiscal year’s budget. The council members all expressed great gratitude to Commissioner Ross for the work the PPD has been doing, but also raised questions about gun violence, body cameras and Mayor Kenney’s proposed 36 million dollar Philadelphia Resilience Project.
In concern to gun violence among young people, council member Quinones-Sanchez raised questions to Commissioner Ross about alternative activities and after-school programs available to young people that may keep them from straying towards gangs and violence. Ross responded by validating her concerns, stating that violence won’t be reduced “by starting the game at third base” and ignoring the societal conditions that lead to increased rates of crime. He says that “we need to deal with the real issues” such as alleviating the symptoms of poverty.
Council member Oh soon after began his time by claiming that police are “restricted” and “afraid to do their job because there are many ways that they can be punished for it.” Commissioner Ross echoed his sentiments and the two discussed the illegal riding of all-terrain-vehicles on public roads with seeming impunity as an example. Oh cited a vocal “disrespect of law enforcement” which Ross claims is also responsible for the increased numbers of firearm-carrying individuals the PPD has encountered lately. Largely sharing council member Oh’s feelings about the current policing climate and offering to include more funding for the police department in the budget, council member Domb then brought up the department’s Stop and Frisk program. He asked Commissioner Ross what the expected outcome would be if the city terminated the program. Ross answered by saying that it would be “the road to disaster” citing the department’s raise in gun arrests since the program was implemented.
Continuing the theme of violent crime, council member Jones took the floor to ask Ross about the lack of trust towards the PPD and a seemingly rampant “no-snitching” code in some areas. Ross observed that community participation is vital to proper policing, but did not dive into reforms or actions being taken to increase that participation. Following Jones was council member Brown who brought up past issues at the department with trespassing charges that were exemplified in the now famous Starbucks incident earlier this year. She asked if changes had been made since the incident and what, if any new crisis-intervention tactics were being taught to PPD officers. Ross claimed increased training in de-escalation and crisis-intervention, but cited mental illness as the true underlying issue with these types of situations. Brown followed up with a question about body cameras and a PPD policy that “allows officers to review the video footage” of an incident before making a statement or filing a report. Ross denied the narrative, claiming that that policy does not apply to “incidents involving a use of force” and that no national standards for body cameras exist among law enforcement departments.
The meeting concluded with President Clarke asking for more time at a later date to further question Commissioner Ross about the budgetary needs of the department. The council members all seemed very much in support of the PPD and Ross’s efforts with even more funding offered as a possibility. Ross seemed confident and even jovial throughout the meeting, knowing that his budgetary requests are likely to be approved.
-William Ross
