City of Philadelphia - File #: 020695

• File #: 020695
• Version: 0
• Type: Resolution
• Status: ADOPTED
• File created: 10/31/2002
• In control: Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety
• Title: Authorizing the Council Committees on Public Safety and Health & Human Services, to jointly investigate the Administration's current methods and systems for addressing the proliferation, use and abuse of illegal drugs in the City, including, in particular, a review of the recently released report issued by the Philadelphia Police Department's Integrity and Accountabilty Officer, it's conclusions and recommendations, the success of the Safe Streets program, and alternative methods of effectively addressing the drug plague in our City.
• Sponsors: Councilmember Ortiz, Councilmember Ortiz, Councilmember Tasco, Councilmember Nutter, Councilmember Cohen, Councilmember Reynolds Brown, Councilmember Miller, Councilmember Goode, Councilmember Blackwell, Councilmember Rizzo, Councilmember O'Neill, Councilmember Clarke, Councilmember DiCicco

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result	Tally
6/10/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	HEARING HELD
6/10/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	HEARING HELD
6/10/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	RECESSED
6/10/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	RECESSED
5/29/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	HEARING HELD
5/29/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	HEARING HELD
5/29/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	RECESSED
5/29/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	RECESSED
5/23/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	HEARING HELD
5/23/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	HEARING HELD
5/23/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	RECESSED
5/23/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	RECESSED
5/12/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	HEARING HELD
5/12/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	HEARING HELD
5/12/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	RECESSED
5/12/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	RECESSED
5/7/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	HEARING NOTICES SENT
5/7/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	HEARING NOTICES SENT
5/7/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	HEARING HELD
5/7/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	HEARING HELD
5/7/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	RECESSED
5/7/2003	0	Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety	RECESSED
10/31/2002	0	CITY COUNCIL	ADOPTED & REFERRED
10/31/2002	0	CITY COUNCIL	ADOPTED & REFERRED
10/31/2002	0	CITY COUNCIL	Introduced	Pass
10/31/2002	0	CITY COUNCIL	Introduced	Pass

Title
Authorizing the Council Committees on Public Safety and Health & Human Services, to jointly investigate the Administration's current methods and systems for addressing the proliferation, use and abuse of illegal drugs in the City, including, in particular, a review of the recently released report issued by the Philadelphia Police Department's Integrity and Accountabilty Officer, it's conclusions and recommendations, the success of the Safe Streets program, and alternative methods of effectively addressing the drug plague in our City.
Body
WHEREAS, A recently released internal report, issued by the Philadelphia Police Department's Integrity and Accountability Officer, presents an alarming and disturbing array of findings relating to the performance and management of the Police Narcotics Bureau - citing, among other items, questionable arrests, missed court appearances, incomplete case monitoring, and a lack of safeguards against possible corruption; and

WHEREAS, The document, an internal critique of the police department's drug enforcement operations, is a positive step in addressing inadequacies and required changes in our efforts to improve the management and decision-making protocols of internal police probes; and

WHEREAS, Both the Police and independent journalistic investigatory reports -- confirmed by observations by the responsible supervisory judges in both Muncipal and Common Pleas Courts -- suggest the existence of a a court system that is "overwhelmed, overworked, undermanned and under funded," resulting in a "significant number" of dismissed cases; and a "drug court crisis"; and

WHEREAS, An appreciable number of cities and states which have experienced similar systemic alarms, and malfunctions, have discovered them to be the result of approaches which are too heavily weighted with punitive and other legalistic approaches (arrests, non-violent criminal prosecution, incarceration, interdiction, etc.) while neglecting and/...