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Authorizing the Committee on Public Safety to hold hearings on a recently revealed memo from a Philadelphia Police Department Captain instructing his officers to increase pedestrian and motor vehicle stops not related to crime and jeopardizing data collection mandated by federal consent decree.
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WHEREAS, The most common form of interaction Philadelphians will have with the Police Department is during a vehicle stop; and
WHEREAS, Between 2018 and 2019, over 309,000 vehicle stops were recorded by the Philadelphia Police Department, the overwhelming majority of which resulted in no ticket being issued and/or contraband recovered; and
WHEREAS, In 2011, Philadelphia entered into a federal consent decree stemming from the Bailey v. Philadelphia lawsuit that alleged a pattern and practice by the Philadelphia Police Department of unconstitutional stops that disproportionately targeted Black and Latino citizens; and
WHEREAS, The Bailey consent decree encompasses both pedestrian and motor vehicle stops, both of which are still disproportionately of Black and Brown citizens despite the ten-year federal oversight; and
WHEREAS, A Philadelphia Police Captain’s recent and verified memo instructs district officers to conduct more motor vehicle stops and states such stops avoid the problems associated with the Bailey consent decree; and
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Police Captain’s memo instructs district officers to conduct more pedestrian stops for code violation notice (CVN), which comprise approximately 35% of all pedestrian stops in the City; and
WHEREAS, Black pedestrians are still more than 50% more likely to be stopped without reasonable suspicion than Whites, and 40% more likely to be frisked without reasonable suspicion; and
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Police Captain’s memo encourages those he supervises to disregard their training in legal police tactics by conditioning the future approval of requests for vacation days on increased motor vehicle and CVN stops; and
WHEREAS, The City is still not substantially compliant with the Bailey consent decree; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, With this hearing, we hope to hear from individuals and communities disproportionately impacted by these stops, from experts about the effects on communities and crime these stops have and hear ideas and plans for how Philadelphia might address these issues and how other cities have dealt with similar problems.
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