A Philly 911 dispatcher was robbed right outside of the new police headquarters

A Philadelphia 911 dispatcher was robbed of her purse early Thursday morning steps from the Police Department’s new headquarters on North Broad Street.

Darnell Davis, business agent for the dispatchers’ union, AFSCME Local 1637, said the woman had just gotten out of an Uber at Broad and Callowhill Streets for her 6 a.m. shift and was “20 steps from the building” when the robbery occurred.

Video of the incident reviewed by The Inquirer shows a woman walking on a well-lit Callowhill Street, surrounded by parked police cruisers. In the video, a man in dark clothing runs up behind her, rips her purse from her arm, and drags her on the ground for several feet. Davis said that the suspect struck the dispatcher multiple times and that she was treated for minor injuries at a hospital.

“She’s pretty bruised up,” Davis said. “And she’s pretty shaken up.”

A police spokesperson said the department was “aware of the incident” but declined to release further information. Davis said the suspect was able to flee, and the Police Department confirmed no arrest had been made.

According to the union contract, Davis said, the dispatcher does not qualify for “injured on duty” benefits because she had not clocked in to start her shift, but the union plans to fight to make an exception because the attack occurred mere steps from the building.

News of the assault comes as the department makes an unusual push for officers to work 12-hour shifts this weekend in an effort to quell violent crime — which has risen 7% above this time last year. While shootings and homicides have continued at a relentless pace, police data show robberies with and without firearms account for much of that year-over-year spike. The city this year recorded more than 2,082 gunpoint robberies as of Sunday, up 62% from this time in 2021. Other robberies rose 20% in that same period.

Such crimes are not an anomaly in the Callowhill area around the police station, which sits next the School District’s administrative building. Police data show at least four robberies and six aggravated assaults were reported within a one-block radius over the last six months.

Davis said an officer is supposed to be stationed in front of the headquarters in the morning. Sgt. Eric Gripp, a police spokesperson, confirmed to The Inquirer there was an officer in the booth, but he didn’t see the incident. Video reviewed by The Inquirer showed the assailant running toward the booth as he snatched the purse.

“It might have been the way the booth was situated,” Gripp said. “We’re not sure why he didn’t hear it, or didn’t see it — but we’re going to look into it.”

“This should not be happening,” Davis said. “The climate in the city is you’re not safe anywhere. You’re not safe with 13 parked police cars stationed right there outside the headquarters. This should be the safest place in the city — but it’s not.”

Davis identified the woman as a newer employee who started about seven months ago.

Dispatchers have also been contending with their own crisis throughout the pandemic, facing near-daily staff shortages due to high turnover, burnout, and COVID-related illness. The result has been an increase in the time people wait to get through to 911 operators, on top of longer police response time due to officer shortages, as The Inquirer reported earlier this year.

Dispatchers and 911 call-takers were among the last police personnel to begin working at the new police headquarters inside the former Inquirer building at 400 N. Broad St. Davis said fire dispatch crews moved out of the old Roundhouse headquarters in July, with police dispatchers following in August.

Working hours also shifted recently. Morning shifts — like the one the assaulted dispatcher was scheduled to work Thursday — now begin at 6 a.m., instead of 7. The change raised concerns about worker safety among union officials.

“We’re not excited about it,” Davis said. “At 5:45 in the morning, it’s pitch black out there. We have a lot of single mothers and lot of people who don’t have cars.”