CPOC removes one of its own commissioners, latest setback for embattled police oversight agency

The Citizens Police Oversight Commission removed one of its commissioners Thursday night, marking the latest setback for the embattled agency.

After a two-month investigation, Rosaura Torres Thomas was unanimously voted out by commissioners at a public meeting. Thomas was suspended in July for allegedly sharing confidential information and having contact with people “adverse” to the agency and its mission, interim chair Hassan Bennett said.

The commission is now down to four commissioners, fewer than half the nine posts the agency was meant to have.

When she was suspended as the inquiry got underway in July, Thomas said the confidential information the commission accused her of leaking included emails sent from her private email address in which she defended a person other commissioners had disparaged.

The investigation determined Thomas provided confidential information to people who were not entitled to it and had a relationship with Philadelphia residents with “lengthy histories of harassing and demeaning CPOC staff,” the commission said in a statement.

The investigation into Thomas was conducted by the agency’s investigation unit, which was created to investigate allegations of police misconduct. Since its launch in 2022, the commission has not independently investigated a single complaint against police — its central mission from its creation in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd and the unrest that followed in Philadelphia and across the nation.

In the investigation of Thomas, CPOC officials said, she refused multiple interview requests She also did not respond to a subpoena seeking correspondence from her personal email, Nick Kato, director of investigations at CPOC, said.

On Friday morning, Thomas said she refused to sit down for interviews with the commission’s investigation unit because she did not want to be “verbally attacked.” She said the confidential information cited by Kato were emails to City Council members and that there was no harassment from residents she had been in contact with.

Thomas said she did not attend the Thursday night meeting because she believed the outcome was a foregone conclusion.

“This is sad because I feel like I failed the people, not them. I didn’t become commissioner to appease them, I became commissioner to help la comunidad,” she said. “To help the people in the city of Philadelphia.”

At the meeting, Bennett said he was troubled by Thomas’ lack of communication with the commission during the investigation.

“The role of a commissioner is one of trust and commitment to transparency and accountability, as well as integrity,” Bennett said. “This decision cannot be made lightly, as it reflects on our unwavering responsibility to uphold the public’s confidence in the Citizens Police Oversight Commission and its mission to foster accountability and build trust between the community, as well as law enforcement.”

Since its debut in 2022, the commission has been allocated more than $3 million in taxpayer money, hired a staff of 22, and established a panel of nine commissioners who hold monthly meetings to discuss public safety issues. Agency staffers sit in on administrative hearings for officers accused of wrongdoing and audit internal affairs reports prepared by the police department.

The commission was designed to have more power than its predecessor organization, the Police Advisory Commission, which critics saw as largely ineffective.

But it has not independently investigated a single complaint against police. And progress has been stymied by what critics say is constant infighting and petty power moves. Last year, a third of the commission resigned in protest, citing a toxic environment.

Investigations into police misconduct were the primary goal City Council set for the agency when it was created in response to calls for police accountability after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Critics say the commission has failed to carry out its central mission.