LGBTQ community members ‘hopeful’ with Kevin Bethel’s appointment as philly police commissioner

In the fifth grade, Kevin Bethel knew his mom would have to make a difficult choice.

Being raised by a single mom with his three brothers, Bethel saw how hard she worked every day to make ends meet. The way she would walk from their West Philadelphia home all the way to Market Street in the early morning to catch a bus to work. How frequently they had to move to find affordable living. And that it would be impossible for his mom to afford private Catholic school for more than one child.

So Bethel made the difficult choice himself for his mom. He told her that he would stay in public school, and urged her to send his younger brother, Keith Bethel, to private school in his stead.

“Kevin has always been a leader,” said Keith, citing the school story as an example of that leadership. “And Kevin’s nature is that he cares deeply about the things he cares about. That passion when he talks is real.”

That leadership is what Mayor-elect Cherelle Parker saw in Bethel when she announced last week that he would be Philadelphia’s next police commissioner. During Wednesday’s news conference, Parker said she believes Bethel “will lead our department into a new day, and a new era of public safety and community engagement.”

Bethel worked in the city’s police department for 29 years before retiring in 2016, and has spent much of the last four years serving as chief of school safety for the School District of Philadelphia.

During his tenure with the police department, Bethel also worked as the LGBTQ liaison for the department from 2012 to 2015, when the department was confronted with issues over their interactions with queer — and especially trans — people.

“It was really clear that what we LGBTQ people needed was just a direct line of communication to the police department, and to people within the police department who had authority and empathy,” said Nellie Fitzpatrick, who worked with Bethel at the time as an LGBTQ liaison themself for the district attorney’s office.

“Kevin had a very unique mixture of both of those things.”

Bethel had a “powerful ability” to carry on difficult and painful conversations with community members, all while maintaining respect and understanding, Fitzpatrick said. And it’s those skills that make them hopeful that Bethel will be able to tackle the difficult task of being Philly’s newest police commissioner.

Deja Lynn Alvarez was one of the people who worked closely with Bethel while he was liaison — and when she heard that Parker would be appointing him as the next police commissioner, she was ecstatic.

“Cherelle is really starting off right,” Alvarez said.

She described him as someone who is fair, compassionate, and empathetic; is down-to-earth and leads by listening to feedback.

“Even to understand the bias from the Philadelphia Police Department toward LGBTQ people, especially trans people, was absolutely amazing for him to be so open to hear it — and he wasn’t defensive,” Alvarez said. “It was always like, ‘OK, what can we do to change this?’”

And Bethel was able to make progress and come up with creative solutions to problems many thought would never be solved. He not only created the first directive the police department has had for interactions with trans people, but also had it publicly released, which is uncommon for the police department and a testament to Bethel’s commitment to transparency, Fitzpatrick said.

Some community members have raised concerns about how Parker’s public safety platform promoted throughout her campaign — particularly her support of stop-and-frisk — might disparately impact communities of color. But Parker’s appointment of Bethel is a clear sign that she has listened to that feedback, Alvarez said.

“He is no stranger to the complexity of violence and the factors that drive it.”

“I think that is part of [Parker’s] way to say, ‘I have found somebody that has a proven track record, has the experience, the compassion and empathy necessary to help achieve the platform I ran on, while also being fair and hearing the concerns of the other folks that are worried about the stop-and-frisk style,’” Alvarez said.

Fitzpatrick added that issues around crime and public safety are never binary and simple, and Bethel has a unique ability to hold the nuance and address the complexities around the issue — as well as deeply empathize, largely because of his personal understanding of the “pain residing in our city.”

“He is no stranger to the complexity of violence and the factors that drive it, whether it be poverty, long-undealt-with-trauma, white supremacy, you name it,” Fitzpatrick said. “I have confidence that he sees it.”

Nikia Owens, president and CEO with the Campaign for Working Families, has never heard of or met Bethel throughout her years as a community organizer — but that doesn’t give her pause.

“Just because you’re known, doesn’t mean you’re good,” Owens said. “If somebody like Bethel is going to come in there — that has a passion and a purpose and a heart for it and is qualified to do the job — whether anybody knows him, I’m all for it.”

But appointing a great candidate is just part of the solution, she warned.

“[Parker] needs to really look at the systems that systemically block progress from happening.”

“You can appoint really wonderful people, but if you don’t make it easier for them to be able to move forward in the vision they have, you’re going to end up being in the same spot that you started,” Owens said. “[Parker] needs to really look at the systems that systemically block progress from happening.”

Bureaucratic red tape can block real progress from happening, Owens said.

But Keith Bethel emphasized his older brother’s strong work ethic that he inherited from their mother, as well as his ability to solve complex problems.

“When you grow up in poverty — young Black men who have to deal with, ‘Mom’s not making enough money, I got a little brother’ — those are complex problems,” Keith said last week.

“Kevin, early on, took on real roles and responsibilities in our family to help solve problems,” Keith continued. “And that guy today sees big, complex issues in our city and says, ‘We got to solve those, and we’re going to innovate and work hard to do that.’”