Philly’s police oversight commission has a new director after a tumultuous year. Here’s what Tonya McClary wants for the agency.

Tonya McClary, the former top police watchdog in Dallas, is taking on a similar role in Philadelphia as she steps into her new job as executive director of the city’s Citizens Police Oversight Commission this week.

The agency, created by City Council in response to calls for police accountability after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, examines allegations of police misconduct, reviews complaints against police, and investigates the Police Department’s handling of them. It has subpoena power and access to crime scenes and police records, and aims to improve transparency and accountability for Philadelphia police. The agency also accepts citizen complaints about police misconduct and is empowered to investigate those, in addition to reviewing the department’s handling of complaints.

McClary, 55, takes over the agency at a tumultuous time. Since its creation in 2022, critics say, CPOC, started with fanfare and given broad investigative power, has done little. Three commissioners, including the vice chair, resigned last year in protest, citing a lack of progress toward the agency’s goals.

Since its inception, the commission has not investigated any complaints against police, a spokesperson for the commission said.

McClary aims to change that. She started in the new job Monday, overseeing an office with five unit directors and 22 staffers and reporting to a commission of six members.

McClary spoke to The Inquirer about her background, what led her to Philadelphia for the position, and her goals in her new role.

I grew up in Prince George’s County, [Md.,] which is right outside of Washington, D.C.

I got my law degree from University of Baltimore. I went to University of Baltimore and had a dual major in English and African American studies with a minor in psychology.

I served as the chief defender for Baltimore City for a while. I spent a lot of time doing criminal justice work and that was some of the work I did when I lived in Philadelphia the first time and I was the national director of [criminal justice for] the American Friends Service Committee. We did a lot of work on issues around policing.

My entire legal career has been as a defense attorney, and the majority of that time has been as a public defender. So when you are representing people that are accused of committing a crime, you spend a lot of time talking to police, looking at police investigations, etc.

I’ve always had an opportunity to see how good investigations by police are and how they’re not and how they affect different people. I’ve always had an interest in looking at policing and working on police reform.

To be able to come when it’s still really in its infancy state is very exciting. And to be able to bring my experience to the city. The thing about oversight is it has a ripple effect. If we can do a really wonderful job here in Philadelphia, it would also impact some of my fellow people that do oversight in some of the smaller jurisdictions.

It was a chance to really make an impact on one of the largest police departments in the country.

We did a lot. I was the first civilian to ever be able to have an impact on internal affairs investigations.

Dallas had not been in the habit of releasing body-worn camera footage. I worked with the police chief at the time and we co-wrote the video release policy for the Dallas Police Department. It’s really cutting edge because most major cities don’t do in this short period of time. But they now have to release body cam footage within 72 hours of a police-involved shooting or a death in custody.

The hope for the office for me is to make sure we are embedded into the law enforcement arena. So my vision would be that nothing happens about policing in the city of Philadelphia without people saying “Wait, have y’all talked to CPOC? Has CPOC weighed in on this?”

The other thing is to really get our office investigating. I know some people have not been happy with the fact that the office has not done any investigation.

But the vision is to definitely start to do independent investigations ... to be able to show our community leaders and other stakeholders that the office is capable, that it has the level of expertise it needs to be able to take on investigations and complaints in the city of Philadelphia.

I think the climate is right. I’ve put my ear to the ground and started talking to the community members and people are just feeling like with the new mayor, her vision and things of that nature, that there is an opportunity here to get in on the ground floor of this administration and embed this concept of police oversight.

I think one of the things is to come in and understand what those concerns are for the commissioners that resigned. What has been the tension between staff and the commission. And to also make sure the commission has what it needs.

I’m a pastor and so at some point in time I’m hoping eventually I’ll get an appointment to a church in the Philly area. So I’m excited to get a new congregation.

I work with this group called Kairos International, which does prison ministry. So I’m looking forward to joining the chapter in Philadelphia and doing that work with people that are physically incarcerated, but also women on the outside impacted by incarceration.