What a new mayor, police commissioner, and union president mean for Philly’s FOP

It was a big week for Philadelphia’s police union.

First, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 retained a major ally on Tuesday with the reelection of Republican City Councilmember Brian O’Neill, who credited the police union with giving his campaign the firepower to survive a tough reelection battle against Democrat Gary Masino.

“Their support is ‘We’re going to war, we’re going to war together, and we’re not going to lose,’” O’Neill said at his election party at the FOP headquarters, where he also has a district office.

And Friday, Roosevelt Poplar, the longtime vice president of the lodge, took over for outgoing president John McNesby, inheriting a powerful Philadelphia institution now at a turning point.

In the coming months, he must make inroads with a new mayor, Cherelle Parker, after years of clashing with the current one and adapt to a new police commissioner who will be at the opposite end of the negotiating table in conversation about such issues as police misconduct.

“We all want the FOP to succeed, because we’re a union town and we want representation for police officers so they can have their fair shake,” said Kyle Darby, a lobbyist who worked as a policy adviser on Parker’s primary campaign. But to repair the image, Poplar “is going to have to play ball with the new administration.”

Poplar will face yet another challenge in next year’s presidential race and the following year, in another reelection battle against District Attorney Larry Krasner if the progressive DA chooses to run again: winning back voters who have explicitly voted against the union’s interest in recent years.

The local FOP endorsement was once a coveted prize for any politician, but a sea change in public opinion spurred in part by the 2020 police killing of George Floyd has led some Democrats to view it as a political liability.

Following the national union, the local backed Donald Trump in 2016, and McNesby and other law enforcement leaders visited the White House to meet with the president during his term in office. But Floyd’s murder brought intense upheaval for the union, and put the union’s influence under the microscope with both the mayor and Council. (The national FOP endorsed Trump again in 2020. McNesby said local lodges cannot make their own endorsements in the presidential race, but the union drew backlash for hosting Mike Pence at an event that attracted members of the alt-right Proud Boys group to the union headquarters.)

By 2021, McNesby and his members were waging their biggest local battle in years with the reelection of Krasner. But their all-in campaign for former prosecutor Carlos Vega ended with a resounding loss.

Some said the union’s tarnished brand ultimately undermined its own efforts. It was really a race between Krasner and the FOP, the thinking went, and voters spoke loud and clear.

The union has since placed mixed, lower-profile bets, such as backing Democrat Josh Shapiro for governor over Republican candidate Doug Mastriano, while supporting celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz in his failed bid against Sen. John Fetterman.

This year, Lodge 5 endorsed one of the worst-performing Democrats in the mayoral primary, and did not endorse any candidate in the general election.

And while O’Neill won in the union’s backyard, the union lost two other potential allies on Council on Tuesday, as the progressive Working Families Party secured two at-large seats over the Republican alternatives. The union backed only one Republican vying for those seats, but McNesby noted that 15 of the union’s 16 endorsed candidates still won on Tuesday.

Poplar, who declined requests for an interview, is the first Black president to helm the city’s union, which represents more than 13,000 active and retired officers.

Poplar has served on the union’s executive board for 21 years and was most recently the vice president of the union. Poplar, a 33-year Police Department veteran, is viewed by many as a tactful leader with a low-key demeanor, standing in contrast to McNesby’s reputation as an outspoken, bombastic leader who often sparked controversy during his 16-year run as FOP president.

But his members also expect him to build on victories scored during McNesby’s reign, and that will in part require choosing the union’s political battles wisely.

Parker soared to her historic mayoral victory with a tough-on-crime platform that some believe will make her more an ally to the police union than Mayor Jim Kenney.

She has pledged to make Philadelphia a “safer, cleaner, greener city” and to embrace a law-and-order strategy while not tolerating police misconduct.

In her primary victory, Parker performed well in parts of Northeast Philadelphia where the union has its base. The first test of the relationship will be who she appoints as police commissioner — and whether that person is a Police Department insider, which is preferred by many rank-and-file, or an outside candidate tapped to shake up the status quo, like former Commissioner Danielle Outlaw. The decision could come as soon as next week.

Parker has said she would be looking for a person with “knowledge of Philadelphia” to become the top cop.

Outlaw, hired in early 2020 as Kenney began his second term, resigned in September to take a job with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Former First Deputy Commissioner John Stanford has been the interim police commissioner in the time since and is rumored to be among the candidates for the permanent post.

A key test of the relationship between the next police commissioner and the union — and, by extension, Poplar — will be contract negotiations.

The union’s current contract with the city will end next June, meaning Poplar and his lodge will have to bargain over issues including salaries and benefits.

While McNesby often endured criticism from his members, he won consistent victories, negotiating raises and better protections for rank-and-file officers, often without major concessions on reform issues.