Leaked memo shows Philly needs robust police oversight now more than ever | Editorial

A recently leaked Philadelphia Police Department memo on stop-and-frisk is a good argument for why piecemeal reform of police is not enough: because a federal court settlement made police more accountable for pedestrian stops, a police captain asked officers to conduct more vehicle stops.

Attributed to 3rd Police District Capt. Brian Hartzell, the February memo directs officers to conduct more vehicle stops, noting that unlike pedestrian stops, these don’t receive much scrutiny: ”Also, motor vehicle codes give officers probable cause for a stop which avoids the issues we have with the Bailey Agreement.”

» READ MORE: A leaked memo suggests Philly police use vehicle stops to get around stop-and-frisk reform

The Bailey Agreement is the 2011 settlement of a federal lawsuit that alleged that the way the Philadelphia Police Department conducted stop-and-frisk was unconstitutional and racially discriminatory. The settlement requires police to track stops and report trends to an independent court-appointed monitor.

Because of Bailey, and similar stop-and-frisk-related lawsuits in other cities, pedestrian stops have gotten a lot of attention while vehicle stops have been ignored. In 2019, The Inquirer reported on a sharp increase in vehicle stops conducted by Philadelphia police officers — about 10,000 more each month. Nearly all of the increase were stops of Black and Latino drivers. At the same time, the percent of stops in which officers found contraband — went down.

A police spokesperson says that it is within the department’s guidelines to encourage officers to pay attention to motor vehicle violations, but that is hardly the tone of the memo.

In the November election, more than half a million Philadelphians voted in favor of a ballot question by Councilmember Cherelle L. Parker to send a message that unconstitutional stop-and-frisk is not welcome in Philadelphia. Also last fall, Councilmember Isaiah Thomas introduced a bill to curb police stops of Black drivers for minor infractions.

» READ MORE: Philly City Council bill aims to curb police stops of Black drivers for minor infractions

But what the leaked memo reveals more than anything is that targeted reform is not enough. Police will find a way to bypass patchwork fixes and individual changes — just like vehicle stops were apparently used to bypass reform efforts of pedestrian stop-and-frisk. More comprehensive reform is demanding and complicated.

Voters in November authorized City Council to establish a Citizens Police Oversight Commission — a more robust and powerful version of the current small and toothless Police Advisory Commission. In February, Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr. introduced a bill to form the commission, outlining its scope and structure. According to his office, the commission will be phased in throughout the next budget year. Based on other cities, the budget of the commission is likely to end up closer to $10 million than to the PAC’s $550,000. Considering that Philadelphia spends an average of $10 million annually to settle lawsuits against police, according to an analysis by the Marshall Project and FiveThirtyEight, the price tag isn’t very high.

The Philadelphia Police Department can’t police itself. For one, the Fraternal Order of Police is rejecting any accountability measure as a nonstarter. For officers to wear body cameras, for example, the FOP demands an accountability raise. A robust oversight body that has the ability to investigate independently won’t solve all problems of policing, but at least it won’t take leaked memos for Philadelphia to know what’s going on inside the department.