Courthouse delays and security failures demand action from Sheriff Bilal | Editorial
Incidents including assaults, threats, and other outbursts inside Philadelphia courts have nearly tripled under her watch.
Another day, another scandal at the inept office headed by Sheriff Rochelle Bilal.
But unlike the recent litany of misconduct allegations and general incompetence, someone in charge is finally pushing for some accountability and reform.
A panel of judges that oversees Philadelphia’s court operations ordered Bilal to fix the security failures occurring on her watch inside the courtrooms.
The security is so lax that the judges said they don’t feel safe. Incidents including assaults, threats, and other outbursts in city courts have nearly tripled on Bilal’s watch.
Meanwhile, a shortage of sheriff’s deputies needed to transport defendants to and from holding cells and courtrooms has forced legal proceedings to be delayed or postponed. The result is justice delayed for defendants and victims, as well as a weakening of cases over time as witnesses can’t be located or their memory fades.
Even more concerning, someone may get seriously injured or killed in court.
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An Inquirer story in September detailed a video of a lone sheriff’s deputy trying to break up a fight between two people while another man was lying face down in the hallway inside Philadelphia’s Family Court, reportedly with a serious head wound.
The panel of judges, known as the Administrative Governing Board of the First Judicial District, said the lapses in security pose an “imminent threat to the safety and health of all persons present in the courthouses.”
The judges issued an order that gave Bilal 30 days to come up with an action plan and 90 days to fix the problem.
But it is difficult to have any confidence the security issues will get resolved within that period — or anytime for that matter — given the inability of the Sheriff’s Office under Bilal to carry out its most basic functions.
Inquirer reporters William Bender and Ryan W. Briggs have detailed numerous problems inside the Sheriff’s Office since 2020. They include:
Despite getting elected as a reformer, Bilal attempted to double her salary and use the money earmarked to hire more deputies to give raises to exempt staff.
The sheriff did not hold a tax sale for more than three years, leaving nuisance properties and vacant lots unattended, costing the city millions in uncollected tax revenue.
Buyers of foreclosed properties did not receive the deeds for seven months or longer, making it impossible to move in, make repairs, or rent out. Deed transfers previously took six to eight weeks.
Dubious spending practices involving a multimillion-dollar “slush fund” were flagged by a top aide who was then fired. A subsequent lawsuit by the aide resulted in a $465,000 settlement.
Bilal’s top legal adviser was moonlighting as a defense attorney representing clients charged with crimes in Philadelphia, while collecting a $200,000 city salary.
Now the courts have become a danger. The order by the judges panel did not mince words in describing the dire situation in the courts.
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“The proper administration of justice in the Courts of the First Judicial District has been — and will continue to be — threatened due to the Philadelphia Sheriff Office’s systemic failures to properly staff courtrooms and court facilities,” the order said, adding that “the Sheriff of Philadelphia has failed in her responsibility to timely transport incarcerated defendants between the holding rooms and courtrooms.”
The judges made clear they repeatedly tried to address the operational issues with Bilal and her staff but “to no avail.” With no solution in sight, the judges issued the rare order.
It is unclear what will happen if Bilal does not comply. What is clear is the Sheriff’s Office is broken and an embarrassment — even by its long history of corruption and incompetence.
This board has long called for the Sheriff’s Office to be abolished as an elected position and its duties placed under the responsibility of the mayor. But there appears to be no appetite in City Hall for that type of good government.
Until then, it is incumbent upon Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and City Council — who oversee the sheriff’s budget — to use their power and authority to force Bilal to do her job.