Should the Sheriff’s Office be abolished? Philly’s mayoral candidates weigh in

The Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office, a source of corruption and controversy for decades, is facing a new series of scandals.

That has revived talk of abolishing the office, which transports people in custody who are accused or convicted of crimes, provides security in courtrooms, serves warrants, and auctions properties seized to satisfy tax or mortgage debts.

Some argue those functions and duties could be folded into other existing city agencies. And the debate is playing out in the middle of a competitive race for mayor.

Eliminating the office wouldn’t be simple, and would require approval from the next mayor, City Council, and the city’s voters.

City Council would start the process by proposing and passing legislation for a ballot referendum to change the city’s Home Rule Charter. The mayor would need to sign that into law. And then the voters would have their say through a question on the ballot.

Three Democratic contenders for mayor — former City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart and former City Councilmembers Allan Domb and Helen Gym — told The Inquirer in recent statements or in comments during a mayoral forum that they support eliminating the Sheriff’s Office.

Three other Democrats — former Councilmember Cherelle Parker, retired Municipal Court Judge James DeLeon, and ShopRite store operator Jeff Brown — want to keep the Sheriff’s Office.

The lone Republican in the race, former Councilmember David Oh, also opposes eliminating the office.

State Rep. Amen Brown, a Democrat running for mayor, did not respond to the question.

Rhynhart said an audit she did as controller “illustrated the numerous shortcomings that have historically led to mismanagement in the Sheriff’s Office.” She also said she would encourage reforms in the office but “would not stand in the way” if voters chose to eliminate it.

Domb said he is “proud to have been the first candidate for mayor to call for Philadelphia to eliminate the Sheriff’s Office.” He said the office is “in disarray,” citing several recent controversies at a time when the city is facing a public safety crisis.

Gym said she would work with City Council to transition its duties to another city department. “I have raised concerns about ethical practices and decisions made by the Sheriff’s Office before,” Gym said.

Parker: “Accountability is extremely important and I have a track record of making sure that when decisions that have been made in the past by the Sheriff’s Office that I didn’t believe were in the best interest of the city I allowed my voice to be heard. But I could not use that difference of opinion as a foundation to say, let’s eliminate the office of the sheriff.”

DeLeon said he has been “troubled” by recent stories about the Sheriff’s Office but believes it can be reformed through an oversight board. “There has been corruption, mismanagement, and controversy in the Philadelphia City Council, but there have been no calls to abolish that legislative body,” DeLeon said.

Brown said the sheriff is elected by voters. “Why would we want to give a public official the right to eliminate another public official? That seems undemocratic. And if you don’t like a particular sheriff you can vote him out.”

Oh said the Sheriff’s Office carries out orders issued by judges. “It’s not the Police Department,” he said. “It’s the Sheriff’s Office. The people have an ability to hold the sheriff accountable through the election.”

Sheriff Rochelle Bilal, a Democrat, ran in 2019 promising the reform of an office beset with controversies. She defeated another Democrat, former Sheriff Jewell Williams, who had been the subject of sexual harassment lawsuits.

Bilal, now seeking a second term, has faced her own controversies during her time in office and has two primary challengers. She frequently deflects responsibility and accuses The Inquirer of targeting her because she eliminated advertising in the newspaper for homes auctioned in sheriff’s sales.

She suggested during an appearance Wednesday on WURD 96.1 FM/900 AM that she would seek a protection-from-abuse order from a judge against The Inquirer “because the harassment and targeting of our office is constant.”

The Inquirer reported this week that hundreds of thousands of dollars earmarked for new hires — including deputies — had instead been used to cover $500,000 in raises for top aides to Bilal. The initial plan included a suggestion to double her pay. Bilal later said miscommunication between her office and the mayor’s office contributed to misunderstandings about that spending. She also said she did not know at first that her staff tried to double her pay and put a stop to that.

One of the staffers who received a pay increase, Undersheriff Tariq El-Shabazz, was fined $16,000 by the Philadelphia Board of Ethics in February after The Inquirer reported that he had been running a private legal practice representing criminal defendants on the side.

Bilal also drew attention in February when The Inquirer reported that she had spent nearly $7,000 for a party at Chickie’s & Pete’s in South Philadelphia for some of her employees in December. She later told WURD the party was for employees who worked through the COVID-19 pandemic.

No. Bilal is the seventh sheriff, all Democrats, to hold the office since the Home Rule Charter was enacted in 1951. She and Williams were not the only sheriffs to draw controversy.

Former Sheriff John Green, who served from 1987 to 2011, was sentenced in 2019 to five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to taking bribes, kickbacks, and other benefits in exchange for giving no-bid work to a businessman.

There had already been calls to eliminate the office when Green, the city’s longest-serving sheriff, announced in 2010 that he would step down.

The Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, which reviews the city’s finances, issued a report the previous year citing potential savings by folding the office into other agencies.

And the Committee of Seventy, a good-government watchdog group, in a 2009 report noted that the city has had a sheriff since 1838 but asked if the city should “consider whether this age-old tradition is worth retaining just for tradition’s sake.”