Philly City Council rejected a police training measure over language linking reform to rising crime. Here’s why.

Philadelphia City Council members rejected a resolution Thursday that called for “minimum force training” for police officers over controversial language tying criminal-justice reform efforts to rising rates of crime.

The legislation, championed by Republican at-large Councilmember David Oh, was first introduced in May 2021 in the aftermath of the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd. The resolution was tabled for nearly two years until Oh called for a vote. Of 16 Council members, only Oh and fellow Republican Brian O’Neill voted in favor of the legislation.

Several Council members said they supported the idea of so-called “minimum force” training, which is aimed at reducing police brutality and aggressive use-of-force.

But they said they could not back the resolution due to language that read: “As a result of George Floyd’s death, there is a national push to reform laws and protocols pertaining to police conduct and liability, and some of these efforts are questionable and may result in unintended consequences that increase crime and injury.”

The measure does not specify what reforms Oh was referring to.

Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr., the Democratic majority leader who represents parts of West and Northwest Philadelphia, called the language “inflammatory.” Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, also a Democrat of West Philadelphia, said the sentence at issue is “not a small thing.”

“I don’t know what this resolution is trying to do,” she said. “I’m very offended by that, and I will be voting no.”

And at-large Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson, a Democrat, pointed out that the resolution is nonbinding and said any changes to police training would fall under the purview of the mayor and Police Department, not the legislative branch. The department already trains officers on its use-of-force policy, which states “excessive force will not be tolerated.”

“This debate and this resolution is gratuitous, it is futile, and it is unnecessary,” Gilmore Richardson said.

Oh — who is widely expected to soon resign from Council and launch a bid for mayor — defended the legislation before the vote.

“People want police,” he said. “If you’re going to increase police, you have to equip them, you have to train them. People want police response, but they want to know the city has done something, that there is a change and that the police are better trained.”