CCRA Supports Proposed Police Reform and Requests That FOP Be Asked To Renegotiate Its Contract And That Council Convene Over the Summer
On June 8, Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson sent a letter to Mayor Kenney, signed by 13 other supporting Councilmembers, containing 15 relatively specific recommendations for police department reform. On June 9, Mayor Kenney issued a document titled: "Actions for change: No budget increase, new use-of-force policies, changes to union contract, and more." It responds, affirmatively, to each of the 15 recommendations in Johnson's June 8 letter, and actually goes much further. It also ties in the previously announced Police Reform Working Group and a newly created "Reconciliation Steering Committee." (View document here.) Over the past several days, the CCRA Board voted to endorse the reforms set forth in these documents, and to so advise the Mayor and City Council. Equally important, given the centrality of the City's contract with the Fraternal Order of Police to the implementation of several of these reforms, CCRA is requesting that the Mayor and Councilmembers ask the FOP to renegotiate its contract now. Furthermore, given the urgency of the moment, CCRA is also requesting that Council convene over its traditional summer recess (from now until mid-September) in order to hold hearings and enact the legislation necessary to effectuate the proposed reforms. We look forward to the responses of Mayor Kenney and all Councilmembers to our requests. The text of our letter, which is going out today, is as follows:
To The Mayor and City Council:
In the aftermath of George Floyd's murder, the Center City Residents' Association (CCRA) agrees with Councilmember Johnson's June 8th letter, signed by 13 other Councilmembers, which asserts that "police reform cannot wait" and that the City must "act decisively." We also support Mayor Kenney's June 9th agenda for police reform and his commitment to "seize this moment" and "move quickly, because too many lives are being lost." Both documents are laudable. However, because "police reform cannot wait," because now is the time to "move quickly," CCRA implores the Administration and Council to immediately call upon the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police to renegotiate its contract so that these necessary reforms can be realized. And because "police reform cannot wait," because now is the time to "move quickly,"CCRA implores Council to do three things: (1) swiftly draft bills necessary to implement the proposals already endorsed by a great majority of Council and the Mayor; (2) promptly hold public hearings on the proposed new laws; and (3) convene no later than August to enact the necessary legislation.
In keeping with the urgency of the moment, we look forward to a speedy response.
