In 1918, another committee of religious groups released a report that investigated vice conditions in Philadelphia wards. 15 At trial, the mayor was acquitted and the Director of Public Safety stayed in office. District Attorney Rotan thought the reassignments were insufficient: “All the police transfers will amount to nothing without removals of higher-up police officials.” 14 The grand jury recommended the impeachment of the Mayor and the removal of the Director of Public Safety. 12 Investigations by Philadelphia’s District Attorney found evidence that “police and politicians were profiting by protection of vice dens in this city.” 13 In 1918, the mayor reassigned several police lieutenants to other districts in response to the investigation. Smith and the police, on charges of violations of the Shern law, which had outlawed the use of police for political purposes. This incident led to a grand jury investigation of Mayor Thomas B. 19, 1917, 11 police Lieutenant Davis Bennett murdered a detective in the 5th ward. Johnson said “it will prove what we said could be proven– namely, that there is collusion between the Department of Public Safety and vice.” 10 In 1905, the “Vice Commission of Eight,” a group of eight interfaith leaders issued a report detailing twenty cases of collusion between police and “leaders of various resorts of vice,” and named corrupted police lieutenants and officers. In the years leading up to the first grand jury investigation of the Philadelphia Police Department, public allegations and evidence of police corruption steadily increased. It was an environment that easily bred corruption, and investigations would soon follow. Ward leaders had a powerful political influence over police districts, and both the mayor and ward leaders didn’t hesitate to use police for political purposes. 7 Wards and police districts often shared boundaries 8 and ward leaders were effectively police captains. 6 During this era, policing was primarily a political patronage job, which led to extensive police corruption. 5 The very next year, the rule was changed to allow police, at the discretion of the Mayor, to receive gifts from anyone who felt they benefited from the services of the police. This is how this organization functions.” 4Īt the founding of the police department, officers were banned from having a side job or other income and could be fired for accepting gifts or rewards. At a certain point, it doesn’t make sense to call it corruption anymore. I’ve found that there really hasn’t been a 10-year period where has not had some major scandal since it was founded. As scholar Chenjerai Kumanyika noted: “Philly’s corruption seems to be extremely consistent throughout its history. The task force quietly disbands, a powerless police “advisory” board remains underfunded while the police get a raise. A short lived task force is formed, which issues a report with recommendations that are ignored. Mayors, police commissioners, politicians, and the Fraternal Order of Police decry a few “bad apples” and deny systemic police corruption. Major police corruption scandals seem to occur with regularity, and each time a familiar cycle repeats– revelation, investigation, officers shuffled around districts, few corrupt cops are convicted, many are reinstated with back pay, some are promoted. Police corruption has existed in Philadelphia for as long as the police department itself, which has been the subject of investigations by federal, state, and local authorities and several grand juries. One of his stated reasons for the necessity of the new municipal police force was that “perverted immigration has filled our cities with pauperism, filled our cities with the transported criminals of Europe.” 3 Officers were to “arrest idle, suspicious, or disorderly persons.” 2 In an 1856 message to the City Council, Mayor Robert Conrad stated that police officers should be of American birth and between 23-50 years old. 1 The mayor could give direct orders to the 820 officers and the Marshal of Police could suspend law as they saw necessary. The Philadelphia Police Department was established in 1855 by an ordinance of the Philadelphia Common Council.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |