Philadelphia's new police watchdog faces obstacles
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CPOC executive director Tonya McClary, right, answers questions from Rev. Mark Tyler during a town hall. Photo: Courtesy of Joe McFetridge
Philadelphia's new police watchdog Tonya McClary has been making the rounds since taking the helm of the civilian oversight agency a month ago.
Why it matters: McClary, a veteran of police reform, takes over a police watchdog group racked by infighting and battling an openly hostile police union.
Driving the news: McClary held her first town hall as the Citizens Police Oversight Commission's new leader this week.
- For an hour, she listened as some residents shared harrowing moments with police, including a mother whose son was killed by an officer and a young girl nearly tased by police after being sex trafficked.
- McClary tells Axios she also met with city officials and stakeholders recently to learn the intricacies and obstacles she'll face after taking the reins from interim executive director Anthony Erace, who remains on staff as a deputy director.
Context: McClary, a lawyer and pastor in her second stint in Philly (she lived here from 2000-2007), comes to the role with experience, having led New Orleans and Dallas police oversight organizations.
- McClary was the first civilian to gain access to police internal affairs records in Dallas.
- And she was the driving force behind a change for officers to monitor protests dressed in plain clothes, rather than riot gear.
Friction point: She's navigating a potential legal fight here with the police union over CPOC's right to investigate officer misconduct.
- The union has vowed to fight the issue in court, pointing to a contract provision that says it must agree to any "changes necessary to effectuate" the CPOC.
- McClary says her agency has a different interpretation of city law and believes it's within its purview to investigate police officers — that is, once its investigative unit is functional.
What they're saying: McClary plans to eventually meet with union officials to discuss differences. She's optimistic the misconduct investigations issue can be resolved without a courtroom showdown.
- "I am confident or at least patient," says McClary, who also starts next month as a pastor at the Calvary AME Church in South Philly.
McClary is aware of how law enforcement and residents can view civilian oversight with suspicion.
- "We are under so much scrutiny we have to dot every I and cross every T," McClary says.
- "The first time we put out an investigation with one wrong fact we're going to square 0. All eyes will be on us, and some of them won't be rooting us [to have] success."
The bottom line: When talking about bridging the divide between police and the community, McClary says her approach is to find the middle ground.
- "I gotta walk the walk and talk the talk, so that's how I lead them to water," she says.