Philadelphia police watchdog loses investigative director
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Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Department of Justice
There's more turnover at Philadelphia's police watchdog after the agency announced this week its investigative director has left the role.
Why it matters: The sudden departure of Jamison Rogers delivers another blow to the 3-year-old agency, which has been racked with infighting and has yet to conduct a single police misconduct investigation.
Driving the news: Rogers is leaving the Citizens Police Oversight Commission to become Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal's chief of staff.
- He'll be replaced by Nicholas Kato, who was hired earlier this year as CPOC's chief investigator — Rogers' second-in-command.
- Kato, a Temple law school graduate, worked for the Pennsylvania Innocence Project and was an investigator for the Seattle public defender's office before joining CPOC.
What they're saying: CPOC says Rogers' departure hasn't impacted the investigative unit's daily work, which primarily consists of responding to police shootings and conducting after-action reviews.
- Bilal's office didn't respond to Axios' request for comment on Rogers' new role.
Catch up quick: Rogers, a former Chester police detective, was hired last year to build out CPOC's investigative unit, but he immediately encountered stumbling blocks.
- With the agency under pressure for its lack of probes, Rogers told Axios in January that he was committed to hiring more than a dozen investigators in the next year.
- The city police union, meanwhile, has vowed to fight CPOC in court to keep the watchdog from investigating its officers.
The intrigue: News last week of commissioner Rosaura Thomas' suspension revealed that CPOC launched an internal probe into whether confidential information was leaked to someone outside of the agency.
- CPOC executive director Tonya McClary defended her agency's decision to spend time and resources investigating a commissioner.
- "We can't expect accountability from others if we don't hold ourselves accountable," she said.