Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Department of Justice
There's more turnover at Philadelphia's police watchdog with the agency announcing this week that itsinvestigative director has left.
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, primarily involving 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 City police detective, was hired last year to build out CPOC's investigative unit, but he immediately encountered stumbling blocks.
With the agency under pressure over its lack of probes, Rogers told Axios in January he was committed to hiring more than a dozen investigators over the next year.
The intrigue: News last week of Commissioner Rosaura Thomas' suspension revealed that CPOC launched an internal inquiry into whether confidential information was leaked to someone outside of the agency.
