Philly's police watchdog faces turmoil, key vacancy amid uncertain future
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Philadelphia's police watchdog is searching for a new investigative chief for the second time in less than two years, amid growing doubts about the agency's future.
Why it matters: Infighting, high turnover and an arbitration decision that crippled independent investigations have kept the Citizens Police Oversight Commission from achieving its goal of becoming a national gold standard in police oversight.
Driving the news: CPOC executive director Tonya McClary said during last week's meeting that former investigative director Nicholas Kato had left the agency last month — a revelation prompted by a commissioner's question about whether the investigative unit still had a leader.
- McClary told Axios she "definitely plans" to replace Kato and said the city has already begun a national search for applicants — a full-time role with a salary range of $105,000-$120,000.
- Kato, who took a new job with the city law department, didn't respond to Axios' requests for comment.
State of play: The new investigative director will inherit a unit limited to responding to police shootings and conducting after-action reviews — a far cry from the expansive legal mandate Philadelphia voters approved in 2020 following George Floyd's murder.
- CPOC hasn't conducted a single outside investigation into a police officer's misconduct — and its only probe was done on a commissioner who was serving at the time.
What they're saying: "I always say oversight isn't overnight," commissioner chair Hassan Bennett said at the August meeting.
Catch up quick: Arbitrators last summer dealt a major blow to CPOC, declining to grant the agency the power to investigate police officers during contract talks with the police union, which controlled changes affecting oversight.
- The police watchdog said the negotiations were tilted in the union's favor, and the city failed to meaningfully support CPOC's push for independence, even as the agency sought stability under McClary, who encountered similar reform obstacles in Dallas.
Reality check: Without misconduct cases to pursue, the investigative unit struggled to chart a path forward.
- An Axios review of monthly meetings shows Kato frequently had little progress to report, instead summarizing police shootings — much of that info already publicly available — and touting ride-alongs with police officers.
- For residents and advocates, the struggle for greater police accountability feels like a "long road to get back to zero," Hans Menos, of the Center for Policing Equity, tells Axios.
What we're watching: McClary told Axios she hopes to have a clearer vision for the investigative unit ahead of upcoming budget talks, which will help shape the agency's future after it has been flat-funded — at about $3 million — in recent years.
- "We are in a strategic planning process, and also internally we are working with our leadership team to come up with all the goals for the divisions," she says. "We will have all that coming out soon."
- Menos — who once led the agency's predecessor, the Police Advisory Commission — says CPOC will likely struggle to recruit a strong candidate, because they won't "want that job if they can't do anything."
The bottom line: It remains to be seen how CPOC can reboot investigations. Menos says the unit must broaden its focus to "pattern and practice"-type investigations and use "a single use of force to try to … reverse engineer" larger issues in the department.
- "The city has given them lemons. They can still make lemonade."