Nearly 13% of Mayor Cherelle Parker’s proposed operating budget is set aside for police, more than any other municipal department.
Her plan allocates $872 million to the Philadelphia Police Department, about $20 million more than what the city expects to spend on policing in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.
Once upon a time, that would have garnered pushback. In 2020, following the massive protests in response to the killing of George Floyd, then Mayor Jim Kenney scrapped a proposed PPD funding boost due to opposition from City Council.
Calls to “defund the police” or to redirect money to other city services waned as Philadelphia experienced a dramatic rise in homicides and shootings. Even now, with a significant drop in gun violence and most other categories of crime, lawmakers do not seem interested in reducing or leveling the PPD’s budget.
While some progressive organizations, including the Abolitionist Law Center and Reclaim Philadelphia, are still pushing for a move away from law enforcement, Council members spent more time applauding the police’s recent efforts than questioning their rising allocation during a budget hearing Tuesday.
“We are at a historic low as it comes to homicides and shootings here in the city of Philadelphia,” Council President Kenyatta Johnson said. “I think y’all deserve some credit for the work y’all have been doing to address this issue.”
“If I was your political adviser, this was the year to ask us for more money,” Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr. added.
Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel and his top deputies spent around three hours answering questions from lawmakers. Council is currently considering Parker’s financial plan and must reach a budget deal before July 1.
Rec center deployment
Bethel testified that the PPD has begun shifting officers to recreation centers, following a series of recent, high-profile shootings.
Three teenage boys were wounded after bullets flew March 29 at Finley Recreation Center in East Mount Airy. Three days later, a young man was shot in the chest a couple miles away at Lonnie Young playground in East Germantown.
In years past, the department has reassigned dozens of cops working school beats to rec centers and pools when classes end for summer break, Bethel said. Given the recent violence, they decided to reallocate targeted resources a little earlier, he added.
Drone fleet
“Probably none,” Bethel responded, when asked how many arrests had been made using the PPD’s drone fleet.
The police commissioner has been a proponent of the devices, dating back to his time as head of safety at the School District of Philadelphia.
He said the department has nine drones and is in the process of buying another 18. Six officers have been trained to use them. “We have a long way to go in building the infrastructure for a full drone program,” Bethel told lawmakers.
So far, the devices have been deployed at Eagles games and other large-scale events. Recently, they were used to locate a child who went missing on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and as part of executing an arrest warrant against a high-risk suspect, he added.
Bethel said he hopes – eventually, maybe in four or five years – drones will be on the scene of every high priority 911 call within two minutes.
Nuisance stores
Johnson sent a jolt through Council chambers Tuesday when he pulled out a pellet gun resembling a real firearm. He told reporters he got it from a constituent who found the item in her grandson’s possession.
Stores across the city are “selling death to our young people” when they market such products, he said. He used the prop to continue a conversation about businesses dealing in dangerous items, some of which are illegal.
Johnson mentioned that officers shot a 36-year-old man last month who they thought was carrying a rifle through the streets of Point Breeze. Investigators later determined it was a black Airsoft-style BB gun.
Bethel responded by saying that the PPD would take “immediate action” against shops selling realistic fake guns. Often, business owners agree to pull products after a conversation with police, he added.
Council held a hearing last week about nuisance businesses hawking drug paraphernalia and other illicit items.
Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson has said she is planning to introduce a package of legislation to address the issue, and PPD leaders are also crafting policy to hold store owners more accountable.
Gilmore Richardson said Tuesday her goal is to have a nuisance business task force monitoring problem stores 24/7.
