Parker, Bethel appoint deputy police commissioner to oversee Kensington

Mayor Cherelle Parker, in her second week on the job, and new Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel appointed a deputy police commissioner Thursday to specifically focus on addressing issues in Kensington.

Pedro Rosario, a 29-year police veteran who formerly headed the department’s East Division, is now the highest-ranking Latino officer in PPD history, officials said at a news conference held at the combined 24th/25th District station.

Shutting down Kensington’s “open-air drug market” was a priority included in Parker’s 100-day action plan, released on the day of her inauguration, and executive order declaring a “public safety emergency” in Philadelphia. Bethel has been tasked with developing a strategy to disrupt the neighborhood’s narcotics trade.

Naming Rosario as a deputy commissioner is part of that plan, Bethel said, though he would not say exactly when residents will notice on-the-ground changes. He referred to the neighborhood, which has been ravaged by addiction, homelessness and gun violence, as “one of the most challenging areas in America, not just in the city.”

“We’re not going to unravel that overnight, but we are going to make progress,” Bethel said. “You are going to see demonstrated progress as we move through this work.”

“I won’t put a time on it, but we won’t be sitting here next year having this conversation,” he added.

Kensington and the surrounding neighborhoods will be Rosario’s sole responsibility, Bethel told reporters, and he will report directly to the commissioner and his first deputy.

“For me, it eliminates barriers,” Rosario said after taking his oath of office. “Now I have direct access to resources that normally had to cut through a lot of bureaucracy.”

Rosario was hired as a civilian 911 dispatcher in 1991, and he graduated from the police academy six years later to become an officer. In 2019, he was appointed commanding officer of the 24th District, which covers Kensington, Port Richmond, Harrowgate and Juniata, and he was promoted to lead the larger East Division last year.

“This is not going to be a police action only,” Rosario said. “It’s going to be an us action. It’s going to take the entire community of Kensington, of East Division, all the officers working diligently to handle the situation.”

“I know there’s going to be missteps because we’re imperfect people, but I can tell you with the support of this administration, but more importantly with the support of this community that’s here today, we’re going to come up with something that’s going to work,” he added.

Shannon Farrell, president of the 24th Police District Advisory Council and a Harrowgate community leader, said at the news conference that Rosario impressed residents with the way he handled the COVID-19 pandemic, looting and other crises that befell the area in recent years.

“There’s probably nobody who is better for this job,” she said. “There’s nobody who has went through all that with us, or certainly nobody that probably would have came back to do it all over again.”

Before Rosario was sworn in, the highest-ranking Latino PPD commander ever was Chief Inspector Jose Melendez, and Inspector Sonia Velazquez was furthest advancing Latina in the department, according to Eddie Lopez Sr., president of the Spanish American Law Enforcement Association. SALEA is an organization composed of current and retired Hispanic police officers and sheriff’s deputies in the city.

“For the past 10 years, as president of SALEA, I had meetings with different commissioners,” Lopez said. “And we always push the issue of why we’re not represented by a deputy Latino or Latina commissioner.

“I was always told, ‘Tell your people to study,’ and time and time (again) we’d get passed over,” he added. “We have more talent out there, and we’re tired of getting passed by.”