PPD’s new Deputy Commissioner Pedro Rosario on Kensington, growing up in Philly, and being offered the job from ‘left field’

Earlier this month, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker tapped Pedro Rosario, formerly a captain in the Police Department’s East Division, which covers much of Kensington, to lead the effort to improve conditions in the neighborhood, which has been beset by a sprawling open-air drug market, an overdose crisis, and gun violence.

Rosario, 51, was born and raised in Philadelphia and is the highest-ranking Latino to ever serve on the force. His job will solely focus on Kensington, an unprecedented move that comes as Parker has pledged to help Kensington and to shut down the drug market.

The new deputy police commissioner was sworn in at the police station that houses the 24th and 25th Districts, which cover the neighborhoods where much of the drug activity in Kensington occurs.

Rosario, who is of Puerto Rican descent, is the first person in his family to pursue a career in law enforcement. He spoke of how his experience as a civilian police dispatcher informed his view of how law enforcement could help city residents and how his time at the 24th and 25th Districts prepared him for his new role.

Although he did not provide specifics on his plans to improve Kensington, Rosario emphasized his approach would not involve criminalizing people in the unhoused community or those dealing with drug addiction, but rather focus on a zero-tolerance policy for drug dealers and those who would commit gun violence.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

I’m born and raised in Philadelphia. I was actually born at Episcopal Hospital [now Temple University Hospital, Episcopal Campus] on Lehigh Avenue. My parents were Boricua, Puerto Rican from the island. They both came over as teenagers. My parents got together and grew up in the area of Spring Garden and Fairmount.

I was actually raised right around the corner from the prison, Eastern State. Corinthian and Poplar.

I’m a product of the public school system. I went to public school my entire school life. I graduated from George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science.

I wasn’t really in a place to go to college, I wasn’t in that mindset. So I actually became a Philadelphia police dispatcher. I was a civilian dispatcher. This was 1991.

That’s what really gave me my first sense of wanting to do more.

I was exposed to the police culture at a very young age. That’s kind of when I decided to become a police officer.

Radio, police communications, 911 dispatchers are such an integral part of police operations. You really see a lot of the risks officers take. The other aspect of it is you’re receiving these emergency calls for help from the citizens of the city.

To be a lifeline for somebody that is calling you? That meant something to me. I was like “Wow, how can I build on this?” So the natural progression was to become a police officer.

A lot of times there really isn’t a big master plan. A lot of times you want to put officers that look [like] and are able to communicate with the community they are serving.

The 24th and 25th Districts have always been historically a large posting for Latino officers. Because that’s where a majority of that population is, our community.

It helps foster a lot of understanding when you have the same culture, when you understand a lot of the same issues. And even more importantly when you can speak the language, it kind of eases a lot of tensions and it really breaks the ice — for lack of a better term — when you’re having that first encounter during a critical incident.

That’s how it starts. “Tú hablas español?” Where are you from? And then you can get into the issues.

It’s that social handshake you can make with people.

I came in as a captain [of the 24th District]. I wanted to hit the ground running and black and white: You’re wrong, you’re wrong.

But then when you meet these individuals, a lot of these individuals are suffering from mental health issues. Serious bouts of depression. Addiction itself that’s an issue you have to deal with. They all have a story to tell. And nobody wanted to be that way. Nobody woke up and said “Hey I want to be addicted to opioids. I want to have my skin fall off my arm. I want to live off the street when it’s 20 degrees at night.”

No one wants to live that way.

I’d be lying to you if I said I don’t recognize the challenges that are ahead. I was the guy there dealing with the day-to-day operations for over three years, so I understand incredibly what the challenges are. Do I think a positive change can come? Yeah, absolutely.

I am committed to seeing that vision. And if I’m going to fail I’m going to fail trying to do my best to make sure something changes there.

There is an exhaustive effort right now to meet with the community members. That was a large part of the reason why the commissioner tapped me on the shoulder. Because I had already had those connections with the community members, with the nonprofits, the faith-based groups.

Every single one of them have my phone number.

I don’t think the task is unattainable. The community is crying for it. The kids, they need it.

To bring a real sense of improvement in public safety. I want the neighbors, I want the business owners, I want the kids to be able to walk out of their house and not have the hell scared out of them because they hear 30 shots ringing right down the block. I want the people that are trying to go to church not have to argue with the moron who’s selling drugs on the corner.

Kensington is not the dumping ground anymore.

What we have been doing in the past hasn’t worked. We have had some successes dealing with the unsheltered population. But there really has to be a concerted effort with city services, the courts, the DA’s Office, where we can all work off the same script.

This is never going to be an issue where we are going to criminalize homelessness. Let me make that perfectly clear. That is not the issue here.

Any plan has to be collaborative. The Police Department will have a large portion of that strategy, especially when it goes to attacking the open-air drug market. Let me be very clear it’s a zero-tolerance approach when it comes to that.

[The] open-air drug market leads to gun violence. So if we can start eliminating that, we can start bringing down the shooting victims, the homicide victims down.

By doing what we’re doing right now: talking.

I already have seven meetings scheduled for next week alone. And this is just face-to-face sit-downs with principals from the schools in that area. The civic groups. One of the faith-based groups. Just to sit down and speak about realistic goals.

I didn’t see this role coming. It kind of came out of left field. I told the commissioner I was very humbled by the fact that he asked me to come to this position.