Jill Porter: Enhanced scrutiny of Philly cops long overdue
ALL OF US pay a steep price when people die at the hands of police, as three men have in the last two weeks.
ALL OF US pay a steep price when people die at the hands of police, as three men have in the last two weeks.
Whether the shootings turn out to be legally justified or not, the costs are high:
* In the alienation of residents
who lose trust in and willingness to cooperate with law enforcement.
* In heightened tensions on the
street that create a cycle of shootings of and by police.
* And, literally, in the money
paid from city coffers to victims or survivors.
When civilians are wronged by law enforcement in any way - by unjustified shootings or by wrongful arrest or imprisonment or by physical abuse - taxpayers ultimately pay a huge price.
In the last 5 1/2 years alone, the city has paid $24.5 million to settle hundreds of claims of police mistreatment made in civil- rights lawsuits, according to the city controller's office.
That's not chump change by anyone's account.
The payouts range from small settlements to $3.5 million paid in 2005 to a man who was severely brain-damaged after he tried to hang himself in a cell when police failed to keep him on suicide watch.
The city doesn't maintain separate records of payouts for police shootings or beatings or other cases of physical manhandling.
But you can be sure the 459 cases settled since July 2002 include cases of civilians who were wrongly beaten, shot or killed by police.
This isn't about pointing fingers at police or second-guessing their responses to treacherous situations you and I could never imagine facing.
This isn't about trivializing the loss of life by bemoaning its impact on the city's pocketbook.
But the three recent fatal police shootings within days of each other are a prima facie argument for enhanced scrutiny of police behavior.
Do they need more training?
Do protocols need to be changed?
How can investigations be expedited to prevent delayed conclusions - as in the case I wrote about last week of an unarmed man shot to death by police a year ago - so that lessons can be learned?
Those are the $24.5 million questions.
And after listening to Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey at a town-hall meeting Monday night, I'm encouraged that he's likely to look for answers.
Not that Ramsey blamed police for the shootings that became his problem when he was sworn in last week.
On the contrary.
He emphatically corrected a speaker at South Philadelphia High School who called those incidents "murders."
"I just flat-out don't accept that," Ramsey declared, saying that the men had been "fatally injured," not murdered, by police.
But his straightforward, no-nonsense style and his mandate from Mayor Nutter to rein in the city's homicides inspired trust that he's not afraid to ruffle feathers and change policies if necessary.
It was clear from listening to Ramsey at his first community meeting that the days of waffling, defensiveness and inadequacy at the top of the Police Department are over.
We have a police commissioner who actually believes police can impact crime.
What a novel idea.
Most telling was his response to a number of speakers who talked about long-term solutions to crime, from family-building policies, to improved education, to economic opportunities.
Ramsey said he agreed that the long-term solution to crime required a "multipronged approach."
But, he said, "in the meantime, we've got a lot of thugs on the street that need to be locked up.
"We can't ignore that."
What a joyful change from Commissioner Sylvester Johnson's mantra of: "We can't arrest our way out of the problem."
But we can't shoot our way out of it, either.
Some of you will be furious that I'm focusing on shootings by police, instead of at police.
No, I haven't forgotten that two police officers were mar-
tyred last year while confronting criminals.
But this isn't meant to be a potshot at men and women who risk their lives every day for every one of us.
This is about making the streets safer for everyone - including police.
Quick triggers are contagious.
And when police shoot and kill civilians - or otherwise violate their civil rights - all of us pay a steep price. *
E-mail porterj@phillynews.com or call 215-854-5850. For recent columns: