Cherelle Parker says she’ll hire a police commissioner with ‘knowledge of Philadelphia’

Democratic mayoral nominee Cherelle Parker said Tuesday that she is looking for someone with “knowledge of Philadelphia” to lead the Police Department if she becomes mayor in January.

“That is extremely important,” Parker said in an interview on WURD with host Solomon Jones. “We are at such a moment of crisis in our city that we need someone who knows our city and knows it well.”

Parker’s comments in the interview offered the most detailed insight yet into her thinking about one of the most important choices she will have to make if she defeats Republican David Oh in the general election and succeeds outgoing Mayor Jim Kenney.

» READ MORE: Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw is stepping down. Here’s what happens next.

Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, hired in early 2020 as Kenney began his second term, is stepping down Friday to take a job with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. First Deputy Commissioner John Stanford will take over on an interim basis until the next mayor appoints a permanent replacement.

During the primary, Parker declined to say whether she would retain Outlaw if she became mayor. But now that Outlaw is exiting on her own accord, Parker told Jones — a contributing columnist at The Inquirer — what she’s looking for in the next top cop.

In addition to being familiar with Philadelphia, Parker said, the new commissioner would be someone who displayed strong leadership skills, cultural competency, and a lack of fear to make tough decisions even if they were unpopular.

Whether to hire a Philadelphia policing veteran or an outsider who could shake up the department is a central question when mayors evaluate potential commissioners.

Outlaw came in as an outsider after serving as police chief in Portland, Ore. Her predecessor, Richard Ross, came up through the ranks in Philly’s department.

All of the candidates who have been rumored to be in the running to become Parker’s commissioner have ties to the city. The potential contenders include three current deputy commissioners in the department — Stanford, Joel Dales, and Frank Vanore — as well as Kevin Bethel, chief of school safety at the School District of Philadelphia.

Parker’s list is also said to include police officials working elsewhere who have past professional ties to Philadelphia. They include Joel Fitzgerald Sr., a former Philly cop who is chief of police for Denver’s transit system and whose son was fatally shot this year while working as a Temple University police officer; Ron Davis, director of the U.S. Marshals Service who, in a prior federal role, helped the Philadelphia department revise its use of-force-policies; and Branville Bard, the vice president for public safety at Johns Hopkins University who started his career in Philly and once served as police chief for the PHA.

Parker has said she will not make any personnel decisions until after the Nov. 7 election. Both Kenney and his predecessor, Michael A. Nutter, announced their selections for police commissioners shortly after their general election victories.

“The goal is to ensure that we make Philadelphia public health and safety our No. 1 priority,” Parker said. “I want them to be experienced, I want them to have knowledge of our city, and I want them to be able to put together a holistic plan to address public safety overall in our city that coincides with what my vision is.”

Staff writers Chris Palmer and Anna Orso contributed to this article.