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Election 2020
Philly Can Look Forward to (Hopefully) Tougher Police Oversight
The vote is the first step. Let’s see what happens.
Philadelphians voted to make the police department more accountable to those it is sworn to protect and to codify an end to the practice of stop and frisk.
Question 1 made it illegal for the Philadelphia Police Department to use the practice of stop and frisk. Yes, stop and frisk was already illegal, but the issue was placed on the ballot anyway. Why is this? The American Civil Liberties Union has been monitoring a federal consent decree regarding stop and frisk that was issued against the Philadelphia Police Department in 2011.
What the passages of this ballot question mean is that now there is official language in the city charter prohibiting police from using the practice without evidence of a possible crime. One of the issues the ACLU has pointed out regarding the Philadelphia Police Department’s use of stop and frisk in the past is its disproportionate use against Black and Brown people.
Ballot Question 3 amends the city charter to create a stronger Citizen’s Police Oversight Commission. In theory, the commission, which would be overseen by Philadelphia City Council instead of the mayor’s office, would have more power than…
