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Philadelphia Police Department's Response to Demonstrations and Civil Unrest May 30 June 15, 2020

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Philadelphia Police Department's Response to Demonstrations and Civil Unrest May 30 June 15, 2020 Philadelphia Police Department's Response to Demonstrations and Civil Unrest May 30 June 15, 2020 DECEMBER 2020 GANG THE OUR BLACK 1997 BLACK US SAY THEIR PE MONTGOMERY McCRACKEN CNA AttorneysAt Law AUTHORS CNA: Benjamin Carleton, Tammy Felix, Monique Jenkins, Stephen Rickman, Chief Robert C. White ( retired), Tom Woodmansee, and Michael Speer MMWR: A. NicolePhillips, BrianG. Remondino, and KimberlyL. Sachs ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CNA and MontgomeryMcCrackenWalker & Rhoads, LLP the co-authors ofthis report, wish to thank the City of Philadelphia for the opportunity to conduct this independent after-action review. We greatly appreciated the cooperation and responsiveness of Mr. Craig Straw , First Deputy City Solicitor, Ms. Blake Norton, Chief Strategy Officer Philadelphia Police Department (PPD), and Mr. Alex DeSantis, Inspector General of the City of Philadelphia for their many efforts to facilitate informationand data requests, coordinatinginterviewswith both city and PPD staff, and for enabling our independence inperformingthis analysis. We would also like to express ourgratitudeto the City executives, City councilmembers, PPD commandstaffand personnel, and community members who availed themselves for interviews, and provided candid input regarding their experiences and recommendationsfor improvements. We believe that the recommendationsfor reforms developed as a resultof this processwill help the PPD to implementmeaningful and change. CNA DocumentNumber: IAA - 2020 - U - 028506 Photography Credit: Shutterstock Philadelphia Police Department's Response to Demonstrations and Civil Unrest Contents CONTENTS PREFACE.. V PhiladelphiaResponseinthe NationalContext.. Summary of PPD Reforms Initiated and Underway .. vii SUMMARY OF FINDINGS X INTRODUCTION ........... 1 A. Methodology ..2 B. Organization of Report Part I: HISTORY OF POLICING INPHILADELPHIA AND INCIDENT NARRATIVE .. 5 A. History of Policingin Philadelphia. ..5 B. The Post- Floyd Environment (2020) . Philadelphia Narrative Timeline 8 Part II: ANALYSIS OF THE POLICE RESPONSE... 17 A. Planning and Preparedness .. 17 B. Command and Control ............ 24 Resource Management and Allocation 31 D. Tactical Response and Use of Force 36 Information Sharing/ Intelligence Gathering . 47 F. Public Information and Warnings 51 Part III: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND IMPACT. 53 A. Introduction. 53 B. OutreachEfforts 53 C. Timeline of Community Impacts 55 D. Perceptionand Impactson the Community. 64 PartIV: SUMMARYAND CONCLUSIONS... 79 AppendixA Acronymlist. 92 Appendix : VisualTimeline.. 94 PhiladelphiaPolice Department'sResponseto Demonstrationsand Civil Unrest Contents ListofFigures Figure 1. Fire and smoke rise above Philadelphia rowhomes nearby the MOVE bombing in 1985 . 6 Figure2. Timelineof MajorEvents 3. Protestors gather at the Art Museum steps (Source : Philadelphia Inquirer Figure 4. Protestors on as the vandalized Frank Rizzo statue burns 11 Figure 5. PPD deploys tear gas forcing protestors up an enbankment... 14 Figure 6. Selected text from the May 30 Floyd Protest Operational Order 18 Figure 7. PFD Calls for Service in 2019 23 Figure 8. CS gas is dispersedon on June 1. Protesters can be seen retreatingup the grass hillto flee the gas. The Police Commissionerdid not authorizethe use of CS gas at ..............26 Figure 9. Arrestees on 1-676 zip-tied and waitingto be loaded on to an EPW. 29 Figure 10. Arrestees being searched prior to boarding an EPW . One arrestee can be seen without a facemask while another arrestee's facemask is not covering the nose . .30 Figure 11. Individuals can be seen looting the Sunray Drugs pharmacy in West Philadelphia on May 31. 32 Figure 12. Officers take cover behind police vehicles near the intersection of 52nd Street and Market Street on May 31. 33 Figure 13. A PPD vehicle burns in West Philadelphia on May 31............ 35 Figure 14.A female protester (yellow bandana) marches down the street with fewer than 25 other protesters through an intersection. She appears to yell profanitiesat the police but does not appear to be engaged in any violent or overly aggressivebehavior.. 37 Figure 15. An officer (white shirt) singles out the vocal female protester and then goes hands on with her as she is walking by...... 37 Figure 16.An officer can be seen dragging a protester away from the intersection........ 37 Figure 17.This leadsto a responseby other officers who physicsllyengagewith the protesters.The officer inthe yellow circle can be seen applyinga batonstrike to another individualinthe circler.......... 37 Figure 18. Officers having a positive engagement with a citizen (right of screen) while other protesters throw rocks/ bricks at the officers (center screen 38 Figure 19. Tactical officers responding to a scene with uncontrolled traffic driving in between the team members. It appears that a SWAT officer is directing traffic even though patrol officers who are standing nearby appear available to assist. 40 Figure 20. The positioning of the officers with their backs to the passenger in the SUV is not optimal for officer safety and could have been avoided ifthe traffic was better controlled at the intersection prior to SWAT arrival............ 40 PhiladelphiaPolice Department'sResponseto Demonstrationsand Civil Unrest Contents Figure21. Photoofthe muchpublicizedincidentin which InspectorJosephBolognaused excessiveforcewith batonstrikes to the headofa protestor. Bolognahassince been criminallychargedand dismissedfrom the PPD... 41 Figure 22. PPD Officer sprays a protester in the face with a chemical agent believed to be OC spray .42 Figure CS gas is deployed on , forcing protestors up an embankment Figure 24. PPD SWAT officer using a chemical agent launcher. 43 Figure 25. An officer breakingfrom the group to pursue an offender........ Figure 26. BWC footage ofofficer without backup appearingto clear a bank that was looted Figure 27. Riotersinvolvedwith stealingfrom and destroying empty squad and usingthis one as a weapon that nearly ran over several officers.......... 47 Figure 28. Members of the CAU distinguish themselves by wearing orange police armbands....... 47 Figure 29. Facebook postwarning a demonstrator based on radio correspondence Figure 30. Tweets from PPD outlining arrests . 51 Figure 31. PPD Twitter feed referring to mourningcrepes. 51 Figure 32. Fishtown residents stand in the streets. Figure 33. PPD officers stand at 52nd Street. 64 PhiladelphiaPolice Department'sResponseto Demonstrationsand Civil Unrest PREFACE PREFACE This after - action report provides an independent review of the Philadelphia Police Department's (PPD) response to the mass demonstrations and civil unrest that occurred in the city from May 30 - June 15, 2020.While the findings containedinthe reportspeak to this specific timeframe, the reviewteam acknowledges that the responsein Philadelphia(also referred to as “ the City” ) was notunlikethe law enforcementresponseto similar events that occurredboth nationallyand globally. We providethis prefaceas a means to betterunderstandthe Philadelphiaresponse within a national context, and also to providea summaryofkey reforms initiatedbythe city and PPD since the start of our review in July 2020. These reforms representthe commitment of the City's leadership andthe PPD to initiate, implementandsustain organizationalreform efforts concerning the management of FirstAmendmentdemonstrations, police use of force, and other resourcesneededto betterprepare officersto meettheir publicsafetymission. Philadelphia Response in the National Context On May 25, 2020 , George Floyd, a 46 -year - old African American man, died after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground ( for 8 minutes, 46 seconds ) in a knee- hold on his neck by a Minneapolis police officer. This incident occurred within the context of other recent shootings and in- custody deaths of African Americans at the hands of police officers, further reinforcing negative perceptions of police among segments of the population and representing a tipping point” in patience with the pace of criminal justice reforms. The mass demonstrations and protests that followed the next day in Minneapolis , quickly spread to over 2,000 cities and towns in over 60 countries forming a worldwide demand for an end to police brutality and systemic racism . In many instances, these protests overwhelmed the resource capacity of local law enforcement, resulting in the deployment of over 96,000 National Guard troops to 30 states and the District of Columbia . While it is estimated that 93 percent of the protests were “ peaceful and non -destructive , for a range of reasons , spiraled into violent conflicts, looting, and arson resulting in an estimated one to two billion dollars in property damages reported to insurers nationwide.2 While the scope of this independent review focuses on the PPD's response to the Floyd- related protests, it is important to understand that this series of events occurred while the city had been working tirelessly to manage the impacts of the COVID- 19 pandemic the most challenging public health emergency inover 100 years.At the timeof the protests, manycity departments and personnel were already struggling to meet their day- to-day operational demands due to staffing shortages associated with the looming pandemic response. This operational fatigue likely affected the city's ability to manage the unexpected and unanticipated size, tone, and tenor ofthe Floyd- related protest 1 https://acleddata.com/2020/09/03/demonstrations-political-violence-in-america-new-data-for-summer-2020/
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