Veteran reporter Ralph Cipriano (seen in the bottom photo) at www.bigtrial.net asks whether the Philadelphia police commissioner violated policy by “taking a knee" with protestors?
Earlier this
month outside City Hall, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw knelt in
solidarity with protesters angry about the murder of George Floyd in police
custody.
"I'm here
not only in solidarity, but in collaboration, in the spirit of partnership, in
the spirit of fellowship," she told the protesters on June 6th, who hailed
from nine black fraternities and sororities. "I appreciate the spirit of
peace that you're bringing here, and the spirit of positivity and
collaboration. We will get through this together."
To the
protesters, it may have come across as a conciliatory stance, but in taking a
knee, along with Deputy Commissioner Melvin Singleton, Commissioner Outlaw
appears to have violated the Philadelphia Police Department's written
directives for handling demonstrations and labor disputes.
According to the
Police Department's Policy Directive 8.3, Section E, "Police personnel of
all ranks shall maintain complete neutrality and objectivity at all
times." Section G further states, "Under no circumstances shall the
department be made subservient to any group."
I asked Staff
Inspector Sekou Kinebrew, commanding officer of the Philadelphia Police
Department's Office of Public Affairs & Media Relations, if the police
commissioner's decision to take a knee violated the Police Department's Policy
Directive 8.3.
"The
directive was not violated," Kinebrew wrote back in an email.
So I sent
Kinebrew pictures of Outlaw kneeling and wearing what appears to be a salmon
pink and apple green-colored facemark.That's the official colors of the Alpha
Kappa Alpha sorority, which is listed on Outlaw's resume. I asked Kinebrew if
wearing those colors amounted to taking a side in the dispute between
protesters and the police.
"No,"
he replied.
I asked Kinebrew
if he was telling me that I wasn't seeing what I saw in the photos I sent him.
"No
disrespect," he wrote back, "But I'm done commenting on this."
Other cops had
different opinions.
"In other
words, directives don't apply to the top brass," one cop wrote. "What
would happen if a cop took a knee at a KKK rally?"
"How dare
they take a knee for an organization that clearly chanted, what do we want,
dead cops, when do we want it, now," another cop wrote. "I will never
bow to those who disrespect the badge."
"It makes
the department look weak," the cop said. "I was sick to my stomach
when I saw that happen," she said about the kneeling. "Strength comes
from standing your ground, not pandering like a fool."
I asked a black
cop if he would take a knee for the protesters.
"Hell
no," he said. "That's the position of surrender."
And from a
tactical point, the cop said, "the worst position you can be in is on the
ground." If the demonstrators rushed the cops while they were kneeling,
they could have grabbed an officer's gun, or his Taser, the cop said.
… At yesterday's
press conference, Outlaw promptly served up Deputy Commissioner Dennis Wilson,
who promptly fell on his sword.
"Me and me
alone" ordered the tear gas, Wilson confessed, so he was taking a
voluntary demotion down to chief inspector.
To many cops,
the ritual humiliation of Wilson was hard to stomach.
"Translation,"
wrote one veteran Philadelphia Police Department commander in an email, "I
am blaming this on that white Republican asshole Dennis Wilson to skirt any and
all responsibility."
"Well,
'Commissioner,' if you weren't hiding in the comfort of your office while the
rest of us on the street were getting our asses kicked by the 'peaceful'
protesters who were rioting, looting, burglarizing, stealing, vandalizing,
taking over the Expressways, committing arson, assaulting police officers, and
the list goes on, maybe you would have actually been there, on the front lines,
as is expected of a leader, so you could have called the shots," the
veteran police commander wrote.
In her email to
police headquarters, Outlaw also announced that an officer assigned to the SWAT
team who was filmed using pepper spray on three civilians sitting on the ground
had been given formal notice of a 30-day suspension, with intent to dismiss.
"Translation,"
the veteran police commander wrote. "We are going to lock up his white
male Republican ass to cater to Black Lives Matter and the mob."
Outlaw was
taking a pounding in other quarters. On the latest episode of the Philly Prime podcast, Dave Schratwieser of Fox 29
interviewed former famous Philly cops Michael Chitwood Sr. and Michael Chitwood
Jr., who between them have 85 years of police experience.
Schratwieser
asked both Chitwoods about their reaction to the Philly riots.
"I've never
seen anything like it in my life," said Chitwood Sr., the retired police
superintendent of Upper Darby, and before that, a highly decorated Philadelphia
police officer.
"Philadelphia
was not prepared for the violence that occurred," Chitwood Sr. said.
"What I saw
was a complete lack of leadership in Philadelphia from the mayor and the police
commissioner and somebody has to own that," said Chitwood Jr. He's
currently the sheriff of Volusia County, Florida, and the former police chief
of Daytona Beach. Before that, Chitwood Jr. was a decorated lieutenant in the
Philadelphia Police Department.
As far as the
mayor owning "a complete lack of leadership," fat chance. All Jim
"Sanctuary City" Kenney knows how to do is pander and apologize. And
hide behind the skirt of his rookie police commissioner.
"I think
the commissioner should have been out there in front leading and if the order
had to be given, she should have given the order," Mike Chitwood Sr.said.
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