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Philadelphia and its Police: Progress Toward a New Partnership

NCJ Number
111568
Date Published
1987
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This report explores the changes made by December 1987 and the issues that must be addressed in following the March 1987 recommendations of the report of the Philadelphia Police Study Task Force, which proposed major changes in the internal organization and activities in the Philadelphia Police Department and in its relationship to the Philadelphia community.
Abstract
The task force made 112 recommendations for forming a new partnership between the city's citizens and their police force. Since then, a new mission statement has been produced for the department through a process of wide consultation outside and inside the department. The department has also established neighborhood advisory councils in each district. Further changes are the decentralization experiment in the South Police Division, the operation of community foot patrols in each patrol district, and the establishment of three ministations. Further efforts have been directed to improve mechanisms to ensure accountability, strengthened management of human resources, and efforts to modernize the department's plant and equipment. Remaining needs include the establishment and use of performance standards for police officers, establishing a high school diploma as a minimum requirement for employment as a police officer, changing rules to allow police recruits to meet educational standards within 6 months to a year of entering the force and improving buildings. Profiles of four police leaders. For related document, see NCJ 111569.