Kenney’s police commissioner pick shows he has guts. Can it create reform?

January. 02, 2020

Dorsum in October, after the Phillies introduced their new manager to the Philly press horde, one fan tweeted in response to the cool and in-charge performance of new rent Joe Girardi: "Is it possible to win a printing briefing?"

I was asking the same exact question after new Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw wowed at her introductory press conference on Monday. At 43, she might not yet have Girardi'south bona fides—he was, after all, a World Series-winning Yankees manager—but, in touch on and substance, the wonderfully named Outlaw gave off precisely the same impression: Hither's someone who is in charge, who is not afraid to lead, who marries ideas that threaten the status quo with a practical comprehend of the incremental step over the revolutionary Hail Mary.

In addition to her swagger, Outlaw extemporaneously hit all the right notes substantively. She talked almost the cardinal pillars to 21st-century policing—"dialogue, transparency and accountability"—and went into depth on the successful gun violence reforms in her native Oakland, calling the information-driven approach "spearfishing" rather than "casting a broad cyberspace, because we know that it'south a small percentage of the population committing a big per centum of the criminal offence."

She displayed humility, twice noting that "I don't know what I don't know," withal also backbone: On the criticism of her handling of protesters in Portland, for instance, she stood her ground: "I am a business firm laic in upholding free speech, the right to associates, merely what I will not tolerate are those who come nether the guise of costless speech to create acts of violence against others." (It is perhaps a good sign that protesters of both the far left and far right in Portland accept criticized Outlaw).

This calendar week, Danielle Outlaw exhibited stellar political talent; in social club to maximize it, Kenney must permit Outlaw exist Outlaw, must have her back as she radically changes the way cop and denizen interact.

Time and again, Outlaw exhibited the type of direct and thoughtful leadership some of us have yearned for in the Mayor. This space is often critical of Kenney, and often urges him to think bigger. In a urban center with our litany of existential threats—ballooning murder and tax rates, the worst poverty in the nation, the wrong kind of job growth, and a school system with subpar graduation rates and buildings that poison—a signature kickoff term achievement of notwithstanding another taxation, this one on sugary drinks, does not rise to the challenge of our problems.

Mayor Kenney, unthreatened at the election box attributable to the inertia of a corrupt, one-party boondocks (Moscow on the Delaware), spent much of his first term reticent, seemingly content to shrug and accept the style things had always been washed. As evidenced past his obsequiousness before wedlock ability, he governed by shying away from the large decisions that could engender backfire from entrenched, narrow interests.

By choosing an outsider and qualified change amanuensis like Outlaw, though, Kenney has taken a step toward rewriting that narrative, defying the preferences of the police union too as many in the section itself. "Make no fault," he said. "While I take tremendous respect for our officers, the Philadelphia Police Department needs reform." Presumably, those reforms include non simply policy changes but too addressing the much-covered cultural issues—ranging from sexual attack to gender discrimination to racist social media postings—that pervade the department, and that suggest the problem goes beyond the acts of "a few bad apples."

I know what you're thinking: Why exist surprised that ultra-progressive Jim Kenney, who has borrowed much from Bill DeBlasio's far left playbook in New York, would hire an African-American woman? Considering, as Outlaw herself unsaid, what'southward noteworthy near her and her career is not that which is self-evident in her identity. It'due south that she has real chops as a threat to the keepers of a city's status quo—irrespective of race and gender.

Judging from her introductory remarks, her deft treatment of questions, and her 2022 "Road to Reconciliation" TED Talk—"there can exist humanity in potency"—she stakes out ground as a reformer and not as an idealogue, every bit a leader who listens and mediates between the extremes.

Let's dissect the well-nigh telling moment along these lines during Outlaw'south presser. Asked to ruminate on the headline here—that she will be Philadelphia'due south start African-American adult female to caput its law force, as she was in Portland, Outlaw got personal: "For a long time, it was a lark," she said. "People said, 'Oh, you got this job because'…I've been a Black woman all my life and I chose the career of law enforcement, and so I happen to be a law officer who is a Black woman."

At that, the room flare-up into spontaneous applause, only information technology's what she said next that bodes well for change in Philadelphia: "But with that said, I bring a very unique perspective to this role," she said. "My sons are 21 and xviii. Beingness a mother, I understand the fright that's out there in our communities most the police. I understand the mistrust. I understand also, on the other side, why nosotros do what nosotros do in law enforcement, I understand how we train. If I take to exist that conduit, I'll exist that conduit. I recall it's important for me to explain these perspectives on all sides because I'm in those rooms."

Permit's be clear about what Outlaw is getting at here, because it'southward then rare present in public life, where every player seems to don team colors well earlier the game fifty-fifty begins. Outlaw is positioning herself every bit an honest broker who has the chops to speak with authorization to all sides of our ongoing disputes. A type of referee, rather than combatant. "We tin exist supportive of police and we tin be supportive of police accountability at the same time," Outlaw said. "They are not mutually sectional."

Time and once more in her remarks and her TED Talk, Outlaw comes back to constabulary "owning" their missteps and to police force organizations being "learning institutions." At the same time, those who have worked with her in in Portland and in Oakland—where she was involved in the type of focused deterrence policing that turned gun violence around in that city and that is too tentatively beingness piloted here—accept described her every bit a "cop'due south cop," and she carries herself with that type of no-nonsense, tough-every bit-nails strut. That, similar fervent anti-Communist Richard Nixon recognizing Cerise China, could give her the credibility to move the hard-bitten rank and file toward her vision for a kinder and gentler, customs-based form of constabulary enforcement while her commitment to variety, inclusion and policing that demands cops go out of their cars tin mollify those on the far left who, believe it or not, increasingly seek to cancel the very act of policing.

Outlaw starts on Feb 10, and chances are she'll be tested early. The far left and the union, with its approaching contract negotiations, will both be looking for the upper hand. If Outlaw gets rolled early by either side, look out—reform may be imperiled. Possibly those stakes are why, at the printing briefing, Commune Chaser Larry Krasner told Fox29 News that Outlaw "has a national reputation for progressive law enforcement." Was that Krasner throwing downwardly a marking while his nemesis, the politically odious John McNesby, waits in the wings for her?

Of course, Outlaw won't have to navigate those dicey political waters lone. Kenney is now invested in her success, and information technology'due south up to him and his team to see to it that local political country mines not trip her up. Kenney has, finally, done a bold thing in hiring Outlaw. It could be argued that taking back control of the school system from the land was similarly bold, but allow'south hope that'due south non the precedent hither. Because in that scenario, footling to no forethought was given to implementation. There was no plan for what happens after the empaneling of a local school lath, which is why we're now staring at something like a $300 million deficit in fiscal year 2024.

Kenney was not asked at the press conference how he defines success for Outlaw, or even what he means by "reform." Are there metrics in the form of goals and timetable upon which he'll gauge her? (Recollect, when Kenney'due south predecessor Michael Nutter was elected in 2007, he publicly pledged to lower the murder rate by xxx to 50 percent in v years).

"We tin be supportive of police and we can be supportive of constabulary accountability at the same time," Outlaw said. "They are not mutually exclusive."

Equally for reform, Kenney was explicit that the department needs to right itself when it comes to gender discrimination, sexual assault and racist screeds on social media. Just, in a town with an exploding murder rate and one of the worst clearance rates in the nation—in vi out of 10 cases, you can literally get away with murder in Philadelphia—does Kenney believe we need to change the very manner we police the metropolis? Remember, Kenney is the chief executive who discontinued the proven focused deterrence pilot program that his predecessor had started—presumably considering it had said predecessor's fingerprints all over information technology. Now another, similar pilot plan is in the works. Outlaw's comments and track record suggest she is the type of policing reformer nosotros need, just she'll exist inheriting a plan released by Kenney about a twelvemonth ago characterized by a lack of urgency and commitment. At the printing briefing to announce that programme, Krasner was, tellingly, a no-show.

Speaking of printing conferences, a day or two later that one past the Phillies in October, I was at a Sixers game when up on Fan-o-Vision flashed Girardi himself, sitting courtside. The stadium erupted into a standing ovation.

Have note, Mr. Mayor. You've fabricated a bold hire, but now comes the difficult part. This week, Danielle Outlaw exhibited stellar political talent; in order to maximize it, Kenney must let Outlaw exist Outlaw, must take her back as she radically changes the way cop and citizen interact. If his team does the political blocking and tackling for her such that cops, prosecutors, activists and elected officials are all—finally—at the problem-solving tabular array together, mayhap when Outlaw decides to bank check out for herself only how Joel Embiid gets his game on, information technology will be her getting some Philly love on the big screen.

Photo courtesy Mayor Jim Kenney Facebook

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Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/jim-kenney-danielle-outlaw/

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