THE POLICE ADVISORY Commission was facing more work than
it could handle, and its members felt that its executive director, William
Johnson, wasn't doing enough to ensure timely investigations.
The friction appeared during the commission's public
meeting in April and led to Johnson's removal on Thursday from the post he'd
held since 2004. The commission, a civilian oversight board that hears citizen
complaints against police and makes recommendations to the police commissioner,
has a backlog of complaints dating back to 2009.
"Cases that linger don't help," said commission
Chairwoman Ronda Goldfein. "Was it the best use of our resources to keep
[cases] on the books if nothing is being done on them?"
Goldfein said that members tried to work with Johnson for
months to make the commission, which is often described as toothless, more
efficient.
In a statement, Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison said:
"Mr. Johnson always kept Philadelphians first in his mind and worked hard
to improve police-community relations, but the time for change had arrived and
the commission strongly believed it was time for new leadership. The
administration fully concurred in that assessment."
Johnson, who has worked with the commission in various
capacities for 14 years, argued at that meeting that older cases needed to
remain open because they still were being investigated.
"My only concern was doing my job," Johnson
said. "The difference is [the commissioners] don't always understand what
is needed. There were several cases that needed to reach a conclusion so we
could provide answers to the complainants."
Kelvyn Anderson, the commission's deputy director, was
selected as interim executive director pending a search for a permanent leader.
Goldfein said that the commission will spend the summer examining its
procedures and resume public meetings in September.
"We made our thoughts clear to Gillison, ‘If you
want to do things differently, we're prepared to do that, but we think we need
new blood,' " Goldfein said.
City Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., who had sponsored
legislation in January proposing to make the commission more independent, said
he was disappointed about Johnson's removal.
"I think he was a good man given an impossible task
with very limited resources," Jones said. "Instead of giving him the
tools to be successful, they blamed him."
The commission has two investigators and a budget of
$275,000 this year.
"The change is really needed," Johnson said.
"But it won't happen until the administration commits more
resources." n