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  • Axios Philadelphia

    Watchdog: Unresolved Philly police misconduct allegations

    By Isaac Avilucea,

    15 days ago

    Philadelphia's police watchdog found that more than 130 allegations of officer misconduct went unaddressed by police investigators in cases it audited .

    Why it matters: The agency says the rate of unresolved allegations is a "cause of concern," impacting public trust and the Police Department's ability to track officer discipline.


    Driving the news: The Citizens Police Oversight Commission found PPD's internal affairs investigators failed to address some misconduct allegations in about a fifth of the 250 cases it received from March-June 2022.

    • More than two-thirds of those allegations involved complaints of officers violating department regulations or failing to provide service, per the audit.

    How it works: CPOC obtained and reviewed investigative memos and examined those outcomes for "quality, thoroughness and objectivity."

    By the numbers: The audit, released last week, covered more than 650 allegations involving 479 officers.

    • The 15th, 18th, 24th and 25th districts — the latter two covering Kensington — had the most misconduct complaints, per the audit.

    Zoom in: While CPOC found most investigations were done thoroughly and came to logical conclusions, about 20% of the time investigators didn't identify, find and speak to "all civilian parties, including potential witnesses" as required by department policy.

    Plus: Only a quarter of the audited internal affairs investigations were completed within the required 90-day timeline.

    • CPOC says investigators failed to explain lags in 39% of those cases.

    The bottom line: The agency called the findings "informative" but stopped short of making recommendations to Philly police for improving problems identified by the audit.

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