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Axios Philadelphia
Philadelphia police watchdog loses investigative director
By Isaac Avilucea,
12 days ago
There's more turnover at Philadelphia's police watchdog after the agency announced this week its investigative director has left the role.
Why it matters: The sudden departure of Jamison Rogers delivers another blow to the 3-year-old agency, which has been racked with infighting and has yet to conduct a single police misconduct investigation.
Driving the news: Rogers is leaving the Citizens Police Oversight Commission to become Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal's chief of staff.
He'll be replaced by Nicholas Kato , who was hired earlier this year as CPOC's chief investigator — Rogers' second-in-command.
Kato, a Temple law school graduate, worked for the Pennsylvania Innocence Project and was an investigator for the Seattle public defender's office before joining CPOC.
What they're saying: CPOC says Rogers' departure hasn't impacted the investigative unit's daily work, which primarily consists of responding to police shootings and conducting after-action reviews.
Bilal's office didn't respond to Axios' request for comment on Rogers' new role.
Catch up quick: Rogers, a former Chester police detective, was hired last year to build out CPOC's investigative unit, but he immediately encountered stumbling blocks.
With the agency under pressure for its lack of probes , Rogers told Axios in January that he was committed to hiring more than a dozen investigators in the next year.
The city police union, meanwhile, has vowed to fight CPOC in court to keep the watchdog from investigating its officers.
The intrigue: News last week of commissioner Rosaura Thomas' suspension revealed that CPOC launched an internal probe into whether confidential information was leaked to someone outside of the agency.
CPOC executive director Tonya McClary defended her agency's decision to spend time and resources investigating a commissioner.
"We can't expect accountability from others if we don't hold ourselves accountable," she said.
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