The co-chair of President Obama’s policing reforms panel on Friday sought to rein in expectations about the initiative’s potential impact.
Philadelphia Police Chief Charles Ramsey pointed out that the task force only has three months, “which isn’t a whole lot of time,” and warned that tangible change might not even result from the report.
“The easy part is writing the recommendations,” he said on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal. “The hard part is implementing something.”
Ramsey also intoned that the panel was formed, in part, as part of a public relations campaign. In response to a question on the nature of the task force, he replied that it was established to give the White House “actionable recommendations as to how we can have an impact in changing perception and reality of policing in the United States.” He also said the panel intends to look at how police departments can “build stronger relationships” in addition to offering policy and training reform proposals.
When asked about changes Ramsey has made in Philadelphia, he pointed to a revision in rules governing “use of deadly force.”
“Firing at automobiles, which a lot of departments had banned for years, here in Philadelphia, we had not done that. We certainly put that in place,” he said.
Ramsey also said that an academy program to “help officers better understand their role in a democratic society” was put in place under his watch. He noted that “a philanthropist here has supported us in that endeavor.”
In response to a question about how he, as a cop, reacted to footage of recent high profile fatal incidents, the Philadelphia police chief suggested that New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo might not have committed any crime in the choking death of Eric Garner, despite the prior banning of chokeholds by the NYPD and the fact that Garner’s death ruled a homicide by a medical examiner.
“When I saw the video of the Garner situation, it’s obviously troubling,” he commented. “Now I don’t know all the information that was presented to the grand jury. They obviously had access to more than I certainly did by watching a clip on television. But certainly it is troubling when you consider a relatively minor offense in the first place, but the person was resisting.”
“I think one of the things people have to realize is that taking people into custody that do not want to go into custody is not a pretty sight if you see it on tape,” he added.
He also said that Cleveland police used “poor tactics” in the killing of Tamir Rice, a 12 year old who Ramsey described as a “young man.” Ramsey said that by driving directly up to Rice, the two officers gave themselves “no time to take cover, to react.”
Although he was tasked with overseeing the reform initiative alongside former assistant attorney general and George Mason University professor Laurie Robinson, Ramsey has a controversial past. While he was Washington DC chief of police, Ramsey oversaw a force that was caught repeatedly brutalizing, infiltrating and wrongfully arresting peaceful protesters. Two mass detentions in 2000 and 2002 cost the city over $20 million in settlements. And just year, the city of Philadelphia paid out $14 million in settlements to 128 people who sued the police department for civil rights violations.
“That marked a huge jump from the $8.3 million paid out for such suits in 2012, and an even bigger increase from the $4.2 million paid five years earlier,” Philly.com reported in May.
A deputy to Ramsey told the website, however, that the led to policy changes, “on issues ranging from pursuits and prisoner transports to handcuffing and choke holds.” Last year, Ramsey also asked the Justice Department to investigate the city’s police force after officer-involved shootings spiked in 2012. While the report hasn’t been released yet, shootings fell in 2013.
In his Friday interview, Ramsey said he learned from the past.
“I started my career since 1968,” he said. “This whole notion of community policing–no one talked about that in the sixties or seventies.”
“Our responsibility includes protecting the constitutional rights of people,” he added. “I can’t say I thought that in 1968, but I certainly do now, and I have for some time.”
Watch Ramsey’s interview on C-SPAN:
