I was just about to state the same opinion in that this shouldn’t be a request, it should be mandated upon them that this needs to be in place and operational or have the US DOJ have the state police or a federal Law Enforcement agency over see every officer involved shooting.

Philly PD is well known to look after it’s own within the Blue Wall and that is nothing new, one has to remember this is cops investigating cops within their own department and IA guys who have come up thru the very ranks of the Philly PD.

Let me tell a little story here about how the Police investigating their own goes. My friend that I have known since grade school and thru college joined the Police department right after he graduated from college. My friend started out as a patrolman, then after 5 years he applied to be part of the Police Tactical Unit and was on that unit for 6 years, then became a Sargent, and a few years later became an Inspector.

We talk off and on about some of the cases he , see’s some of the crimes and criminals and some of the failure of the parole, and Justice system.

A while back there were some very high profile stories going on in the media that were picked up locally and then nationally about one police commission member (who is a lawyer and a civilian member of that commission) who was very very critical and outspoken about some of the cases that were profiled by the media about Police abusing their powers in several incidents were the public was put at risk and were use of force was used unlawfully and this was reported by a member of the local media who was also critical of the police.

There was a mixer one night at a local restraint where it was for all the members of the media and their organisation, this included people from all facets including law enforcement. The police department were not very happy with this two outspoken critics of it, and unofficially it was decided within the higher ranks that these two critics would be targeted and put on a list to be treated with extreme caution.

At this media association mixer those two people were there (the lawyer/ civilian member of the police commission and the journalist) Our Police department sent in officers undercover in civilian clothing to “observe” those two critics. Now there was dinner and drinks served at the mixer. One of the reporters who attended the mixer overheard one of the undercover officers phoning in to his superiors that the “two targets” (who the cop mentioned by their last names) were here and drinking and that they should mount a surveillance OP to catch them driving under the influence. The journalist upon hearing that warned his colleague of what he overheard.

So a hastily mounted undercover surveillance operation was put in place with undercover officers inside the restaurant and outside in the parking lot and surrounding area with sight lines and a couple patrol cars stationed close by to effect the traffic stop on both of the critics.

At one point the Police thought that the journalist had left the mixer as the undercover officers doing surveillance inside the restaurant lost sight of him ( he was inside the managers officer thanking him it turned out for how the event was very successful and that he appreciate all the staff and his hard work in making sure it went off smoothly)

So The Undercover Officer reported this news back to his superior and the superior had an unmarked police surveillance vehicle drive to the critic journalists house to check and see if the journalists car was at home (which it wasnt ) and the officer reported that back to the superior in charge of the operation back at the restaurant.

All the while the undercover surveillance team and the patrol members waiting in the wings were chatting over the Police departments radio system about the critics and saying some unkind and disrespectful things and laying out how things would progress for the stop and “the reason” for the stop would be that they received “a Tip” from an unknown member of the public (remember know they had two undercover officers inside the restaurant ) that two people would be leaving there driving drunk.

The police commission member never drove to the restaurant so when he left the mixer he took a cab home which the surveillance team members noticed and chatted about how “they would have to get him another time” over the police radio.

The Journalist tipped by his colleague that the Police were out to get him only had a couple drinks as he was the emcee of the event and took a cab home, once again noted by the surveillance team and chatted about over the police radio system with accompanying disparaging remarks about the journalist professional, personally and his sexuality and overall appearance.

The surveillance team was ordered to “wrap the OP up as it was unsuccessful and that they would wait for the next opportunity”.

The journalist who was targeted shared the information of what his journalist colleague over heard the undercover officer placed inside the restaurant say to the superior over the phone with the police commission member, both the Journalist and the Police Commission member launched complaints with the Chief of Police about the surveillance operation placed on them as a form of retaliation for being critical of the Police Department (which it was)

The story was then reported by the Journalist critical of the police Department at his newspaper and then picked up be other print and TV news station locally and then nationally

There was a ton of outrage from all print and TV media station as well as Journalist organisations, Criminal Lawyer Defense associations, fellow Police Commission members and the public.

At first the Chief did nothing and the pressure from the aforementioned organisations and the local and national media ramped up along with public outrage forced the Police Chief to have the Internal Affairs department investigate the “sting operation”

A member of the police department leaked part of the radio communications from the surveillance operation on the critic police commission member and the Journalist to the media, and it started a firestorm in that the Police who were claiming that the “undercover sting operation” was launched due to a “citizen” complaint about a couple impaired drivers who were going to drink and drive from this mixer and would be a hazard to the public.

The local and national Media and Criminal Defense Lawyers organisation were highly convinced that due to the leaked police radio communications from the surveillance operation that the so called “Tip” from a citizen was really from one of the undercover officers in the restaurant who was overheard by the fellow journalist colleague of the targeted critical Journalist and it was being said that the so called “tip” from the public was to hide the fact that police had launched this sting out of retaliation against its critics illegally.

Well the Internal Affairs investigation was announced at a press conference to quiet the outrage and get the temperature tuned down from boiling over the outrage that was going on about the so called undercover sting operation.

As the Internal Affairs investigation was underway, members of the police department internal baseball league were playing a game ( these are teams made up from various different entities and departments and stations within the Police force within the city) One of the teams was wearing new white t-shirts that had a big picture of a rat on it with a red circle and a line thru the circle (like a no entry you’d see on a sign) and had a code number on the bottom of the shirt ( that code number corresponded to a police 10 code for the rodent called a rat )

When a picture came about of the police baseball team members wearing the “No Rats” T-shirt leaked to the media it launched another firestorm that there were members of the Police department wearing the “No Rats” t-shirts to send a warning to their fellow officer to not “Rat” on their colleagues to the Internal Affairs investigators looking into the undercover sting operation of the two critics of the Police Service.

When the media dug up the fact that he Police Union Association had ordered and paid for the T-Shirts and gave them out to the Police Baseball Team members to wear, that went over like a led balloon with the public, Media and criminal Defense lawyers, and the Police Union Association denied that the shirts were worn to send the message to their colleagues to not “rat” on their fellow members while this investigation was taking place.

It later came about that records of who the officers were assigned to that undercover sting operation went missing as did the paperwork authorizing the OP and its approval also went missing along with some other of the other radio communications from that operation.

There were 12 to 15 officers involved in the sting operation (the exact number couldn’t be ascertained due to the record going missing. Officers assigned to the undercover sting operation were not charged or disciplined because there was no record of who was there (even though the journalist who heard the undercover officer inside the restaurant make the phone call and the conversation pointed out who this cop was , the cop denied he was there for that and was just having dinner with a friend who was also the other undercover officer that night, and both denied knowing anything about it at all )

No one who authorized and approved the Operation was disciplined or fired. The only real punishment handed out was to the Police PR person who crafted the press releases before the internal affairs investigation was initiated by the Police Chief about how there was nothing to see here and all is well etc etc etc. The Police PR person was docked pay and demoted for a short period of time

The media reported that the Law Firm the outspoken Police Commission Member worked at did a lot of work with the Police Department and in court defending officers of wrong doing. Rumor has it that the Police Department put pressure on the law firm to have him made a partner at the firm which would take him off the Police Comission and what do you know that is exactly what happened.

The critic Journalist launched a civil lawsuit and a complaint with Justice Department along with his complaint to the Police Chief. The lawsuit is ongoing and the reporter has stated publicly the money from the lawsuit would be donated to charity.

The Internal Affairs investigation only resulted in punishment and demotion of the Police Department PR flack and one Sargent who had his hours docked. The Police Association Union allows its union members to donate their overtime hours to their fellow colleagues in times of need like say if your hours are docked for instance.

I talked with my friend about this case, and I said so what is this Internal Affairs investigation like, he looked at me and said, the IA investigators will ask the least pointed questions and not dig very deep… basically he said the IA investigators will say “Did you do this?” “No. Okay good” “Did you do that?” “No. Okay good” “Know who might be involved” “No? Okay then Thanks for your help”