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Philadelphia leaders reflect on the trouble in Baltimore

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams has been through it: A young black man dead at the hands of police, an angry community demanding answers.

"At any given time, anything could happen," District Attorney Seth Williams said Tuesday. "That's why we work so hard all the time to improve relations." (MICHAEL S. WIRTZ/Staff Photographer)
"At any given time, anything could happen," District Attorney Seth Williams said Tuesday. "That's why we work so hard all the time to improve relations." (MICHAEL S. WIRTZ/Staff Photographer)Read more

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams has been through it:

A young black man dead at the hands of police, an angry community demanding answers.

As his office investigated the December shooting death of Brandon Tate-Brown, a 26-year-old African American, Williams said, he had the man's mother, her attorney, and several clergy members review videotapes and statements in the case.

In March, Williams announced that the officers involved would face no charges. Many people were irate. But Philadelphia did not burn.

"At any given time, anything could happen," Williams said Tuesday. "That's why we work so hard all the time to improve relations."

On Tuesday, as acrid smoke from burned cars and stores wafted through Baltimore, people in Philadelphia watched televised scenes of their shattered southern neighbor and asked: What does the violence portend for us?

Few of the answers were comforting.

"We are sitting on a powder keg," said State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, who is running for mayor. And the man who now holds the job offered a torn appraisal of the rioting that erupted after the funeral for Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African American who died in police custody.

"Freddie Gray's death is a tragedy. Let's stay focused on that," Mayor Nutter told reporters. Speaking of stores hit by violence and looting, he said, "I'm not sure at the end of the day what the CVS, the liquor store, the check-cashing place, or getting a plasma TV has to do with seeking justice for Freddie Gray.

"I understand folks want to express themselves, but there is a level of self-containment, self-control, how you express the many, many grievances that people have a right to be upset about. There are some issues with regard to community and police, and unexplained circumstances of how people are dying in custody, shot in the street. . . ."

The rioting and looting that spread through Baltimore on Tuesday marked the nation's most violent unrest since a police officer shot and killed 18-year old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.

In Philadelphia, civil-rights leader Dwayne Royster offered frank advice to government leaders: Pay attention to Baltimore.

"We're one major event away from something blowing up here in our city," said Royster, executive director of POWER and pastor of Living Water United Church of Christ in Oxford Circle. "The same sort of systemic police oppression that's been felt in Baltimore has been felt here in Philadelphia."

Deputy Police Commissioner Thomas Wright, who supervises homeland security operations, said the department works to maintain positive relationships with community members.

"We don't want anyone to have the notion that it's us vs. them," he said.

Rookie officers are assigned to foot patrols for their first months on the job to familiarize themselves with the communities they serve, he said. The department has 2,000 officers trained in nonviolent crisis intervention.

"It's not our intention to create hostility in anyone," he said. "It does the Police Department no good."

What Mayoral Candidates Would Do

The Inquirer asked Philadelphia's Democratic mayoral candidates Tuesday how they would respond to a situation like the civil unrest in Baltimore. Here are some of their comments:

Lynne M. Abraham said Baltimore's mayor erred by calling some rioters thugs - "I think that just incited them even more." She said failures of leadership and communication had left many in that city feeling "like they were invisible."

The former district attorney said no city was "immune" but that Philadelphia was "extremely fortunate so far" in not seeing similar unrest.

Abraham said city leaders need to get behind changes such as equipping police with body cameras and doing a better job of teaching officers to de-escalate conflicts, and, "most importantly," ending the practice by which arbitrators often return dangerous officers to the job after they are fired.

She also said people have to realize that "nothing comes from destroying a whole neighborhood. . . . All it does is impoverish people more."

Abraham said she was loath to criticize how Baltimore had deployed its police in response to the unrest. While police are being faulted as not responding quickly enough, she pointed out that police in Ferguson, Mo., were criticized as having responded too aggressively, with an "intimidating" look.

Nelson A. Diaz said Baltimore proves the need for community policing.

"We are just one incident away from having that happen here," he said. "It's a continuation of what's happening in Ferguson and everywhere else."

The former judge said the recent Justice Department report on Philadelphia police use of force pointed to "major distrust" between police and community. He said community policing was also crucial for identifying a neighborhood's "troublemakers" as well as its activists.

Diaz said that if he were mayor, he would let people march as long as they wanted if they were orderly - "I would be in with the marchers, working for their protection. . . . I would protect the businesses, close them if you can."

James F. Kenney said through a spokeswoman that if unrest broke out here, the former city councilman "would be in constant communication with Gov. Wolf, community leaders and police. Militarizing our streets would be an absolute last resort, and he would look to community leaders for their advice and to be a critical part of quelling the violence.

"If his presence on the street was helpful in bringing calm to the community he would go, but [not] if it served as a distraction for police resources. ... Most importantly, moving forward, he would address the root causes of those riots that left our youth feeling they had no other way to make themselves heard."

Doug Oliver said that if rioting erupted here, "I would rely heavily on expert advice, specifically my police commissioner. ... As a mayor you're a general contractor of sorts, and in this situation you have to let your experts lead."

That said, Oliver added, the final failure or success lay with the mayor.

"We're talking about how to handle things when they've gone wrong. As much time and attention should be paid to how to prevent these things from going wrong in the first place." He said that means regular communication not only among city agencies but with community leaders, faith leaders, and the media.

"Prevention is the best cure," the former PGW executive said.

T. Milton Street Sr. said he would have promptly arrested officers involved in the death of a Baltimore man in custody and swiftly investigated the circumstances.

"I don't anticipate having any riots under my administration," said the former state senator, whose main campaign message is stopping violence. He, too, said a part of that is better policy-community relationships.

Street said his community patrol plan aims to engage youths and teach them to respect and care for their communities.

"Once you destroy your community, it never goes back to what it was," he said.

Anthony Hardy Williams said, "I'm not going to be an armchair quarterback. But unfortunately we have a set of circumstances that parallel what they have in Baltimore. . . . We are sitting on a powder keg."

Williams identified those circumstances as a disconnect between police and portions of the community, a "generation that does not respect authority or the authority of police," and "crushing poverty."

The state senator said he would work to increase diversity on the police force and make sure officers respect communities in which they serve. To that end, he repeated his call for firing officers caught using hate speech, including racial and ethnic epithets.

- Claudia Vargas, Chris Hepp,
Jeff Gammage, and Craig R. McCoy
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