Delco forms task force to address criminal justice reform
MEDIA » In response to the nation’s and community’s outcry for racial equality and an end to police brutality, Delaware County officials on Tuesday announced the creation of a countywide Task Force on Criminal Justice Reform.
Led by Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, the task force will be comprised of a variety of stakeholders including county Sheriff Jerry L. Sanders Jr., the Fraternal Order of Police, the Delaware County Police Chiefs Association, the NAACP, the Delaware County Black Caucus, U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-5 of Swarthmore, state and municipal leaders, the Public Defender’s Office and other community members.
Its goal is “to foster and support a culture of trust, integrity and accountability in Delaware County’s criminal justice system and in county government,” county Council Vice Chairman Dr. Monica Taylor said, adding that the goal is to foster and build relationships among law enforcement, county government and community members.
“The task force will take a critical and hard look at our criminal justice system and our local government and examine what policies and practices need to change or be improved,” Taylor said. “We know that this type of work doesn’t happen overnight but this is where we can start. This is the beginning of much needed and long overdue change that we are hopeful will lead to equality and spark unity in our communities.”
Within the task force will be four working groups, each addressing a specific issue. They are 21st Century Policing; Principles for a 21st Century Prosecutor; Legislative Change; and County Government’s Impact on Achieving Equality and Justice in Delco.
“Everyone in our county deserves fair and equal justice and that’s what this task force is going to do,” Stollsteimer said. “We really have to have a conversation about what public safety means anymore in the 21st century world we live in.”
He said he expected the task force to bear tangible results over time.
“We want to make real change,” the district attorney said. “We want to have people in this community not fear the police. We want everybody to know that you’re all going to be treated well and will be treated equally.”
Some priorities for the task force, he said, will include examining how prosecutors do their work and defining what contemporary policing is.
“Police officers have to be community police officers,” Stollsteimer said. “They have to get out of their cars and interact with the community ... At the same time, these guys have to be ready to be first responders ... I don’t want another Columbine situation happening in Delaware County where my kids or your kids go to school.”
County Councilwoman Elaine Paul Schaefer said county government practices will also be evaluated, including every step in human resources with recruiting, training and promoting. She added that county officials would be reaching out to community partners, such as schools, libraries and non-profit organizations.
“We really have to look at changing the culture of our county and of our community, changing the hearts and the minds and the attitudes of the people that are charged with enacting those policies,” she said.
State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, D-8 of Philadelphia, whose district includes nine Delaware County communities, recalled the graphic memory of Emmett Till, the plea of Rodney King up to Eric Garner and George Floyd. He said the rhetoric of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the action of Malcolm X led to the reforms signed by former President Lyndon B. Johnson for rights that impacted African
Americans, women, people of different genders and sexual orientation, veterans and disabled.
“That was 50 years ago and between then and now, black people are still dying in this country not because of their actions but because of the government’s,” he said. “Our positions do not shield us from the anger, frustrations of a generation of black and white young people. They don’t understand how government works nor do they care that it works so slow. Their expectation is that the people who change government ... work immediately not only to affect policies but to drive those policies.”
He continued, “I deserve, my wife deserves, my mother deserves, my sister deserves, my children deserve, my grandson deserves every life, liberty and pursuit of happiness that Philadelphia, Delaware County, Pennsylvania
and America can provide. That’s what this should be about - that drive, that tenacity, that urgency to see results that when they walk down the street any place in Delaware County they no longer have to fear why the are where they are.”
State Rep. Joanna McClinton, D-191 of Philadelphia, also spoke. Her district includes Darby Borough and Yeadon.
“We cannot just let this be a moment in time that passes,” she said. “This must be a movement and each and every one of us have to let these young people know we hear their voices ... We have to work together that not just bills and legislation move but to make sure that the environment and culture in which policing has become militarized, it must change.”
Nether Providence Police Chief David Splain, who is also president of the Delaware County Police Chiefs Association, said he’s looking forward to working with all of the task force members.
“I can tell you with what’s transpired over the last several weeks, ‘We’ve heard you and we’re listening,’” he said. “Clearly, there’s a need for change and there’s a need for us to do a better job as law enforcement.”
Stollsteimer said he expected that policies would be implemented throughout the process.
“We want to make a change,” he said. “We want to make this the best possible community for everyone who resides here and anybody who passes through. We want Delaware County to have the reputation of a welcoming, diverse community.”