As local leaders around the country push back against criticism that they did too little to curb the social unrest this summer, some in Philadelphia say the city went too far.
Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw and Mayor Jim Kenney are facing calls for their resignations following the release this month of an independent report ordered by the city Controller’s Office that concluded law enforcement inappropriately responded to violent protests.
The report found an alleged failure of oversight by senior officials in their response to activists occupying streets and highways throughout the city.
“It is also important to spend time reflecting on the fact that teargas was deployed in our city during these events,” City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart wrote. “Teargas is banned in warfare and has not been used in Philadelphia for civil unrest since the MOVE crisis in 1985. Despite this, teargas was deployed on our own people several times during the unrest. The negative and painful effects of teargas cannot be overstated, and it should not have been used the way it was.”
A number of cities have opted to ban the use of teargas and pepper balls as crowd-control methods by law, labeling their use as chemical weapons.
Throughout her report, Rhynhart implies the use of force against antifa and Black Lives Matter protesters are a result of “our country’s history [being] deeply racist, from slavery and segregation, to redlining and current criminal justice policies.”
Rhynhart also alleges that pro-Trump protesters were free to demonstrate violently without police interference while wealthier neighborhoods saw a more urgent response than those populated with minorities.
“We need to acknowledge that the senseless deaths of people at the hands of police, like George Floyd and many others, are not unavoidable tragedies, but rather the consequences of the larger deep-seated problem of structural racism in a system where advantage is based on race,” the report reads.
Outlaw defended herself on Thursday, saying the chaos that swept Philadelphia’s streets over the summer was unprecedented.
“There was simply not a blueprint for what our city faced this summer,” Outlaw said. “No police commissioner [or] superintendent has ever had to deal with what we dealt with in the past year.”
Outlaw’s remarks were not enough to stave off demands that she step down from her position. The Philadelphia Inquirer, the largest paper in the city, wrote that the report’s conclusions constitute a violation of “human rights.”
The paper’s editorial board also demanded Kenney’s resignation for neglecting “to take necessary precautions” during the summer’s protests.
“This moment is a litmus test of how progressive, inclusive and honest our city is in protecting the rights of all its citizens,” the paper’s editorial reads. “Silence isn’t an option. To deflect at this point is to antagonize. You can’t say Black Lives Matter while allowing sitting city officials who disrupted such a message to remain in power. It’s time to prioritize people over politics. It’s time to have courage. Kenney and Outlaw should resign immediately, and the City Council should lead the call for such action until they do.”
Outlaw previously served as Portland, Oregon’s chief of police before taking the job in Philadelphia in February 2020. Her successor resigned just five months later after failing to calm tensions in the city. Portland, which has faced regular violent disturbances from left-wing activist groups for over six months, banned the use of tear gas in September of last year.
Both Kenney and Outlaw have said they won’t resign from their posts and called the city’s report an unfair assessment.
During her two-year stint in Portland, Outlaw faced similar criticisms regarding her oversight of law enforcement responses to political demonstrations. While some on the Left alleged brutality against those who participated in the demonstrations, others on the Right called Portland’s response a dereliction of the local government’s basic job of protecting its people.
“I tell you, ‘Meet me after school at 3:00. Right? We’re gonna fight,'” Outlaw said in a 2018 interview following complaints from protesters about law enforcement’s use of rubber bullets and pepper spray. “And I come with the intention to fight. And then you get mad because I kicked your butt. And then you go back, and you wail off and whine and complain.”
