Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed an executive order on Friday establishing the Pennsylvania State Law Enforcement Citizen Advisory Commission.
The purpose of the Commission is to improve policing practices within law enforcement agencies under the Governor’s jurisdiction. The Commission is comprised of Pennsylvania citizens focused on promoting transparency, fairness, and accountability among the Commonwealth’s state law enforcement agencies by examining events and conducting reviews of policies, practices, and procedures.
In a press release announcing the Commission, Wolf said his “administration is committed to bipartisan criminal justice reforms that are fair and inclusive and support public safety.” Wolf also said that the “executive order moves us one more step forward to address the systemic failings that have created inequities and public mistrust of law enforcement.”
The Commission is authorized to review the internal investigative findings “related to allegations and incidents related to use of force and bias-based policing” in three categories: (a) “all investigations of police-involved shootings resulting in injury or death of civilians;” (b) “a representative, random sampling of investigations of lower level uses of force resulting in injury or death, including arrest and control techniques, baton strikes, and Conducted Energy Weapon deployment;” and (c) “all investigations related to allegations of racial or ethnic discrimination and other bias-based policing or external complaints of bias or discrimination during interactions.” “Bias-based policing” is defined in the executive order as “the unreasonable use of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender or religion,” but not when combined “with other identifying factors.”
The Commission is authorized to conduct these reviews of “covered agencies,” which includes “all law enforcement agencies under the Governor’s jurisdiction, including, but not limited to, the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP), the Department of General Services Capitol Police, and the Department of Conservation & Natural Resources (DCNR) Park Rangers.”
The scope of the Commission’s review is (a) to determine “whether the investigations were prompt, fair, impartial and complete,” (b) “whether the findings and discipline were reasonable,” and (c) to prepare a recommendation to correct a deficiency if one is found.
The Commission will be composed of 21 voting members. Fifteen of those members will be appointed by the governor from each of the State Police geographic areas, and the additional six will be chosen at-large. Additionally, there will be six non-voting, ex-officio members representing the Office of the Governor, The General Counsel, Commission of the Pennsylvania State Police, Chief of Capitol Police, Secretary of Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. The Commission will be established within the Office of State Inspector General.
Wolf said, “It is my hope that with input from the commission, the commonwealth’s law enforcement agencies can serve as a model of excellence for law enforcement throughout Pennsylvania and the country.”
