Police in some communities in northwest Philadelphia will take the lead in participating in a three-month initiative that aims to evaluate new intercept and search methods, and advocates hope to eventually implement it throughout the city.

Starting this Sunday, the 14th Police District will launch a new pilot program to explore alternatives to intercept and search strategies. The 14th district includes Germantown and most of the mountains. Airy and Kuriyama.

The task of the police is to simply ask the person who committed the petty crime to stop what they are doing and walk away. Law enforcement agencies must not write down someone’s name, request someone’s identification, or contact someone in any way. Only when someone refuses to comply can the police be allowed to stop and search.

between Minor offences covered by the plan as follows:

• Open the alcohol container
• Public smoking of marijuana
• Noise complaints
• Obstruct highways or sidewalks
• Spitting
• Misconduct
• Provocative violation
• Littering garbage in parks or other public places
• Urinate
• gamble
• Begging
• Prostitution

The police will also be required to record all such encounters with their carry-on camera and notify the police radio station.

Advocates hope that the pilot program will help reduce racial disparities and change the way police interact with people who commit minor crimes.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Pennsylvania Executive Director Reggie Shuford said: “This pilot program will reduce the level of police encounters, especially with blacks, because these encounters often become dangerous or fatal. .” Say“We need to reimagine how the police interact with our community, and we hope this is a meaningful step in this direction.”

After analyzing the data provided by Philadelphia and the American Civil Liberties Union, a federal judge will decide in three months whether the pilot project should be extended to other parts of Philadelphia.

“The plan will show that it is possible to protect the community without increasing small-scale police contact. We look forward to seeing it spread throughout the city,” said Mary Catherine Roper, ACLU, Deputy Legal Director of Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia Police Spokesperson Tell why The pilot program is a “balanced approach that still allows PPD to resolve community complaints, while working to reduce or eliminate racial disparities associated with such enforcement.”

Federal judge Approval to implement the pilot last month. The initiative also called for a plan to monitor the racial differences in pedestrian interception and body searches by police and their commanders, and to establish an accountability and discipline system for those who engage in such acts.

The Philadelphia police are also responsible for designating “accountable officers” to monitor interceptions, body searches, and racial differences in the five designated police districts. The police department will also provide annual training and random audits of body camera lenses.

ACLU and other civil rights lawyers in Pennsylvania Lawsuit filed in 2010 Oppose the city’s intercept and search practices in Philadelphia, accusing the city’s police department of intercepting black and Latino men based solely on race and ethnicity. The complaint stated that as part of the city’s intercept and search policy, thousands of people are illegally intercepted, searched, searched and detained by Philadelphia police every year.

The city and the American Civil Liberties Union reached a settlement in 2011 on the matter. As part of the agreement, the city’s police department is responsible for collecting data on all parking and body searches and races intercepted and searched, all of which will be stored in an online database.

The settlement agreement also requires the police department to provide police officers with necessary interception and search practice training and supervision, and to establish a monitoring system in which independent observers designated by the police department and the court can analyze interception and search data. The task of the municipal government and the American Civil Liberties Union is to submit annual data reports to the courts.

For the past ten years, the Philadelphia Police Department has been under an independent monitor ordered by the court to oversee changes to ensure that more interceptions and searches are not racially motivated. Independent inspectors have the right to recommend practices and policies to ensure that police interceptions and searches are appropriate and compliant.

An interception search means that the police stop the pedestrian for questioning, and then tap the person’s coat based on reasonable suspicion of criminal activity and the person’s possible weapons.

This strategy is often discussed in conversations about racial profiling, especially in Philadelphia, where in 2019, about 70% of the 77,000 people intercepted and searched were black.

Data from Philadelphia shows that almost half of Philadelphia’s pedestrian stops are for low-level violations. In a report submitted last year to examine data for the second half of 2019, 16% of interceptions and 32% of body searches occurred without reasonable suspicion that the person committed a crime.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, blacks are more likely to be stopped because of race, especially in police districts where the black population is less than the white population.

More than 82% of Philadelphians Voted on a ballot question last year Make interception and search illegal and modify the language in the city charter to outlaw this practice in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia police continued to use this strategy.

The Philadelphia City Council passed legislation on this voting issue in June last year. It is not long before the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis triggered nationwide protests against police brutality. To one month.