DOJ, Police Advisory Commission to Hold Forum Thursday Night for Public Questions About Philly Police-Involved Shootings

The USDOJ Community-Oriented Police Services (COPS) office and the Police Advisory Commission (PAC)  are inviting Philadelphians to a public forum tonight in Council Chambers, Room 400 at City Hall at 6 PM, to ask questions regarding a Department of Justice review of Philadelphia Police-involved shootings. The review was requested by PPD Commissioner Charles Ramsey in 2013.

CBS News reported last August, when Ramsey took the “extraordinary step” of inviting the DOJ to investigate his department after the 125th Philly police-involved shooting in 2 years. :

(CBS) PHILADELPHIA — The confrontation that led to Michael Berry’s death on a Philadelphia sidewalk last summer was captured on surveillance video.

Berry, seen leaning through a car window, had just stabbed a man he’d gotten into a fistfight with moments earlier, when plainclothes officers from the Philadelphia Police Department arrived. One officer fired seven shots, killing Berry. The Philadelphia District Attorney’s office said the shooting was justified.

“I take this very, very seriously,” says Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey. “There is nothing more serious that an officer can do to take another life or shoot another individual.”

Thirty-seven people have died, and in some neighborhoods, anger has boiled over, as it did in May, when officers shot seven people in one week. Four died.

Organizations and individuals wishing to add commentary during tonight’s forum are asked to contact PAC Executive Director Kelvyn Anderson (email kelvyn.anderson@phila.gov, phone 215 685 0891).