Council Looks to Study Attitudes on Swarthmore Police
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What are the Swarthmore Police Department’s policies and procedures? When are officers permitted to use force? If they do, how do they report it, and to whom? Are officers trained in de-escalation?
Swarthmore resident Virginia Adams O’Connell attended borough council’s Public Safety Committee meeting last week to talk about ways to answer these and similar questions for the Swarthmore community.
A sociologist, Adams O’Connell teaches sociology of law in the criminal justice program at Moravian College. But over the summer, when questions about police raged across the country, she realized “that I don’t know my own department,” she told the committee. “And I don’t know its policies.”
Failing to find any information on the borough website, she contacted Mayor Marty Spiegel with a list of questions. The mayor proposed a conversation with him and Swarthmore Police Chief Ray Stufflet. They’d be happy, he said, to tell her anything she wanted to know.
The trio had three “incredibly engaging” conversations, Adams O’Connell said. But she wondered how to share what she had learned with the community.
Answering that question was one of her goals in attending the meeting. Spiegel and Stufflet attended as well, reporting that they share Adams O’Connell’s desire to communicate with the town.
Adams O’Connell suggested that police policies be published on the borough website. Stufflet agreed to post policies of interest, provided the borough solicitor agrees.
Surveying Town Attitudes?
Adams O’Connell also recommended that the conversation about the borough and its police force extend further. She urged the committee to consider commissioning a formal survey of borough residents about their understanding of Swarthmore police procedures and their experiences with the police.
Such a survey, she said, “could be a way for the borough to collect information, residents to participate in dialogue, and the department itself to figure out what it wants to know about what residents are thinking during this time of national crisis and conversation about police reform.”
Characterizing the conversations with Adams O’Connell as useful, Stufflet said he is open to hearing opinions about the department. “If we don’t know what we may be doing wrong, then we can never move forward,” he said.
Spiegel agreed. “A well constructed survey could be extremely helpful,” he said, adding, “Neither of us has any concerns about what a survey would show.”
Committee chair Jill Gaieski asked whether a public forum would gather community input better than a survey. Adams O’Connell said no, since a professional survey that systematically sampled residents would avoid the pitfall of what social scientists call “response bias.” People who make the time to attend open forums, she explained, typically feel passionately about an issue, so are unlikely to give a representative picture of community attitudes. “At some point taking it to the public would be wonderful,” Adams O’Connell said. “But I don’t think we’re ready yet.”
A Task Force?
Committee member Ross Schmucki wondered about organizing a task force to study police-community relations. He cited the precedent of Swarthmore’s Aging-in-Place Task Force, which issued a report in 2015. Such a document could be a useful resource, he said.
Member Betsy Larsen agreed. “For council to appoint a task force to look into these issues would make a really profound statement,” she said. She also noted that task force recommendations could lead to legislative action.
Borough Manager Jane Billings cautioned that it might be better to wait to form a task force until goals and issues are clarified. A survey “might help frame some of those issues,” she said. “We have no idea what they are right now.”
Larsen wanted more explanation of what either a survey or a task force might hope to uncover. “Where we sit right now in this community, I’m not sure we have any issues with the police,” she said.
Gaieski disagreed, noting that committee members are unlikely to know the full range of community experiences.
Schmucki asked about the cost of a survey, which Adams O’Connell offered to investigate.
Adams O’Connell, Spiegel, and Stufflet agreed to come back to the committee after further discussion to clarify their goals. “I think it’s great that we’re starting this conversation,” Spiegel said.
Energy-Efficient Police Car
Stufflet also reported that the department is preparing for a regularly scheduled police car replacement. He hopes to acquire a hybrid, which he estimated will cost about $3,000 more than a conventional gasoline-engine car. Billings said grant money might be available to fund the difference.
Larsen noted that the Environmental Advisory Council — which is working on ways to help the borough achieve its commitment to 100% renewable electricity use in all borough homes, businesses, and government buildings by 2030 — has been collecting data about police departments that have adopted electric cars. According to Larsen, the EAC hoped the police department would buy a fully electric vehicle, noting that a majority of the borough government’s energy use comes from gasoline and diesel fuel. Stufflet said his research indicates that aftermarket packages police vehicles need — like lights and bars — are not yet reliably available for electric cars.
A Ninth Officer
Stufflet also urged the committee to consider recommending that the borough hire a ninth police officer. The police force shrank from nine to eight in 2018 after a retirement, at which time borough council declined to hire a ninth officer. Stufflet believes restoring manpower to 2018 levels would relieve overworked officers.
An in-depth study of the department, requested by borough council and conducted by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, was recently completed. The report has not yet been forwarded to the borough, but Stufflet says he was told it will recommend hiring a ninth officer.
Billings estimated that a new full-time officer would cost the borough a minimum of $125,000 per year, including contributions to pension, worker’s compensation, and health insurance.
She also noted that she was neither interviewed for the report nor asked to contribute data. She said she is eager to compare the report to the borough’s figures.
Schmucki noted that questions about police staffing in the borough are long-standing and wondered if some current police work could be done by others. He recalled reading police reports in earlier years: “Thirty-six percent of these things are going to somebody’s house where the grandparent has dementia and the son or daughter is worried that they’re lost,” he said. “Are there things being done where we don’t need a full-fledged officer with a gun?”
Stufflet noted that no such alternative system currently exists. Also, he said, situations in which people experience a change of mental status “are never dangerous until they are.”
The committee deferred further conversation until the full report is available.
The next Public Safety Committee Meeting is Monday, October 26, at 7 p.m.
