Public Safety Committee Mulls Parking, Police

Construction on Michigan Avenue is causing illegal parking on School Lane in Swarthmore.

“I have an elderly mother and a teenaged driver.”

“School buses come down our street, which is very tight as it is.”

“It’s very difficult when I get home after work and I can’t park my car.”

These were some of the frustrations residents of School Lane in Swarthmore expressed at the July 27 meeting of the borough council’s Public Safety Committee. New construction of five homes on Michigan Avenue in Ridley, just across the street, has brought a glut of construction vehicles to their narrow, one-block road. These often park illegally, blocking sight lines and even driveways. 

Police Chief Raymond Stufflet offered to put temporary “no parking” signs at the end of the block as reminders that parking within 30 feet of an intersection is illegal in Pennsylvania. He also said his officers would speak to the contractors. “We’ll start by notifying them,” he said. Once the signs are in place, “We can check every single day and start issuing tickets.”

Stufflet invited residents to call 911 to report illegally parked cars. In Delaware County, 911 is not solely for emergencies.

Residents also expressed concern about overflow parking on their street once the new houses are occupied. With no legal parking on Michigan Avenue, School Lane has the closest available parking spots to the new neighborhood. Prohibiting overnight parking for non-residents on School Lane would be a useful step in avoiding the problem, the committee decided.

Borough Manager Jane Billings gave some history on overnight parking prohibitions in town, which she said were designed to keep college students who did not have on-campus parking privileges from storing cars for weeks at a time on borough streets. Parking is commonly prohibited between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m., but Billings said the ordinance could list any hours the council decided would be useful. 

After a long discussion of residents’ various parking needs, as well as school bus use of School Lane to access CADES, the committee settled on a midnight to 9 a.m. prohibition. Nearby Bryn Mawr and Westminster avenues and the first block of Drew Avenue will be included in the draft ordinance that committee chair Jill Gaieski will present to the full council on August 10. 

Several residents thanked the committee.

Police Policy Review

Mayor Marty Spiegel informed the committee that he and Chief Stufflet have been meeting with borough resident Virginia Adams O’Connell to review Swarthmore police policies and procedures. In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd and summer protests against police brutality, O’Connell, a sociologist, contacted them with a list of questions.

Spiegel said he and Stufflet believe Swarthmore’s policies are strong. He offered to share them with council members.

Stufflet, whose tenure as police chief began in 2019, said policies are supposed to be reviewed every two years. Some of Swarthmore’s have not been reassessed since 2012, he added. In addition to the use-of-force policy, Stufflet is reviewing the policies on bias in policing and on departmental response to citizen complaints. He is comparing them to Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Accreditation Program policies, considered the gold standard for commonwealth police departments. So far, he has found no needed changes, he said.

All Swarthmore police have undergone de-escalation training, Stufflet said. He hopes to make such training annual. Officers also undergo anti-bias and mental health crisis education.

In response to a question by committee member Betsy Larsen, Stufflet said that chokeholds, or any holds restricting airflow, are banned in Swarthmore, except in the rare situations that authorize use of deadly force. This has been the department’s policy for 20 years, he said.

Billings told the committee that the borough’s annual insurance company review provides an additional assurance about police policies. “We’re all interested in doing the right thing,” she said. “Insurance companies are additionally concerned that we do not get dragged into court.”

Informing the Community

Gaieski wondered how residents might learn about these policies and their regular review. “It’s so important that the community know about this,” she said. 

Stufflet agreed. “We are very much interested in making sure that we are doing the job that our residents expect from us,” he said. “We want to put to bed any concerns that they may have.” He thought O’Connell, the sociologist, would be a useful conduit for getting the information out.

“Have you considered a town hall?” Gaieski asked.

Stufflet said he could imagine holding an event for a few people at a time. But, he asked, “If we end up having the whole borough hall packed with people, is anybody going to hear anything?” 

Spiegel added, “We want to make sure, when we disseminate information, that it’s done in the way that’s most effective and helpful. All ideas are on the table.” He also noted that it was in the council’s and the mayor’s interest that the policies be appropriate and up to date. “Both the mayor and council are in the line of liability in the event that something goes awry,” he said.

“My concern is less about liability,” Gaieski remarked, “and more about if people are being treated appropriately and not unfairly.”

Gaieski advised the chief that proactively communicating about police policies, and the department’s efforts to keep them up-to-date, would be appreciated by the community.