Northwest Philly lawmakers hold public safety forum
Rep. Stephen Kinsey February 18, 2022 | 5:16 PM
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 18 – In an effort to ensure the safest and strongest neighborhoods for northwest Philadelphia residents, state Reps. Stephen Kinsey, Darisha Parker and Isabella Fitzgerald, all D-Phila., today continued their quest of holding public safety meetings, this one organized with a focus on local clergy, newly promoted police leadership in northwest Philadelphia and community leaders.
Meeting attendees gathered at 10 a.m. at Grace Baptist Church in Germantown to discuss how lawmakers, police, clergy, community leaders and residents can work together to improve police/community relations and make northwest Philadelphia communities safer for residents.
“We cannot solve the problems in our communities unless we come together as a community and work hard on finding the solutions that will lift us out of the violence and poverty that plagues our city,” Kinsey said. “That’s why we must continue to bring together elected officials, law enforcement, clergy and other community stakeholders, not just once, but regularly and with purpose, to develop a strategy that will ultimately save lives and improve everyone’s quality of life.”
Those contributing information and ideas at today’s public safety conversation included:
- Reps. Kinsey, Parker and Fitzgerald; Congressman Dwight Evans; and Sens. Sharif Street and Art Haywood.
- Dr. Pamela Tull, who gave a presentation of data from a public safety meeting held on Oct. 28.
- Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw and Deputy Commissioner Joel Dales.
- Northwest Inspector Nicholas Smith and Police Captains from the 5th (Samantha Brown), 14th (Austin Fraser), 35th (Myesha Massey) and 39th (Joseph Busa) districts.
- Kevin Bethel, Chief Safety Officer for the School District of Philadelphia.
- G. Lamar Stewart, Chief, Community Engagement Unit, Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.
- David Oliver, Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations.
Photos from today’s meeting can be found here. A video recap of the meeting can be found here.