Harrisburg may hire social workers, violence ‘interrupters’ with money from police budget: mayor

"We’re going to talk about a lot of changes for the police budget this year.”

• By Christine Vendel/PennLive

As the nation debates “defunding police,” Harrisburg officials are considering shaking up its next budget to allow for public safety programs that better serve marginalized residents, Mayor Eric Papenfuse said Sunday.

The slogan “defund police” chanted by protesters doesn’t always mean abolishing police, but rather diverting some of the funding traditionally used for police to other programs that directly benefit residents in neighborhoods that don’t often get investment.

The proposal has gained some traction across the nation in recent weeks after the death of George Floyd while in custody of Minneapolis police. Videos of some officers battering protesters while they were rallying against police brutality has amplified calls for new and different public safety models.

Advocates say additional training and body cameras haven’t prompted the change they want from police, so divesting funds from departments can help end the culture of punishment in the criminal justice system.

“We don’t always get a lot of feedback about our budget,” Papenfuse told reporters Sunday at an anti-racism rally. “But we’re going to talk about a lot of changes for the police budget this year.”

The city allocates nearly $20 million annually to the police department, from its nearly $75 million general fund. Nearly $18 million that goes to police goes to pay personnel costs such as salaries and benefits.

The city has had difficulty in recent years keeping officer positions filled, so money from those vacancies could instead be used to hire social workers to embed in the police department, to take the lead on certain kinds of calls involving mental illness or substance abuse, the mayor said.

Another idea is to hire residents respected in the community who could act as “violence interrupters” in their neighborhoods to try to de-escalate conflicts, thwart violence before it happens and prevent retaliatory shootings.

The city also could invest more in programs at the school district, like establishing career pathways to become police officers and curriculum to support that.

Additional training for officers is another way the city could invest in police reform, Papenfuse said. The mayor didn’t advocate for cutting police officer positions, which already have been reduced in recent years amid the city’s financial crisis.

“We want to spend money on the things the community wants to see,” he said. “The police budget already is relatively small, and nearly all personnel costs, so there isn’t a lot of fat to trim.”

But the mayor said the city could be willing to dip into its $25 million fund balance or find other ways to pay for important programs that could better reduce violence and serve residents.

“We want to reform our priorities,” he said, “rather than doing the same thing and investing more and more in the same policing.”

The mayor typically presents his budget proposal in November, and its followed by public meetings and a council vote in December.

Before the public budget process begins, Harrisburg leaders also are considering changes to policies that guide police behavior. For example:

Should Harrisburg police be allowed to shoot at drivers in moving vehicles if they believe their life is threatened by the vehicle?

It’s a controversial policing tactic that is banned in many cities,but still allowed in Harrisburg under certain circumstances. A Harrisburg officer fatally shot a driver in Hall Manor for allegedly driving his car at an officer in 2018.

Should Harrisburg police be required to intervene if another officer is using excessive force? That’s not a policy currently adopted in the capital city.

Those were some of the questions posed by Papenfuse Sunday at the rally. He said the city is currently seeking feedback from residents about eight proposed police reforms circulating nationally, known as “8 Can’t Wait.”

The city’s force already has policies addressing six of the reforms, but not a policy banning officers from shooting at moving vehicles, which has been deemed dangerous and ineffective by many experts.

The city also doesn’t require the intervention of other officers who witness excessive force, although officers are encouraged to do so and the city has two recent examples of their officers independently reporting police misconduct.

A Harrisburg police officer was the one who tipped off the department when a vice sergeant was accused of stealing cash from the evidence locker in 2016; and Harrisburg officers were the ones to stop and turn in a Pennsylvania State Police trooper for kicking a handcuffed man in the face in 2015.

While Harrisburg has six of the recommended policies on the books, those six policies could still need to be strengthened or altered, Papenfuse said.

The other six recommended policies are:

• Ban chokeholds and all other neck restraints
• Require officers to de-escalate situations, where possible, by communicating with subjects, maintaining distance, and otherwise eliminating the need to use force.
• Require officers to exhaust all other alternatives, including non-force and less lethal force options, prior to resorting to deadly force.
• Establish a Force Continuum that restricts the most severe types of force to the most extreme situations and creates clear policy restrictions on the use of each police weapon and tactic.
• Require officers to report each time they use force or threaten to use force against civilians. Comprehensive reporting includes requiring officers to report whenever they point a firearm at someone, in addition to all other types of force.
• Require officers to give a verbal warning in all situations before using deadly force.

While the city requires officers to give a verbal warning, Papenfuse said city leaders are exploring whether the city require more of officers before they resort to deadly force.

City leaders also are considering whether to allow officers to continue to shoot at moving vehicles in some circumstances, since vehicles at times have been used to ram into protesters or other crowds. But do residents want to allow their officers this leeway? A man in the audience demanded to know Papenfuse’s position on this policy.

“An outright ban is something we should consider,” the mayor responded.

The city established an email address to collect thoughts, comments and concerns from residents about police policies.

Interested residents can send their comments to: 8cantwait@harrisburgpa.gov

PennLive and The Patriot-News are partners with PA Post.