Open Letter: Drexel University Police Can’t Be Reformed
Following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others at the hands of police, Drexel University hired the consulting firm 21CP Solutions to conduct an “independent review” of its own police department.
Drexel Community for Justice was asked to submit testimony as part of this review process — the contents of which are below:
Dear 21CP Solutions,
We write to you as members of Drexel Community for Justice, an anti-racist, abolitionist organization, to express our views regarding the Drexel University Police Department (DUPD). We believe that Drexel University cannot claim its commitment to dismantling racist policies and structures while continuing to fund a private police force.
As a private police force, DUPD is not subject to the same oversight and control as public entities. Despite its private ownership, DUPD’s patrol extends far beyond land occupied by the University. DUPD is one of five patrol units in the University City area. The over policing of these neighborhoods is a continued assault on the predominantly Black residents who live there.
Drexel police apply harsher legal action to non-student residents compared to students. Further, this department regularly exceeds its jurisdiction to police West Philadelphia residents. Most recently, on May 31st, DUPD aided the Philadelphia Police Department the day it used tear gas and rubber bullets to terrorize residents of 52nd Street. Drexel police claimed that they were responding to calls for backup from Philadelphia Police. However, investigative reporting has demonstrated that no such calls took place.
Any review of Drexel police should address core issues within the institution, including the racialization and criminalization of West Philadelphia residents which has only been exacerbated by Drexel’s aggressive expansion.
We are disturbed by Drexel’s decision to hire your firm, 21CP Solutions, to conduct an independent review.
If 21CP was truly committed to empowering communities to “develop and implement equitable and integrity-driven public safety,” you would recommend shifting Drexel’s public safety budget to fund resources that actually keep communities safe — affordable housing, community mental health centers, and public education, to name a few. However, given your firm’s record, we have no confidence that this will be the case.
After all, your firm made recommendations to the Minneapolis Police Department 4 months prior to the murder of George Floyd. More recently, your review of Yale’s police department “fail[ed] to analyze root questions of systemic racism and inequality”, particularly, by not analyzing racial disparities in Yale’s policing practices. Further, your major recommendations in the Yale report were not aimed at minimizing repressive police practices but actually augmenting their size and scope.
21CP’s reformist approach cannot alter a system that is designed, at its core, to uphold White Supremacy. History has shown that there has never been a reform of policing that has eliminated the violence that directly impacted communities experience at the hands of police. Any measure taken to reduce police violence should involve divestment from policing and investment in our communities.
Sincerely,
Drexel Community for Justice
