"I believe that a number of members of Penn’s police force are also 
Philadelphia police officers...."
 
Those beliefs and suspicions are incorrect.  Police officers cannot work for 
two different police departments at the same time. Penn Police and the 
Philadelphia Police are two separate police departments. They have overlapping 
jurisdictions insofar as the Penn Police patrol area falls within the Phila. 
Police Dept's 18th District.  Sharing the same patrol area does not mean that 
the two departments are one and the same.  
 
The Lieutenant in question has one job title, that of being a Lieutenant of the 
Philadelphia Police Department. He is an Officer employed by the City of 
Philadelphia. He is detailed to a Philadelphia Police substation on premises 
donated by the University City District.  This arrangement is similar to the 
former Police Substation at 50th and Baltimore donated by the then-operater of 
the Firehouse Farmer's Market [now Dock Street] and paid for by Cedar Park 
Neighbors, and the current Squirrel Hill Substation operated at 46th and 
Chester.   Although private and community entities provided the money and 
premises in order for the substations to operate, no one dared suggest that 
doing so made the Police Officers detailed to those substations the employees 
or subordinates of those non-police entities.  
 
Being detailed to the substation donated by UCD does not make the Lieutenant an 
employee of the University City District, any more than being detailed to the 
sports complex would make him an employee of the Eagles or the Phillies.  
 
It is deceitful of UCD and demeaning to the Lieutenant to make it appear that 
the Lieutenant is subordinate to UCD administration, rather than being the 
Commander of a Philadelphia Police Substation that happens to be supplied by 
UCD. He is responsible to the Philadelphia Police chain of command, not to 
Lewis Wendell or UCD.  It is a deliberate blurring of authority that further 
creates the impression that UCD is a governmental entity in and of itself, with 
authority over everything in this area, including the duly sworn officers of 
the Philadelphia Police Department.
 
Karen Allen________________________________
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: RE: [UC] Who do sworn officers of 
the Philadelphia Police report to?Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2007 23:57:27 -0400





I believe that a number of members of Penn’s police force are also Philadelphia 
police officers.  I suspect that they are clear on the lines of authority, that 
card notwithstanding.  Presumably the officer in question has two job titles, 
and chose the more impressive of the two to put on the card.
 
I think this is a long standing arrangement, and presumably the University and 
the Philadelphia police department both find it to their advantage.
 
I really don’t know more than this—asking the officer in question directly 
would probably get more useful information.
 
He can be reached at:  [EMAIL PROTECTED], or 215 243 0555, extension 241.
 
 


From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of KAREN ALLENSent: 
Thursday, September 27, 2007 9:58 PMTo: 'University City List'Subject: RE: [UC] 
Who do sworn officers of the Philadelphia Police report to?
 
The card was not for a Lieutenant of the University of Pennsylvania Police 
department. It was for a Lieutenant of the PHILADELPHIA Police Department.   
The PHILADELPHIA Police Department and its employees are not employees of Penn, 
the Penn Police, or of UCD. It is a governmental agency of the CITY OF 
PHILADELPHIA, wholly supported by and answerable to the citizens of 
Philadelphia and its elected representatives, and NOT to UCD.  Having a UCD 
business card with the name of a ranking member of the PHILADELPHIA Police 
Department mentioned in small letters symbolically, if not actually, subjects 
the Lieutenant to the perception that he is nothing more than a subordinate of 
UCD and its administrators, and that UCD has authority in Philadelphia Police 
matters which supercedes that of the Lieutenant's actual employer, the citizens 
and elected representatives of the City of Philadelphia. Karen Allen   > From: 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: UnivCity@list.purple.com> Subject: RE: [UC] Who do sworn 
officers of the Philadelphia Police report to?> Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:50:37 
-0400> > I'm a little startled at all the posters here for whom this 
information here> seems to be new.> > I don't think much has changed in the way 
Penn's police force has worked in> many years.> > Nothing I've read here 
differs from what I understood about their police> force when I moved into the 
neighborhood about 35 years ago.> > Somehow, I can't read the wording on that 
card as some new sign of decline> in democracy, but then I've always had a 
sunny disposition.> > ----> You are receiving this because you are subscribed 
to the> list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see> 
<http://www.purple.com/list.html>.> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: 
UnivCity@list.purple.com> Subject: RE: [UC] Who do sworn officers of the 
Philadelphia Police report to?> Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:50:37 -0400> > I'm a 
little startled at all the posters here for whom this information here> seems 
to be new.> > I don't think much has changed in the way Penn's police force has 
worked in> many years.> > Nothing I've read here differs from what I understood 
about their police> force when I moved into the neighborhood about 35 years 
ago.> > Somehow, I can't read the wording on that card as some new sign of 
decline> in democracy, but then I've always had a sunny disposition.> > ----> 
You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the> list named 
"UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see> 
<http://www.purple.com/list.html>.

Reply via email to