Philly’s First Black Woman Police Commissioner Makes Shocking Exit

On Tuesday, it was announced that Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw will resign from her posi­tion lat­er this month. Outlaw, who became the first Black woman to helm the depart­ment, held the posi­tion for three years. Her tenure start­ed just before the pan­dem­ic which was fol­lowed by the Black Lives Matter protests. During the 2020 protests, the Philadelphia city coun­cil issued a state­ment say­ing that the police response to pro­tes­tors with rub­ber bul­lets and tear gas were “bru­tal” and “unac­cept­able.” The city issued a $9.25 mil­lion set­tle­ment to hun­dreds of par­tic­i­pants stem­ming from police con­duct, though at first Outlaw defend­ed the actions of authorities

Last year, two female for­mer offi­cers who filed a gen­der dis­crim­i­na­tion and sex­u­al harass­ment law­suit against Outlaw and the city won a $1 mil­lion ver­dict. The women claimed that they suf­fered a hos­tile work envi­ron­ment that includ­ed being placed in cer­tain jobs as retal­i­a­tion after they made com­plaints sex­u­al harass­ment com­plaints. Kenney has con­firmed that First Deputy John M. Stanford Jr. as inter­im police commissioner.