Who is Kevin Bethel? What you need to know about Philadelphia's next police commissioner
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Kevin Bethel has been officially named as Philadelphia's next police commissioner, appearing alongside Mayor-elect Cherelle Parker, former top cop Charles Ramsey and other leaders Wednesday in a news conference at City Hall.
The West Philadelphia native says he's honored to take the job and is ready to keep the city safe, and his messages of hope and optimism echo Parker's campaign mantra that Philly will become the "safest, cleanest, greenest" big city in the country.
"The challenges our city faces are significant, but they are solvable," Bethel said Wednesday. "Experience has taught me that the right strategy, the right tactics, and solid solutions will deliver a safe city and make our police department the best in the nation."
A major part of his new role will be building public trust as he tackles challenges facing the department.
"I'm a proud Philly cop. I'm proud to be a cop," Bethel said. "But we're not your enemy. We're here to serve. We have our issues, and we can address them."
"And I ask you to give us the opportunity to do that, the opportunity to serve you, in this space," he added. "Give us the opportunity to be what you want us to be. Raise your voices when they need to be raised. But let us be a part of the community. Let us work with you in that work."
Bethel takes office in January after Parker is sworn in as mayor. Here are three things you need to know about his background, how he was selected and his goals for the department.
How Kevin Bethel was selected as Philadelphia police commissioner
After clinching the Democratic mayoral primary in May, Parker began searching for potential candidates for a potential mayoral administration, she said.
She brought in former Philadelphia police commissioners Charles Ramsey and Richard Ross to interview candidates for the police commissioner job.
Ramsey said candidates were asked about how they would work with the District Attorney's Office and the courts, the Fraternal Order of Police and what they would do about Kensington, an open-air drug market that has garnered national attention for the city.
Bethel emerged as a finalist in that process.
Ramsey first met Bethel in 2008 when he served as a captain in the 17th police district in South Philadelphia. Ramsey said he promoted Bethel straight from captain to deputy commissioner after seeing how he ran the district and its juvenile enforcement teams as well.
"I never ever once regretted it, it's one of the best, if not the best decisions I made as police commissioner here in Philadelphia," Ramsey said.
Parker said Bethel was super-prepared and came to his interview with a book's worth of annotations to her neighborhood safety and community policing plan that she introduced while in City Council. She said he was the most well-versed in the plan.
"The promise of safety comes from the ground up, and while the promise is simple, we're real clear that the lift is heavy, and we can't do it alone," Parker said.
Ramsey and Ross also wanted to recommend to Parker candidates who can succeed in the city.
"You know, Philly is not easy...I can tell you from experience," Ramsey said. "And not everyone can handle Philly. And you can look good on paper, that doesn't always translate into your ability to be able to operationalize concepts, to be able to get people on board, from the kind of collaborations and partnerships that are necessary in order to make you effective."
Bethel thinks highly of interim police commissioner John Stanford
John Stanford, a former police spokesperson and a deputy commissioner under Danielle Outlaw, has been filling in as interim commissioner since Outlaw's resignation.
Outlaw resigned Sept. 22 to take a job as the deputy chief security officer at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Bethel invited the crowd to applaud Stanford and said he's proud of the work he has done as interim commissioner in a difficult time.
Those difficulties included the on-duty death of officer Richard Mendez at a Philadelphia International Airport parking garage and multiple nights of looting in September after charges were dropped against ex-officer Mark Dial in the shooting of Eddie Irizarry.
"John is somebody who I have very much confidence in being part of my administration moving forward, and we'll talk about that at a later time, but let's just put that on the record," Bethel said.
Bethel's record includes juvenile justice initiatives and school safety
Bethel has served as Chief of School Safety in the School District of Philadelphia since 2019. In that role, Bethel "oversaw a sea change in juvenile justice interventions" that kept kids out of jail, District Attorney Larry Krasner said in a statement.
Ramsey says Bethel once walked into his office and told him "we're locking up too many kids," sparking changes in the department.
Bethel later started the Law Enforcement Juvenile Justice Institute, which encourages a rehabilitative approach to youth crimes, and he's given lectures on diversionary programs for Georgetown University's Center for Juvenile Justice Reform.
In the school district, he heard stories of students who faced gun violence - and several who were killed, including some near their school.
He says he can relate to some residents' fears of crime.
"I lived in it, where kids were being shot in front of my schools," Bethel said. "I never thought I would take a job where a kid would get killed at the doorstep of a school."
"I can't tell you how unacceptable it is that I have a school now [in Kensington] where I have bulletproof blankets on the windows because someone shot through the glass," he later added.
Bethel says he'll use a data-driven approach to policing that will help focus efforts on safer schools.
"Data tells us the when, the where, the why and the how of where we should put our men and women. If I sit there and tell you that most of our juveniles are shot in five ZIP codes, then we should use that data to direct our efforts into that space," Bethel said.
"If I tell you that my kids live in 18 ZIP codes and most of my kids are shot two and a half hours after school, within two miles of school, then we should focus our efforts in those places," he added.
The commissioner takes over next year.
