Philadelphia DA Hits Police Department with Contempt Over Sharing of Officer Misconduct Data

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The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday filed motions to have the city's police department held in contempt for failing to turn over information pertaining to alleged police misconduct.

The motions were filed as part of six ongoing criminal cases.

For years, the DA’s Office and police have been clashing over the collection of the information stored in the Conviction Integrity Unit’s Police Misconduct Disclosure Database.

Krasner says his office needs the information to prevent wrongful convictions and to ensure that solid cases don’t fall apart. He said he spoke to Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw on Tuesday and felt “pretty hopeful” that a resolution could be reached, the Inquirer reports.

The Fraternal Order of Police has argued against the DA's office using the data. The FOP unsuccessfully sued Krasner, Mayor Jim Kenney, and then-Police Commissioner Richard Ross in 2018, claiming that the allegedly tainted officers had been placed on the list without due process and that it had harmed their reputations.

Krasner has previously said that the database includes officers with “histories of arrests, convictions, disciplinary violations or documented behaviors that warrant disclosure to defendants.”