Heart to Heart with Philly's Police Commissioner, Kevin J. Bethel | Ep 057

➡️ An Intimate Conversation with Philadelphia Police Commissioner, Kevin J. Bethel

In this episode, Commissioner Kevin Bethel discusses:

🌟 How HOPE informs a safer city
🌟 The transformative impact of school diversion programs
🌟 Strategies for maintaining police morale and public trust
🌟 Success in reducing crime rates through community collaboration
🌟 Innovative approaches to recruitment and professional development
🌟 The importance of understanding adolescent development in law enforcement
🌟 Building sustainable community safety partnerships

➡️ Join us for an inspiring conversation with Philadelphia's newly appointed Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel as he shares his remarkable journey from the streets of West Philadelphia to leading the city's police force. Drawing from over four decades of experience, Commissioner Bethel reveals how his roots and the unwavering influence of his mother, Miss Odessa Bethel, shaped his revolutionary approach to community policing and public safety.

➡️ Discover how innovative initiatives like school diversion programs have achieved a staggering 90% reduction in student arrests over the past decade, and learn about the commissioner's data-driven strategies that have helped Philadelphia achieve its lowest crime rates in nine years. 

➡️ Chapters
(00:02 - 09:38) Opening Segment: Commissioner Kevin Bethel introduces his background and vision for Philadelphia's police force, sharing personal stories that shaped his leadership philosophy.
 (09:38 - 18:59) Revolutionizing School Safety: Deep dive into the groundbreaking school diversion programs and their impact on youth development, featuring real success stories and data-driven results.
(18:59 - 29:41)  Community First: Exploration of community-centric policing strategies and the importance of building trust between law enforcement and residents.
(29:41 - end)  Future of Policing: Discussion on modernizing police forces and creating sustainable community safety through collaboration and innovation.

➡️ Highlights
(00:56) Commissioner's journey from West Philadelphia to police leadership
(05:38) Personal motivations behind choosing law enforcement
(08:03) Returning to serve Philadelphia's communities
(18:59) Leadership philosophy and community responsibility
(24:40) Modern policing strategies and technological integration
(31:11) Building lasting community partnerships and promoting nonviolence

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➡️ Connect with our Hosts:
Stacey: https://www.instagram.com/staceymgrant/
Mark: https://www.instagram.com/mark_lubragge_onair/

➡️ More about the guest:  Kevin J. Bethel 
Info: https://www.phillypolice.com/leadership/kevin-j-bethel/
Website: https://www.phillypolice.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phillypolice/

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➡️ Thanks for watching:
#Philadelphia, #PoliceCommissioner, #KevinBethel, #communitysafety, #unity, #lawenforcement, #schooldiversionprograms, #studentarrests, #adolescentbraindevelopment, #socio-economicchallenges, #policemorale, #publicperception, #leadership, #communityinvolvement, #crimerates, #communitycollaboration, #non-violentconflictresoluti

Transcript

00:02 - Mark (Host)
So, stacey, you've told me before you're a big fan of Philly. 

00:04 - Stacey (Host)
I am a huge fan of Philly, but you never lived there, right? Never lived in the city. Well, I lived in Maniunk. 

00:09 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
Okay so that's Philly. 

00:10 - Stacey (Host)
That's kind of Philadelphia, but it's not center city Philadelphia. 

00:12 - Mark (Host)
No, I get it and you have ties there now. 

00:15 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah, both of my kids live in Fishtown. 

00:17 - Mark (Host)
Right, so I don to the city. Really, honestly, until today I've kind of avoided the city. I didn't know this, I know, no, we never talked about it, no, but today's guest is Commissioner Kevin Bethel, police commissioner, newly appointed earlier this year, so smart, so articulate, so experienced Spent 40 years, just like a real human being who gets to the core of every message. 

00:44 - Stacey (Host)
And I had chills running up my arm, I had tears in my eyes. Like this man believes in this city, he does and he is going to make it happen. That's what I love the most. 

00:54 - Mark (Host)
And he already is I appreciate it. September September was the lowest crime in nine years in the city of Philadelphia, right Forty years of experience brought to bear and a good person, heart Right, who wants to do right by the community Like you. 

01:09 - Stacey (Host)
Get that from him One thousand percent, but I think what you get out of this, besides the fact that we're talking about Philadelphia, is like hearing from a human being who started off in a place where he sits there. He's sitting here on the couch saying I can't believe I'm here right now. 

01:29 - Mark (Host)
I can't believe. I'm commissioner of this city. He was born in southwest Philly and raised in the city, and here he is all these years. 

01:34 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah, Talks about how his mother influenced him. Beautiful messages yeah, we cover it all. 

01:40 - Mark (Host)
We cover the police department, we cover the community, we cover the future, we cover the future, we cover the past, we cover him and his family and his upbringing. It's a really fascinating conversation, I think you're going to love it. 

01:48 - Stacey (Host)
You're going to love it. You just got to listen to it and watch it, so check out. 

01:52 - Mark (Host)
Commissioner Kevin Bethel. 

01:56 - Stacey (Host)
Hi, I'm Stacey. 

01:57 - Mark (Host)
And I am Mark, and this is the Gurus and Game Changers podcast. Welcome everybody. Changers podcast, welcome everybody. So we have a special show for you today because we have a special guest with us today philly's newest police commissioner, kevin bethel. Now you may have heard of the man, but I don't know that you've all heard from the man. So what we wanted to do is give you access to him. So not only the dedicated guardian who's been in the police force serving and protecting for over four decades, and somebody who now is working to elevate the police force himself and bring good ideas to the community, to also the family man who just wants the city to be safe, not only for your family but his own, his own life, his own children. So today is a look into the police force and how it's evolving and out, hopefully, to a community that is starting to get a greater sense of togetherness. We're going to do it through the eyes of the man who's working to make both of those happen. Commissioner Kevin Bethel, first off, thank you. 

02:52
Thank you for having me For all of your efforts and thank you for joining the show and welcome. 

02:55 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
It's an honor to be here. Thank you so much. I appreciate the opportunity to talk. 

02:59 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah, this is awesome having you here. You have actually spent most of your life serving Philadelphia and you said you're proud to be a Philly cop. What made you want to be a cop? 

03:09 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
Yeah. So the want it was kind of different. I took a different road. I didn't come into policing because I was this young kid who wanted to be a cop. I graduated from John Barton, went to college, temple University. Unfortunately, I didn't stay one year and didn't make it through and so I was working pretty much, I tell people in my life, earlier I was washing pots as a pot washer, I was a porter mopping floors. I worked in the kitchen, always at Miss Accordia Hospital in West Philadelphia, down the street from where, not too far from where I lived. 

03:44
I was fortunate at the time the police department was really surging and bringing officers, particularly officers of color, into the police department applied and it had been this amazing journey for me. As I came into policing and I'd often talk about how, you know, in those jobs that I was involved in, I oftentimes felt devalued in that space where people would look down on me and I would talk about how I treat the folks who come into my office and take out my trash, because I was them. But a job would take me to a place I would come to love it. It would be a job that would help me raise my family and I'm just proud of the men and women who have been in this space serving with me. Some have still been in it as long as I have. I tell people I see my children now the officers to me. 

04:33
You know someone who's older and been in this space for a long time. These are my sons and daughters now that I serve with, and so it's really important that I do this work effectively. 

04:46 - Mark (Host)
So you just shared why you are, why you joined the force. Like my son's 15, right, he's a bit of a sheepdog Like I'm very proud of that right he does? He has this, I want to protect other people, kind of vibe. How many officers get into the force because they have that vibe, versus they just kind of find their way to the force? 

05:07 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
I think you get a variation of all of it right. I mean, just like any profession you know you come into, you know people come into this space, the media space, and they find their niche yeah where do I want to be right? And I think that happens in policing. You know many of them. You know, in my earlier days we came as warriors right, we come in the fight you know this is what we do and you know, I'm a part of this biggest gang. 

05:28
You, I think you know 8000 officers and this is how we do it. And but today, you know, many of the officers come in as as guardians today, right, I mean. So I think you get a range of officers who come in. Some, some come because of their parents, and then we have those who come in because they're looking hey, what is policing really like? And you know, some come because it's a great salary. 

05:53
Now, some people don't think it's a great salary. But for others, coming out of college and looking at our pay versus coming out as a different position, see it as an opportunity for your pay, right. Or others look at it as you can't get fired, right, it's a civil service job, right. And so, unless you do something improper, immoral, illegal, you pretty much have the job and it still comes with a pension. And so I think there's a whole range and I think that's why it's important that when we even looking to bring people into the department, that we understand that all of those little areas where folks are looking to come into policing, so we can attract them in any way possible. 

06:29 - Stacey (Host)
Mayor Parker didn't hold back, like she obviously really was excited to have you join her. She even said this, commissioner Kevin Bethel. I'm reading this has the support of his mayor 1000%. How do you two work together and I know you're close- yeah, you know it's, I told you. 

06:48 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
I tell your readers, I tell people I'm cheating on my wife, right. I'll tell you, rita, I tell people I'm cheating on my wife Right, and I say that so often times. I say that in such a jest because you know me and the mayor have just really hit it off. But we both are very similar, right? We both come from similar backgrounds, both come from the neighborhood. 

07:07
I know where 52nd Street is, and she always used to say that she wanted a police commissioner to know where 52nd Street was, and so the relationship we have is so it's been an absolute blessing for me, I mean to come into this space. You know the job is challenging as it is. You know someone who trusts the work that I'm doing, gives me the not micromanage me to be able to do it doing, gives me the the not micromanage me to to be able to do it. It gives me my charge and lets me execute on it and supports me to get those things done. That's key, and so we're very, very similar. 

07:38
I don't have a sister and so she's younger than me but I and I've learned so much. Yeah, watching how she operates, I thought I'm I work. People know I I'll give it from sun up to sun down. 

07:50
Man, I don't think the mayor's son never goes down, it's just, it's just non-stop and it's just I work People know I'll give it from sunup to sundown, man, I don't think the mayor's sun ever goes down, it's just nonstop and it's just really exciting and I'm just so happy for the city to see her leadership and what she's going to do and me just being a part of that ride. It's been a blessing. 

08:03 - Stacey (Host)
So exciting and I know you were in the public sector right before you came into this role. Why did you say yes to this role? 

08:10 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
I came back because I love the city. At that point I had been in a different part of my life. I spent most of my time as the warrior, the deputy commissioner, running it and now, when I moved into the school district, it was for the first time I lived in the victim space of it and the trauma and all the things that I was seeing I lived in the victim space of it and the trauma and all the things that I was seeing. 

08:33
I'm seeing a number of shootings at our schools, you know, and I'm having kids getting killed outside of the doorstep of my schools. I'm the chief of school safety and I am frustrated, right, and I'm listening and you know we talk about defunding the police and and all of this conversation and I'm talking to the men and women and they're just so frustrated. And so for me I just felt at this time in my life it was a calling to come back to serve the city. I love, love the community. Everybody knows that. 

09:03 - Mark (Host)
I love the men and women who serve in the police department and I had been at it for so long I said I think there's an opportunity here for me to come back and help this mayor guide the city and make it a safer city so during the time that you were out and you were in charge of safety for the school system, what have you, what did you find I mean school violence, juvenile violence, you know, heavily steeped in that to have the opportunity to speak to somebody who's lived it and addressed it. What works? What did you find works? 

09:35 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
What you find that works. So I had taken a different approach with our schools before I left. Before I left, I mean, we thought we were going to arrest our kids to control the behavior of the school. At the time, in 2014, we were locking 1,600 kids a year in our schools. Many of those kids were for low-level, minor adolescent behavior that didn't require, you know, an arrest, and so part of that work was create a school diversion program. We would divert those young people from the criminal justice system and move them into programs to support them, and so, through that process, we went from a system that used to do 1,600 kids a year to, I think last year, 135. 

10:19
So 10 years later we were able to reduce those arrests by 90%, and so when I left the police department, that's the work I would do was travel around the country trying to get law enforcement to divert young people from around schools. And so when you come to the school setting, I said it's like little cities, right, the part of you have to understand the adolescent development right. 

10:43
I would learn brain science that kids' brains are not wired that way. And so why are you doing these things to a 10-year-old child? You know, knowing that their brain is not. My daughter would come to love my slides because slide number 16 would be. Your brain is not fully developed, so that's why you're doing this dumb crap, right. 

11:03
And so you go into a school setting from a policing perspective or from a, and just really understanding that you know you have a young men and women coming from some of the most challenging so let's say Philadelphia for me, for example. You know we we have one of the most. You know we're one of the poorest big cities in America. You know, and, and so you have some of the kids who are coming from some of the most challenging communities and some of the most violent communities in America. And then we expect that they arrive at school, that they're going to be this perfect entity that's going to be able to be able to take the guidance that you need. And so what it taught me? Well, first and foremost, I give a shout out to every teacher principal who works in a school who does the work. 

11:44
I mean it is so powerful what I would see what they do for our young people. I give them, I give them so much praise because I got for the first time to see how they manage in that space and how they work with these young people to try to get them through. And so I think you have to come up with a very collective approach understanding you know where these kids come from, understanding that you know you don't, you're not going to arrest a child. I mean, arresting children in school is not you know. Really Now we do. Those kids who do a more egregious can't come in there and beat a teacher or harm or injure another person. But I think you just have to have a very comprehensive strategy. 

12:23 - Stacey (Host)
So you've been in this role since January. 

12:25 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
Yes, ma'am, right. 

12:26 - Stacey (Host)
So what do you think has surprised you the most so far? 

12:30 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
in your role. I guess not surprised If I could shift that I've been most surprised but proud. You know I came into the department and I've just been so proud of the resiliency that they've demonstrated you know this has been you know, these last four years have been probably the most challenging times in policing. 

12:54
You know, through the riots and and the funding and all of that, and and and. So it's pleasantly surprised, how, how we say that, to see how well these men and women have still say focus on the work, how they still have continued to serve the community. Uh, continue to do. And so I came in man, I'm going to have a lot of work to do, and, and I do. There's a lot of work to do, but I was really, really, just, really just so proud of seeing how, how they have stayed state core to who we are as a profession, continue to honor the profession the way it should be honored. We're not perfect, Not perfect, but we're striving to be better. 

13:45 - Mark (Host)
It's the interesting thing you're not perfect, and I get that. If you look at social media, what you see is all the bad, oh yeah and the news. Every police department yeah you don't see the, the everyday interactions and the serving and protecting and all that. How do you manage? I mean it's got to hurt morale it has to have a big impact on the force. 

14:06 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
We know we've been the tip of the spear, you know, since I, I can remember we, we accept that as part of the work, right, uh, and and, and, but what we've done, and and what we're trying to do, and, and that's why, you know, most recently I brought in carla showa lee to come in and become the executive director of our organization communication to do exactly what you you described. We have to now tell our story. No one, we can't rely on others to tell our story. Now, right, we do. You're doing that for me here so I appreciate you. 

14:36
So I won't say that, but creating these opportunities. That brings me here today, you know, widening in our audience of who we talk, to providing opportunities for people to see when we use our body-worn cameras Most recently we highlighted an officer who did CPR in the middle of 52nd Street right and saved a woman's life and to be able to bring her back and show people. This is who we are right and so I think part of that, we have to set ourselves on a pace and make that part of our strategy to share as much as possible, I think, what people don't realize, you know, and I honestly say 99% of my officers, if not more, will never, ever fire their weapon. 

15:16 - Mark (Host)
Right, right. 

15:17 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
Most of the work that we do is in service, but we've not done a good enough job to share that with the public in a more you know, strategic way, you know, with a consistent cadence. 

15:28
You know we just show the one-off, everybody gets excited they way. You know, with a consistent cadence. You know we just show the one-off, everybody gets excited. They see the one-off event. Oh well, now we have to do that consistently, consistently showing what the men and women behind the scenes are doing to save lives and to service the community and do things positively. And that's on us, I mean. The reality is no organization, kind of, will allow us to do what we've allowed to just kind of be a punching bag for anybody and everybody. They say they don't trust policing. I tell them, I say, well, let me go into a room and tell me who do they trust. You highlight policing. But if you ask them if they trust government, if they trust this, many of them will tell you they don't trust many of the. But we seem to kind of get fixated, know, fixated on policing as as that. 

16:12
And we accept that because we're at the tip of the criminal justice system but we oftentimes accept a lot of stuff that's we have no control over, but but we're working to do a better job of that and I thank you both for allowing me to sit here to talk to you, because people need to hear who we are as an organization. 

16:27 - Stacey (Host)
I'm out in the suburbs. My friends a lot of them I hear are a little nervous to go into Philadelphia, which to me, like I was just there last night, I love it. The food is delicious there. It's such a great spot, we love to go there. How can we make these people understand how safe it is in Philadelphia because of you and Mayor Parker? 

16:49 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
Yeah, I mean and I wish I could take all the credits A lot of individuals you know that. I know when you mean that when you say me, I represent it all right, whether it be the community members and the police officers and the like. I think, first and foremost, we have to do a better job of letting people know that the city is getting much safer. You know our crime, our violent crime is down significantly, our homicides almost 40%, our shootings 40%. Center City, where many of our suburban folks come in, is the safest area, one of the safest areas in the city. 

17:21
But I think that, just like anything else, we've had some tough years right and we had three years of some of the highest level of violence coming after COVID, and so you know it's going to take time right for people to reset and feel good about you know the city and the crime, and so it's important for us to tell people that the city is getting better. But you know they also have to feel it Right. But you know they also have to feel it right, and so you know we we're very conscious of the fact that we have a lot of work to do to bring our, our collar counties back into the city and and keep the folks in the city and but even taking it to those in those communities that have been impacted the greatest, you know, they too have to be convinced that their community and their neighborhood is getting better, and I think that all in this totality is what's going to get us into that area of people being talking positively about the city. 

18:19
I'm never going to sit here and tell you my city is not the one of the best cities in america yeah because that's what I believe right, right and so for us as a, as a city and as an, and us as a department, and all of that is really important for us to tell our story. Continue to tell how things are getting better in the city of Philadelphia. Continue to be a champion of the city. Give people a reason why to come in. Continue to work to keep our violence and our crime down. You're coming back. We're going to get you back. 

18:49 - Mark (Host)
Let's go, everybody. We got you back. Let's go everybody. 

18:51 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
We got you back, you know, one step at a time yeah. But we're heading in such a positive direction. You know, the mayor has done a phenomenal job of leading and others are falling in line. Just watch out. 

19:06 - Mark (Host)
I love that. Just watch out. 

19:09 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
You know she says safer, greener, cleaner. And you know says safer, greener, cleaner and, uh, you know city and and we're going to meet that charge hey guys, thanks for listening. 

19:18 - Mark (Host)
If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review, give us a follow, subscribe, subscribe all those things, all those things. We love it because we read each and every comment and it helps shape the show, so we would appreciate it. 

19:30 - Stacey (Host)
Please, and back to the show. 

19:32 - Mark (Host)
You definitely sound like you have a like a, an innate sense of responsibility. 

19:37 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
Yeah, it's, it's, it's our duty right I mean, you know, I didn't come back to to this job to sit here in my, you know, just, this wasn't like hey, I get to say that I'm the police commissioner and hey, you know, I got. Oh, I finally got it. Most people know that's not who, that's not how I, that's not who I am. You know, I want hope. You know, at times I felt, like many people felt hopeless, like something has to change, Right, someone has to talk differently. Right, you know, we have to fight this fight. Right, we have to make people feel good about our city. We have to make the people I live in the city, I mean my mother-in-law, live in the middle of North Philadelphia. More importantly, man, I look at it through that lens, and so it's just important for us to raise ourselves up and make people feel good about our city and where we live. I mean, I'm a kid who grew up in West Philadelphia. I'm the damn commissioner. 

20:32 - Mark (Host)
I mean, if that don't make you feel good man, then I don't know what does right. 

20:36 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
And I'm just happy to be here. 

20:37 - Mark (Host)
Were you raised to feel this way? Did you get this from your early jobs a sense of accountability and build character like how much of it was your upbringing? 

20:45 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
hey, listen, so now you're going. That's when they all give me crying here. Now I was kidding. 

20:49 - Mark (Host)
I feel like she knows, she knows she knows. 

20:51 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
But I you know, listen, I you know my mother, ray. I was raised by miss odessa bethel. She raised four boys by herself. Right, my father left when we were very, very young and and I watched my mom work every day to raise four boys, uh, and and, and I just, she taught me what work meant, um, she made no excuses my behind, better get up and go to school every day and she held me accountable in that space and she taught me, my mom taught me what it was to my role and responsibilities as a person. Right, you can be a good man and I learned all of those things from my mother. You know my mother was, is the foundation of everything you see, right here I tell people my mother was born 100 years ago, but in 1924, you had this woman who was born and on a farm and sharecroppers, my grandfather's sharecropper and my mom, in her early 20s, decided she was going to move to the north to make, whenever she did have a family, she's going to create a better life for them. 

21:59 - Mark (Host)
Wow. 

22:00 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
You know, and here it is, 100 years later, her son's a police commissioner. Yeah, that's validation of everything, all that. What she tried to do, uh, what her plan was to set her family up for the next level. And guess what? All my girls have college degrees. You know, this family, the Bethel family, my, what my mother did, my children will never want, because they now have moved my generation and leaving her legacy still lives today. So my mother's my rock. 

22:28 - Stacey (Host)
Everybody knows that. 

22:29 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
You know what I mean. I get through it without crying here today. That's good, but she is so. I give great credence to all those single moms out there who, just like my mom, have been able to create opportunities for their children. 

22:42 - Mark (Host)
It sounded like you were describing that. It sort of took a village right. 

22:45 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
Other people were helping you. 

22:46 - Mark (Host)
It takes a village, and I've always said could you have a focus on the community? It takes a community to even be a community. It takes a lot of work to have a really good, strong community from a lot of people it does, lot of people it does, and I know you're focused on that right. That's a big part of what you're doing. How, how is that side not the policing aspect of it, but the community building aspect of it how's that working? 

23:08 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
and that's, it's working well. I mean I think, uh, you know, I mean it's funny. I take it back to my mother very quickly. My mom was his matriarch of the community as well wow like my mom was. Everybody know miss odessa. Miss odessa was. You know who ran the ice cream parlor and you know my mom used to have a little ice cream parlor that she used to run. 

23:32 - Mark (Host)
It was actually a numbers house, but it was. 

23:33 - Stacey (Host)
I'll talk about that later. Half of it was. 

23:35 - Mark (Host)
Cut that out. Probably telling too much. You're hearing that here? 

23:37 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
No, you can keep it in there. We're with that. She ran the ball apart, but there you start, you learn the connectivity of that, so you bring those things into the policing space. My goal is to make us the finest police department in America. We're not going to get there on our own. We need the support of folks in the community and so doing it in a more strategic way and being very intentional about making the community part of our journey, I'm hoping for the first time we'll build a bond that can never be broken. 

24:07 - Mark (Host)
But was there anything like you get pulled out of a company, you get pulled out of the force and you have to drip dry for a while and then you could look back with perspective and say that could have worked differently, that could work better. Was there anything like that for you in all those years you were out of it work differently? 

24:21 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
that could work better. Was there anything like that for you in all those years you were out of it. I listen, I actually it has probably been the most greatest benefit I've ever had is leaving the department, yeah, for seven years, and going back. The things that I have learned in this profession I mean away from the job yeah has totally, totally changed how I manage. Going back into the police department. You know policing has always been this paramilitary organization Command and control. Today, right now, I can grab my phone and I can have 500 cops wherever I want them, 1,000 cops wherever I want them. They will go. You'll follow orders and oftentimes I come back now not trying to reconstruct a paramilitary organization, actually trying to pivot somewhat away from that Paramilitary organization running the department. So we're always going to have the command and control structures that are necessary. But it was built around. 

25:13
You know many women coming back from the military. You know them coming into the department taking on the constructs of a military kind of concept was easy and an easy flow and easy transition for them. Today the majority of my department have never touched the military but we still use so much of that military mindset to do the work and even though that is great, there are things we have to now get out of that space because, you know, not trying to manage with fear, you know, I mean managing what is health and wellness and those things that those soft skills that we oftentimes have avoided, are not helping us. Today, when we have officers who are committing suicides and and we're having, you know, many of my men and women are being exposed to so much trauma, and, and so now I come back to the department, fully understanding our role and responsibility, that I have to help them to be well. 

26:06 - Stacey (Host)
But is there anything that keeps you up at night right now? 

26:10 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
What will always keep me up at night is when I lose one of my officers Right and that, or they're severely hurt or severely injured. That's the part that keeps me. The other stuff I can do right. 

26:26
The other stuff. You know we can fight, I can fight, I can do all of that, I can take all of it. But you know you sit in this position and I was a deputy commissioner for eight years. I ran patrol operations under Commissioner Ramsey, so I got to feel it. But now he always said but Kevin, it's different when you're actually in the chair. 

26:45
Right and he's 100% accurate, right. It's different. Sitting in the chair, I sit there and say to myself I have these crime strategies, I have all these and the charge of us is to reduce homicides, reduce violence, reduce crime. And so I, as the leader of this organization, with my executive team, tell these men and women to go out and do this. I put them in those most challenging communities to be able to work to try to reduce the level of violence that they're seeing, and I know I put them at risk. 

27:16
I just lost on my arm. 

27:17
I have Officer Jamie Roman, who I who was killed in the line of duty, you know, and I carry that on my arm because have Officer Jamie Roman, who was killed in the line of duty, and I carry that on my arm because he's the first officer I would lose as a commissioner, and I lost officers as a deputy commissioner, but the first time as a police commissioner. 

27:34
It just reminded me that I send him into that work and I lose him, and so that's what keeps me up at night. It's difficult, but we make it work, but it's hard. So that's that call that I get, and I get calls for many calls over the night from some things that happen that are significant enough to rise to my level that they have to wake me up. I can't tell you how many times I grabbed that phone and I just pray that it's okay. It's maybe a big fire or or some not a fire, but some other incident that has caused me to be awakened. But the hardest call that keeps me up at night and sometimes I don't want to go to sleep is is because of that call your career. 

28:15 - Mark (Host)
Just going from memory, you've done. You were involved in internal affairs, you were involved in intelligence, you were involved in narcotics. 

28:21 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
You're good, he didn't have. He didn't even have. He might have read that it's written on the inside of my hand. So you've done so much right and so you you've seen. 

28:33 - Mark (Host)
This is, I guess, from the 80s or somewhere around there right, yeah 40 years. How it's? It's a kind of a cliche way to say, but how? How have the streets changed? 

28:43 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
I think we do see a different community. We see more guns than we probably have in a very long time and we have to deal with that. So the streets are a little bit different. I think we just talked about, I mean, many of our kids. They're on social media and the beast that we see and the things we see. They're not happening on the street, they're happening in this virtual space and they're playing out on the street instead of starting on the street Right, and so there's a lot of elements on the street that we see have changed significantly. But but I mean but I think at the same token, you know some of the things that we get getting pushback from from individuals. I think there has been a shift away, a shift and I don't know if it's as bad as oftentimes is presented. I think there's times we're going to have to really we're really as an organization and law enforcement, we're really going to have to unpack all of that and to see how we're going to be leading into the future in America. 

29:41 - Stacey (Host)
You know, obviously your team is doing some things really right, because in September of this year, I think, we saw the lowest crime rate in nine years. Correct, one month, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, good month had a good month. It was just that one month. Yeah, listen, what's working Like what's? 

30:01 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
I think a lot's working Starting. Even before I came back, you know, the department started to really focus on those core areas of the city that you know. We have 20 patrol districts but 10 of them have the highest level of violence and within those we can really look and see where, specifically, where we could be targeting our men and women. So we've really been really honed in very, very strategic with that work. I think there's, you know, the work we do with our federal partners has been absolutely outstanding and because we're having the reduction in the violence our investigative teams have had, you know, when you have 560 plus homicides, you just imagine how the sheer volume of work, you know, that requires that for those men and women to do. When we having a year, like when the numbers are coming down, it gives them more time. So we have a 72 clearance rate with our homicides, which which is phenomenal, but most importantly, for our non-fatal, our shootings, we're at like a 34 success rate in there and and so you know, and then you know, when we add that with our non-sworn professional staff, the work they're doing behind the scenes, whether it be our radio or our forensic, I think it's all in. But it also gives us an opportunity as a city to see what happens as a city when we are not using violence and not shooting and killing each other, like we're actually showing ourselves. It can be done. 

31:30
We're literally showing ourselves to America that we could be one of the largest cities in America but have the lowest crime rate and lowest homicides in America for a big city. So we're setting an example now to everyone out there that we can do this right, and it's not just the policing, it's us as individuals, that we can love ourselves more, that we can do conflict resolution without using guns, that we can work together and look what the benefits of that I mean you can feel it, right, the community can feel it, and so I just think it's important that we stay the course. We don't get caught up. Homicides have been the number that drives us since the beginning of time. We're judged by homicides. It's hard, right, but at the end of the day, I think we're showing ourselves. So when I bring my suburban colleagues back to the city, right, I mean, let's show everybody who we are the city of brotherly love. We say that with so flip and sisterly affection. 

32:29 - Mark (Host)
What do we say? 

32:30 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
Brotherly love and sisterly affection. I think the terminology is. Let's show it. We're showing that now right and so because part of that process, you bring crime down, conflict shuts down, the retaliation starts to lower down and we just keep pushing. 

32:45 - Mark (Host)
I'm sure you're always recruiting, right? Yeah, so what's the message? What's the message to young people out there trying to decide, or people of any age trying to decide hey, maybe I want to be an officer, I would tell your audience, listen to my story. 

33:00 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
I'm a young kid who grew up in West Philadelphia who now sits in a position to run the police department. Things weren't perfect for me coming through, but this job was able to launch me into a space that I never, ever could imagine. You know, I have been able. The experiences I've had, what I've learned over that period has been invaluable able to raise my three daughters uh have been an incredible wife and and been together for 30 years, um, and be able to, uh, um, have a career that really, really gives you an opportunity to serve. 

33:35
I know they're competing with so much that they see the negativity, but come on inside. Let us show you we're a big family. We love it. You know people get mad at us because they say we do this thin blue line. It's not about a thin blue line. I mean, it's about the we, we, we work together, right, we, we, we. We take care of each other and we look out for each other and we're a big family. 

33:58
You're looking to come into a place where you can be a part of a big family. You know what I mean. We take care of each other, and so I think it's a great opportunity for someone to start out their career and the pay is getting much better. When I came on in 1986, I think I'll be twenty four thousand dollars Today an officer comes into the department making sixty one thousand dollars, starting. By the time they graduate from the academy They'll be a sixty five and by the time they graduate in five years they'll be making 90,000. And that's with no overtime. So most of my folks are in six figures Okay, great health benefits. 

34:32
Yeah, and we have a great pension, but, most importantly, we have great people. Right, this is a profession. I think if they can hear my voice and see me today, look what is. I mean, this is an outstanding career. It has given me so many opportunities to travel across this country and be in places. 

34:54
Sitting here with you today, right, I mean I pinch myself sometimes and I say, wow, you know, I am blessed to be in that space. So I would just encourage you. If you don't just give us a try to be in that space, so I would just encourage it. And if you don't just give us a try, even if you have some doubts, even if you think it is, give us a shot. Right, I know they have some anxieties and concerns about what they see, but the ability to serve people in their most critical times, to be able to be that guardian I could teach them to be a warrior, right, I could teach them to be a warrior. But I could teach them to be a warrior. But I want them to come into the department and serve this community. They deserve it. They deserve good people to come in there and I think they would be a great candidate for our job, and so come on, boy. 

35:38 - Stacey (Host)
What will Commissioner Kevin Bethel's legacy be? 

35:43 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
I hope my legacy is that I was able to take the department to a better place, one informed by technology and all of those things that need them to move forward. But, most importantly, I was able to get the community to really really create a bond between this community that will never be broken. You know that we will that we can work effectively as a law enforcement agency with our community, with our community partners and our nonprofits and everyone you know, to make this a better city. If we can do that, I'll sit back and I'll smile and say we've accomplished our duties, because it's just so important to me and so I'm hoping to build a foundation that folks will attach to and say, hey, fill up your police bar, I don't give a hell what anybody else is doing anywhere else. What we're doing here is solid work and stuff that we see that will take us into the future. I love it. 

36:44 - Mark (Host)
I tell you it's been one of my favorite conversations. 

36:47 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
Oh my gosh. 

36:47 - Mark (Host)
I see why people like Carla has spoken highly of you. I can see why the mayor said don't say no, Thank you so much. 

36:53 - Commissioner Kevin Bethel (Guest)
No, thank you for having me. I appreciate it. This has been an incredible conversation. Thank you so much. Great episode and thank you guys for watching, thank you you're still here. 

37:12 - Stacey (Host)
You're still listening. Thanks for listening to the gurus and game changers podcast while you're here. If you enjoyed it, please take a minute to rate this episode and leave us a quick review. We want to know what you thought of the show and what you took from it and how it might have helped you. We read and appreciate every comment. Thanks, see you next week.