Commissioner admits police made mistakes at PRIDE celebrations in Gayborhood: "That is not who we are"
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel admitted that police made mistakes Sunday at Pride celebrations in the Gayborhood but on Friday he said he wanted to explain why decisions were made to shut down festivities.
On Sunday, the city's official Pride festival, "Pride on the Parkway" was held on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for the first time. City leaders and police say that event was peaceful.
However, midday, large crowds also gathered in the Gayborhood, where the festival had been in years past. Police said they eventually sent resources to the Gayborhood for crowd control, but the surge of people became overwhelming.
Some celebrators said officers aggressively shut down their festivities. Cellphone video showed metal barricades set up along the sidewalks, police on motorcycles, and some officers wearing masks, which Bethel said is against PPD policy and is being investigated.
On Friday at a news conference, Commissioner Bethel admitted that putting up barricades on the sidewalk was a mistake and they should have closed some Gayborhood streets to allow for the celebrations.
"We are an organization that has evolved. Nobody walked out of the door on Pride day with any intentions to minimize our LGBT+ community or any community. That is not who we are. That is not a department that the mayor would accept. And I know my leadership team here would not accept that. We came into that process, our job is to support and make these events safe and that's what we do," he said.
Bethel played a video at the news conference that showed a large crowd of young people who appeared to be pushing and shoving. He said police know from experience that big crowds of young people can quickly turn violent and that was part of the decision to start breaking up those crowds.
"It's fair for the community to push back. That is the checks and balances of this work. So, I don't stand here being defensive. I do not. I just wanted to be able to state some facts on the record, because many people have made some assumptions that what our purpose was," Bethel told reporters.
City council is expected to hold hearings to investigate what happened and Bethel said police will participate in that.
He also said next year, police will prepare for events in the Gayborhood regardless of where the official Pride festival is held.