The Philadelphia Police Department announced on November 7th that five active-duty Philadelphia police officers had been suspended for 30 days with an intent to dismiss.
The police action stemmed from a Philadelphia Police Internal Affairs Division investigation that accused the five officers of accepting payment from the city-funded initiative “Guns Down, Gloves Up” while also collecting their police salaries.
Four former police officers, including Nashid Akil, the former captain of the 22nd Police District, were also charged with illegally receiving payment for their involvement in the community outreach program.
The veteran active duty and retired officers were charged with felony conspiracy, felony theft by unlawful taking, felony theft by deception, felony receiving stolen property, and other offenses. The Internal Affairs Division coordinated the investigation with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.
According to the police, the Internal Affairs investigation began in 2023. All nine officers were assigned to administrative duty.
While serving as the captain of the 22nd district, Akil began the Guns Down, Gloves Up program in June of 2020. The Guns Down, Gloves Up youth program stated that they strove to deter youth violence by offering supervised boxing training and bouts to boys and girls aged ten to sixteen, while keeping them away from street and gun violence.
“I took direct action to dismiss five Philadelphia Police Officers following the filing of criminal charges related to their participation in the ‘Guns Down, Gloves Up’ boxing program,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel told reporters. “I am deeply troubled by this entire situation. PPD commanders are expected to set the standard for integrity and accountability. When that trust is compromised, we must act decisively.”
I was disappointed in the charges against the police officers as the boxing program was one community out-reach program that I thought could be effective, especially since police officers were behind the initiative.
I participated in a similar boxing program at the South Philly Boys’ Club when I was a teenager in the 1960s. The South Philly Boys’ Club drew many of us away from the neighborhood street corners to the old three-story building every weekday evening.
The Boys’ Club in the 1960s was located at 13th and Shunk Street. I still remember the manager, a fireplug of a man named Rocky Fantazzi and his assistant Petey Cane.
The Boys’ Club’s first floor had pool tables and ping pong tables, and the second floor had a full basketball court. The third floor had a weight room, and a room with speed bags and heavy bags and a regulation boxing ring. I spent a good amount of my teenage years in that boxing ring.
Getting kids involved with boxing and other sports teaches them discipline, dedication, teamwork and pride. These qualities can change a wayward kid. Unfortunately, there are crooks and con men who claim to want to help while running scams.
I recall a conversation I had a few years ago with my late friend Mark Tartaglia, a retired Philadelphia detective. He was angry that the city was spending thousands upon thousands of dollars on grants for community anti-gang and anti-street violence organizations.
“Instead of spending all that money on so-called community action groups, the city should hire more cops or at least give cops a raise,” Tartaglia said.
Mark Tartaglia was suspicious of a former gangbanger and drug dealer who at the time was given a sizable grant to work with the city’s youth.
“He’s probably recruiting kids for his old gang,” Tartaglia surmised. “Or he’s pocketing most of the grant money for himself.”
Although redemption is part of my faith, I too am skeptical about former criminals and shady characters running government-funded community groups. Bureaucrats who lack street smarts are often overly impressed with these former street criminals.
A most recent example of that kind of thinking is the “community peacekeepers” who were hired to curb violent crime in major Democrat-led cities. Several of the so-called community peacekeepers are now facing murder charges.
The Washington Examiner reported that Democratic officials championed the peacekeepers as a progressive alternative to policing, whose criminal backgrounds purportedly helped provide a compassionate, “culturally sensitive” approach.
“Each of the arrested violence prevention activists had previous encounters with law enforcement, including past murder cases, fueling doubts about the effectiveness of such criminal justice reform programs that critics see as soft on crime,” the Examiner reported.
But the Guns Down, Gloves Up program seemed more trustworthy because of the police involvement. Sadly, it appears the cops took advantage of the group to illegally double dip their salaries. One might call the organization “Guns Down, Gloves Up, Hands Out.”
So if one was skeptical before of community organizations receiving government grants to promote anti-crime and anti-gun violence by working with the city’s youth, the Guns Down, Gloves Up case is a good reason to call for even more oversight of these kinds of groups. Community outreach programs receiving city grants should be much better vetted and then thoroughly audited periodically.
