for BigTrial.net
Her troops call Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw "MIA," as in Missing In Action.
One of her senior police commanders just testified in court that Outlaw lied to the press and public about who gave the controversial final approval to teargas protesters during last year's George Floyd riots. [Outlaw did, and not the official scapegoat who said he did it, and then took a voluntary demotion and pay cut].
Some bloggers who are probably cops recently posted an inside exposé that everybody in the Police Department read, including Outlaw, an exposé that painted Outlaw as a coddled, lightweight desk jockey and identity politics hire who is universally disrespected within the department because she has zero practical experience out on the streets as a patrol officer.
But Danielle Outlaw is still black and female. And so, according to the New York Post, she's an "extraordinary" police officer who's on the short list of black female candidates compiled by Mayor-Elect Eric Adams to become New York City's next top cop.
In a story in Thursday's Post, reporters Craig McCarthy and Julia Marsh wrote that "leading the pack" to become NYC's next top cop were former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best, Outlaw and former Newark Police Chief Ivonne Roman.
According to what an anonymous source told the Post, the "Adams campaign started making calls to candidates last week to gauge interest."
“It is a true nationwide search but it’s mostly going to come down to a few candidates, including Outlaw and Best,” the source told the Post.
“They are both extraordinary police officers. Outlaw has more executive experience, while Best is viewed as a cops’ cop who is liked by Fox News and MSNBC viewers,” the source told the Post.
I had emailed the Post reporters to see if they were smoking crack, but they did not respond to a request for comment.
Memo to the New York Post: the only thing extraordinary about Danielle Outlaw is how incompetent she is and how she's gotten away with it for so long.
I also tried to get somebody from the Adams campaign to comment, but to no avail.
However, Sgt. Eric Gripp, of the Philadelphia Police Department's Office of Media Relations/Public Affairs, had a few things to say about whether Outlaw was interested in taking her act to New York City.
However, Sgt. Eric Gripp, of the Philadelphia Police Department's Office of Media Relations/Public Affairs, had a few things to say about whether Outlaw was interested in taking her act to New York City.
"Commissioner Outlaw's focus remains on leading the Philadelphia Police Department while making Philadelphia a safer city in which to live, work, and play," Gripp wrote in an email.
I followed up by asking Gripp if P.C. Outlaw had been contacted by the Adams campaign, and if so, did she tell them she was interested in an interview.
I followed up by asking Gripp if P.C. Outlaw had been contacted by the Adams campaign, and if so, did she tell them she was interested in an interview.
But Sgt. Gripp was not too talkative about that subject.
"P.C. Outlaw will not comment on rumors or speculation," he replied.
According to the New York Post, however, Mayor-elect Adams, a former NYPD captain himself, is very impressed with P.C. Outlaw.
According to the New York Post, however, Mayor-elect Adams, a former NYPD captain himself, is very impressed with P.C. Outlaw.
Why?
“Her coming to Philadelphia as a black woman and an outsider shows she can handle that kind of challenge,” the source told the Post.
It's the second time in the past few months that a New York newspaper has linked Outlaw to the top cop job in New York City.
On Oct. 19th, the New York Daily News reported that Adams was looking to hire a woman as police commissioner and that Outlaw was among three top candidates under consideration for the job.
Back in October, however, another spokesperson for Outlaw issued a more forceful denial, claiming that Outlaw was not interested in moving to New York.
And how's that going?
Well, as of last night, the number of people murdered in Philadelphia stood at 466, a record pace that's 12% higher than last year's near record of 499 murders.
The all-time murder rate in Philadelphia was 500 set in 1990. At the current rate, Philadelphia will break that record this year with 558 murders.
Meanwhile, in New York City, which has more than five times the population of Philadelphia, as of Oct. 31st, the city had only 399 murders, a 2% decrease over the previous year.
Makes you wonder why they'd be interested in hiring Outlaw, since under her leadership, the PPD is clueless when it comes to bringing gun violence under control.
Also reporting that Outlaw was a candidate for the NYC job yesterday was Marcia Kramer of CBS2 TV in New York. According to Kramer, Mayor-Elect Adams is considering only women for the job, some six to eight candidates, including a few civilians who have never been cops.
Adams also said that he wants the city's top cop to get some corporate training on how to be a leader.
“I want my police commissioner to get a quality training of what leadership is all about, what it is to be a CEO of a major police agency, and that’s what we need, that type of leadership. And, unfortunately, in law enforcement, we don’t do that enough,” Adams said.
In Philadelphia, nobody has ever accused the laid-back, low-energy, low-profile Outlaw of being a leader. And, as everybody knows, morale in the PPD is in the tank because Outlaw has no idea how to be a leader, or how to run a big city police department.
Is that something they can teach you in a class? I kind of doubt it.
According to the Philadelphia Police Department's suspected in-house bloggers, Outlaw doesn't get much respect because she was the beneficiary of identity politics, both in Oakland, where she was primarily a desk jockey for 20 years, and in Portland, when she was hired in 2017 to be police chief.
"She can thank liberal whites for giving her the police chief job," the bloggers wrote. "Yes, she got the job because she is a black female."
As far as the bloggers are concerned, Outlaw's a lightweight used to preferential treatment.
When Outlaw was hired as the top cop in both Portland and Philadelphia, the bloggers wrote, it was because a "black female police chief is a sought-out and prized commodity" who are "the showpieces of progressive white mayors."
But if Outlaw is hired in New York City, this time she'll be a showpiece for a progressive black mayor.
In the world of identity politics, that's what we call progress.
Regardless, many Philly cops are rooting for Outlaw to get the job in New York.
As one cop put it, "Good luck and good riddance."