Urgent steps are needed after the latest example of incompetence in the sheriff’s office | Editorial

While the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office has a relatively narrow set of responsibilities when compared with other city departments, they are essential. The sheriff is charged with transporting incarcerated people, providing security for the city’s courts, conducting auctions of foreclosed and tax-delinquent properties, and securing guns in some domestic violence cases.

Yet, even within this limited purview, the office under Sheriff Rochelle Bilal consistently falls short.

The latest example of Bilal’s poor stewardship — as detailed by Inquirer reporters Ryan W. Briggs, William Bender, and Ellie Rushing — has left the city’s probation system unable to properly function, as officers are forced to replace in-person visits with virtual check-ins because deputies were not available to provide security. In-person drug tests at the Adult Probation and Parole Department have also been suspended.

The missing deputies are now safeguarding Family Court, months after the city’s judges complained the sheriff’s office had failed to ensure adequate security there, leaving them and courtroom staff vulnerable to physical assault. As a result, attacks tripled, and the judges ordered Bilal to fix the “systemic failures” of her office. The sheriff shifted more resources to courtrooms, now leaving probation workers exposed.

Add that to the office’s list of failures.

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Domestic violence advocates also say the sheriff’s office is only seizing firearms in 13% of domestic abuse cases in which accused abusers are subject to protection orders. Compliance in the suburban counties is significantly higher, and the city has seen a 64% increase in domestic violence-related homicides under Bilal’s watch.

Not only is security an issue, but completing basic paperwork seems to be beyond the office’s grasp, too. New owners of property sold at sheriff sales report not receiving their deeds long after the sale was finalized.

Historically, the sheriff’s office has rarely seen ethical and effective leadership, but Bilal has taken incompetence to a new level. Under Bilal, the office has made itself an impediment to ensuring public safety. And while the sheriff has so far apparently steered clear of the kind of malfeasance that landed her predecessor in jail, she has used city funds meant to hire deputies to boost the salaries of executive staff — and tried to double her own salary. She’s also spent city resources on an official mascot, parties, and other nonessentials.

Unfortunately, Philadelphia City Council has so far been reluctant to eliminate the office and redistribute its functions, a step recommended by this Editorial Board, the Committee of Seventy, and the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority’s fiscal oversight committee. That, however, does not mean there is no hope for a more immediate change.

As Northeast Philadelphia State Rep. Jared Solomon has pointed out regarding the sheriff, Harrisburg has the right to impeach and remove any public official in the state. Given the wide-ranging and growing impact of Bilal’s mismanagement, nothing should be off the table, and Solomon — who last year asked Philadelphia’s head judge to investigate the sheriff’s office — should lead the charge in pursuing whatever avenues are necessary to protect Philadelphians from the office’s continued dysfunction.

With a Democratic House and a Republican Senate, a bipartisan effort to address the seemingly intractable issues in the sheriff’s office could stand as an example that it is still possible to hold problematic public servants accountable.

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It is also worth asking how we got to this point. While Bilal ran as a reformer, she had already had a tumultuous turn as the public safety director in Delaware County’s Colwyn Borough. From the very start, whistleblowers have noted her desire to utilize slush funds and off-the-books spending.

Despite this, Bilal was reelected with much of the city’s political establishment’s support. While solidarity is often an admirable mindset, what do Philadelphians get out of this determination by the Democratic machine to protect all incumbents, no matter their record?

Bilal’s dangerous ineptitude demands action.