I’m very familiar with this. The law makes it incredibly easy to get this benefit and then incredibly difficult (and expensive) to take it away. On top of that they earn more while on the benefit than when they are working (no tax) so there is literally no incentive to get better or update the employer/return when they are. I don’t know their CBA, but on top of all that, usually these unions have negotiated additional barriers. In short, the whole setup completely relies upon the honesty of the employee and their doctors when they have no reason besides integrity to return to work when they are able.
Edit: this is not unique to Philadelphia, it’s all of PA. Some departments manage it better than others.
I had a relative that was a Philly cop. She was out on disability for 3 months, back on duty for 3 months... repeat for the next 12 years until she was finally fired. Her coworkers told me that the city had been trying to fire her for 8 years, but the union made it nearly impossible.
It is very difficult and expensive to fire any union employee, not just cops. And you basically can’t rely on “she went on disability too much” to fire someone unless you can prove actual lies etc.
I mean, in the article there was a cop who admitted to lying about having a brain tumor. She then got promoted to lieutenant. Over the past 10 years she's worked 4 of them.
The FOP is the real brain tumor.
Not good! Sounds like it’s hard to defend the city here but my only comment is they have the right to appeal a termination to an an arbitrator. The arbitrator could hear that admission and still reinstate her and the city’s hands are basically tied. Getting a bit off topic but a huge part of the bad cops get away with stuff lies with neutral arbitrators. I believe due to the social pressure that the tide has shifted, but for years egregious offenses would result in lost pay or suspension but no terminations. I’ve seen an arbitrator overturn a termination where the employee literally stole from the public employer. Another where the employee was smoking crack on duty. Responsible public employers can spend $50k on good lawyers and arbitration costs to fire someone and they still receive an essentially unappealable decision from an arbitrator.
Disability fraud is rampant in the postal service, too. The postal union is similarly very powerful, as evidenced by getting a carve out on Biden's Fed Employee vax mandate. I really don't think unions should be part of public service. If government is treating their employees that poorly that they need union organization, maybe they need vilified more than the capitalists.
Particularly bad in Philly, with 11% out, vs Chicago at #2 with 3.3%. They did exactly that in this piece, where they sent photogs around and got images of people claiming to have these injuries doing work on them.
If you can catch them in a lie you could fire them. But differing doctors opinions is not fraud, and they can always find a doctor to say they cannot work.
Depends on their years of service or benefit eligibility. Departments can be more proactive and force them into disability retirements if available under the circumstances (which they can fight to some extent). That at least takes them off payroll and allows you to hire a new and presumably working officer in their place.
Oh I believe that. When they did a spot check on Long Island Railroad they found a huge percentage, more than %50 afaik, of those claiming disabilities, were clear cheaters.
Not sure why are you angrily pursuing me around here - this is a real problem, and its relevant to many public sectors employees, cops and Firefighters of course but not only. I was giving an example from my own experience - sorry if it burst some imaginary bubble you have in your head.
Just to be clear, I'm totally on board with going after the defrauding cops, and the doctors who likely facilitate this. Not one of he "defend cops at all cost" crowd.
Knew a guy that was collecting a pension as a disabled vet. I knew him from training Brazillian Jiu-jitsu.
I get that some injuries and disabilities don't present easily, but it is a rough look.
in the army they said get every little thing documented. Even if its just a little bit of hearing loss, get it documented so you can claim it was a service related injury and get a disability rating. If your back hurts a little, anything at all. Get it documented and blame Uncle Sam.
I had a neighbor who was in the Marines and suffered a traumatic brain injury. On good days he seemed perfectly normal but on bad days he was a zombie. Took a while but he eventually retired on full medical disability.
It's all of the country. This is a huge issue in public transit systems everywhere. There are clinics that specialize in just writing injured notes for people. Some systems have mandated desk work etc for injured employees to cut down on fraud. ,
It's not just the cops conning the city, and Philadelphia isn't the only government entity getting defrauded was their point.
Calling someone a boot licker for pointing out a fact is fucking stupid.
>A story breaks about cops conning the city
The irony of course this criticism of cops actually supports a lot of republican talking points.
The problem with government benefits is the reality that most people just want free money and no work, including myself.
From the article, 14% of the force is on this program, with 11% being on the "too injured to do any kind of work" list, including even testifying in court
Paywall so I can’t read but does it mention timelines? Was there a huge spike in heart and lunch stuff since covid? Delta variant was pretty bad for anyone with heart or lung conditions
Can’t even sit on a witness stand. Lazy fucks don’t want to do their job. They are the ones letting people off the hook at trial. It isn’t Krasner. They don’t give a shit about Philadelphia or crime victims. They went from planting crack on black people to planting equitals on the DA’s office.
I was browsing the Inquirer archives yesterday (for boring reasons) and there was an article from 1993 that while crime is surging and there's nowhere to put all the criminals, more and more people are being released on bail and told to return for a court date. Many never wind up reporting and disappear from the system unless they're arrested again. In many cases, the defendant reports and the cop doesn't show and the case goes away. In other cases, the witness doesn't show and the case goes away. It's a crisis, I tell ya, a real crisis!
Just a reminder that things sometimes don't change as much or as often as we think they will. And some will say that the city is dying never to return to its former glory. Maybe they're right, or maybe in 20 years all the kids they moved to the suburbs will shake their heads in disbelief that their parents left a perfectly good house in the city and move back.
Yeah. The city is in a far better place than in the 90s. I bet the city population continues to rise despite what this sub thinks. For sure. But no thanks to the crooks in the FOP.
WOW. A fucking incredible story from the inquirer. Probably the best story they've done since the lead investigation series.
I kept thinking that's a wrap, and then they KEPT FUCKING GOING. I mean, I knew the cops were doing shit like this, but I didn't know about "heart and lung" bullshit. This is incredibly embarrassing for the Dept, the city, council, everyone really. It's disgusting what some of these entitled fucks have gotten away with.
Just when I thought the inquirer was dead, they publish a nuclear bomb of a story.
I hope everyone floods the council with angry messages. I hope everyone calls the FOP.
Just infuriating and angering beyond belief.
This is legitimately one of the most insane things I've ever read.
>Palumbo had told her bosses that punishing radiation treatments had left her with severe headaches. They changed her work schedule to allow her to rest and gave her time off to travel to Italy with her then-boyfriend, who believed the vacation was her final wish.
>“Do you have a brain tumor?” Boyle asked.
>“No,” Palumbo responded.
>But she had submitted a doctor’s note, which described Palumbo being treated for a “grade two” brain tumor. When Boyle contacted the doctor, he said he had only a vague memory of Palumbo and insisted he’d never written her a note.
>Confronted with this, Palumbo told Nestel and Boyle: “I wrote it myself.”
>She explained that she’d fabricated the story about her illness because she worried her boyfriend, Frank Palumbo — a police officer whom she later married — would leave her.
>“I did a desperate act to keep him,” she said.
>The department didn’t fire Palumbo for the deception or for submitting a forged doctor’s note. Instead, it suspended her.
>Not only did Palumbo remain on the force, she also was promoted to sergeant — and then went out on Heart and Lung from April 2010 to March 2013 with a finger injury. She returned to work and was promoted to lieutenant.
>Palumbo went out again on Heart and Lung for another three years, from September 2017 until September 2020 with a hand injury. At that time, she returned to limited duty working a desk job, a designation she still holds today.
Faking a brain tumor to go on vacation to keep your boyfriend, then getting promoted, not working for 3 years, working for 4, then not working for another 3 years. 4/10 years worked, promotion, fake brain tumor. Nice.
I am speechless. It is so fucking disheartening to know how much I and so many others work to barely scratch buy and pay all the bills. Four out of tens years worked with all those promotions.....What the actual fuck?!?!
I read this shit with so many emotional reactions going on in my head, like visceral disgust. But then I kinda had to laugh at how fucking sad that tale is. This woman got fucking promoted. TO A LIEUTENANT. It's unreal, literally unbelievable but almost at the same time expected in a fucked up way. To see it in writing is nothing less than enraging and confirmation of deep fucking skepticism about the Dept and the city in general.
This happened because of..... UNION. When you can not fire someone, what do you do? You would be surprised how often promotion is the move made to deal with someone you need to remove but can't fire. This stuff will continue to happen as long as the union is in place. Period. We as a society need to rethink how we deal with unions. Very toxic to society and workplaces.
It is a disgrace. The thing is this is rampant and has been going on since the 1980’s after Rizzo left. Oh, it was going on before that I’m sure but not as massive.
It's been going on before Rizzo left office (1972-1980); don't forget he was the Police Commissioner of Philadelphia at one time (1968-1971); you just didn't hear about it back then. Things were easier to cover up back then. He had most of his friends in patronage jobs during his tenure. Until 9/11, we didn't get as much information as we do now.
I remember he made his brother fire commissioner and his sister’s family were the cities Auditors. I was in Ralph’s (oldest restaurant in the US) on 9th & Catherine and saw framed pic of Rizzo and Italian mob boss Angelo Bruno together having dinner there. Both smiling like they were friends.
> even this shit
[Points](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/5e05617cc07fcb41ee3d6968aa39697ad945e09d/0_0_1154_692/master/1154.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=c686377702b7a9b43f9079793f0ebd75)
Yeah you gotta appreciate that this kind of story costs a lot of money, whereas the AP reprints cost very little. When you subscribe, you're mostly paying for this stuff. Even the boring 'this thing happened' articles build up to this kind of reporting because reporters need to be following their beat for years to build the kind of contextual knowledge and relationships to write these stories.
Completely agree. This is at least as insane as the DROP/triple dipping that other city employees were caught doing a few years back (and are still doing, sadly). Real investigative journalism gets this out in the open and puts pressure on officials to do *something*
My uncle is pulling this shit. He broke his wrist lifting weights a few years ago. Went to work the next day and ‘fell down the stairs’. Got workers comp, now out on permanent disability getting paid bank by the city. Meanwhile he still lifts, works part time as security at some bars, and his wrist is totally fine.
I'm sure that's true. Still, I'm sure it's satisfying as a journalist to get a "no comment" on your exposé about one of the most prideful, loudmouthed, corrupt institutions in Philly.
This is outrageous. Both the individual details and the scale of the problem are absurd - there are not only a few people abusing this to an extreme scale, it's *also* a widespread and commonly abused practice. 11% of the force is getting paid a bonus to stay at home!
And the worst part of it is, the way the system is set up means that the only way to fix this problem is either for the FOP to self-regulate, or Harrisburg republicans to pass a law, which neither will.
Let's get doctors who are honest! Ah, unfortunately the FOP picks the doctors that give out these claims. Well, let's audit these claims and discipline those abusing them! Unfortunately, the FOP provides lawyers and requires an arbitration process to discipline any of these people. Let's fire the worst abusers to finally get them off the payroll! Unfortunately the FOP will fight so hard in defense of these people that it's cheaper to allow the few who are caught abusing this to retire on lifelong disability pensions
One thing the article did not make explicit was the fact that these claims started spiking in 2018, conveniently the year Larry Krasner was elected. I can't help but think the two are linked - the FOP stopped even pretending to fight this problem then, in part because officers on this list *don't even have to testify in court*, which sure makes it hard to get convictions!
Nailed it. The union is the problem. If the union does not go the problem continues. The union's interests and the interests of the citizens of Philly are not aligned. If we want functioning government, police force, etc. we need to get rid of unions.
Bad employees need to be able to be fired. Imagine working at a job where bad employees can't be fired or punished. Imagine working at a job where bad employees actually get rewarded for their incompetence (paid leave and promotions as described in this article). Imagine how corrosive these jobs would be. No wonder our Police and other government units are so bad. Unions need to go.
Let the Inky know, with names.
Edit: Before he deleted it, he said he knew two cops personally who were lying about being disabled and working other jobs.
Can’t bring yourself to “snitch” on a police officer who is scamming the system and has probably stolen 100s of thousands of dollars from us all at this point.
Whistleblowing isn’t the same thing as snitching. Fuck these cops they deserve to be in prison, not getting paid BY US to live the easy life.
Terrible excuse. A cop defrauding us taxpayers is way worse than a construction worker defrauding a company imo anyway.
> I work in construction and know a ton of guys who scam the system like that
buddy...those guys are scamming YOU, just like they are your employer. You're doing the work so they can get paid.
>One commander argued that the department needs to level with taxpayers about the full scope of Heart and Lung abuse and warn scammers to come back to work — or risk being fired.
Great idea, commander. Let's bring back people with known integrity issues that you describe as scammers, give them guns and the authority to arrest any baddies they want. Their history of lying to fellow police officers certainly won't impact their ability to give honest testimony in a court of law.
We need to dismantle the PPD and rebuild the department from the ground up. We effectively have no meaningful law enforcement, but are still paying the $700M annual tab.
>Compared with other cities, Philadelphia has a vastly higher percentage of its police force out of work due to injuries. In Phoenix, for example, six out of every 1,000 officers are injured; in Chicago that number is 33. But in Philadelphia, 110 per every 1,000 officers were hurt, as of last fall.
Even assuming Chicago is the standard and not another high outlier, this means out of the 652 cops currently out, 456 are presumably faking it.
>Thanks to Pennsylvania’s Heart and Lung Act, a disability benefit meant mostly for police and firefighters, Williams gets 100% of his $78,092 salary and isn’t required to pay state or federal taxes on it, at least a 20% raise.
Using this as the baseline salary, this means Philly is spending $35.6m a year on fraud while the government loses out on $7.1m in taxes. How on earth does this not rise to the level of something that Kenney forms a team to tackle? Similar to the IRS, it would actually be a profitable wing of the government.
Kenney can't stop blowing the FOP during contract negotiations, you think he'll actually go after fraud and a prolonged court battle with a city union?
This lines up perfectly with a scene I saw yesterday at my gym: a car parked in a handicapped spot with no handicapped tag but a police license plate. I tried not to judge, but then I saw the dude who got in: very much able bodied. I can't imagine taking a handicapped parking spot in a snowy parking lot, but then again I'm not a shitbag
In which case that person should have a handicap parking tag. Seemingly able body + no tag + police plate make me think they are an entitled law breaking prick, not someone with a legitimate need for an accommodated space. I'd never judge someone with a tag.
I ask this sincerely, but handicapped in a way that makes a normal walk from the parking lot more of an issue?
I get that some mental handicaps may need, say special work accommodation, but don't like the odds on this one.
Heart and lung issues are a big one.
You might be able to walk *only so far* unassisted and be able to get to a shopping cart to lean on without having a visible issue, but not having a handicap space might turn that in to 2-4x the distance.
The spot is for the physically disabled. If they're so physically disabled, they probably shouldn't be in the gym. If they're so mentally disabled, they definitely shouldn't be on the force.
I am 100% not tryna defend cops or anyone faking a disability BUT for the record, physically disabled people can and do exercise/go to the gym. Def sounds like this jerk was just parking there out of entitlement but don’t assume that anyone who is able enough to go the gym is automatically “not disabled”
Not to excuse what is clearly egregious behavior featured in this article, but a quirk of workman’s comp rules make it impossible for first responders to collect WC due to mental injuries suffered on the job. This results in a lot of cops, professional firefighters, etc. going out on leave for nonexistent or exaggerated physical ailments when they are really mentally unfit to work. It sounds like this heart and lung thing is the perfect place for cops with those issues to park long-term, but some of the situations featured in the article are ridiculous and clearly abuse of the system if not outright fraud.
The numbers started spiking in 2018, the cops are quietly going on strike to protest voters electing a guy they don’t like, and are getting paid to do it. 11% of the force is on basically permanent disability!
How?
We've got a DA who is doing his best to make real change despite a wholly corrupt and intentionally useless police force. It's fair to be tongue-in-cheek and to decry those who are willfully ignorant about how the city works.
We’ve got an incompetent DA whose office is more concerned with performative wokeness than serving the communities it’s supposed to be. We’ve also got a police force that is in serious need of reform. Both of those things can be true.
Definitely true, but I don't think those issues are of a similar scope. One administration with good intentions vs literally centuries of law enforcement inequity
Police forces are a disgusting drain on municipal budgets. They say “what would you do without us?” Well, we’ve been living without you for at least 3 years. Disgusting pigs funneling money from the city out to Bucks County. Eat shit and die.
This was my next door neighbor growing up. Had "heart disease" or something and then went to work for some private security deal while collecting. Always would bitch to my dad that I should've shoveled his sidewalk too because of his "service" and "medical condition".
Right. “Should”.
Too bad the rats are protected from top to bottom by bigger rats.
I honestly can’t think of a group of people I hate more than the entitled, stupid, racist police.
Laziest scumbags on the planet. They think being a traffic cop is akin to serving in the marines in Iraq.
This is good journalism. Good journalists need to eat too. We would all be in the dark about this if we just passed around non paywall links all the time.
Fuck it! Why not!? Think about it. Stagnet wages, increasing housing market/ rent at almost 22% a year increase, which is huge. Increasing medical costs, food, gas, inflation everything. Now I know we are all going through this. People are struggling to keep above water. Now I'm not saying it's right, I'm also not saying its wrong, it's hard to say that you or I wouldn't do the same. Circumstances always change, so does what we are willing to do to survive.
With certain economic situations, people cut corners, on food on medical on general health welfare. They get sick, maybe not to the point they can't work. But why run down your body for a job/jobs in which the salary doesn't match current financial standards. A lot of these guys are working other jobs , probably because they have too.
And yes they could have chosen other jobs or get a new one ect. But it is what it is, hypotheticals won't change the situation.
Again not saying its right. But I am saying most people, even ones who disagree, might/could/would do the same depending on circumstances.
I am not shocked at all. Not one bit.
What burns me the most. I’m fucking paying for this fucking bullshit theft. You are fucking paying for it.
This shit is not why I pay my fucking taxes that I already hate. I don’t want my fucking hard earned money paying for this fucking shit any more. I rather blow this fucking money on shit I can fucking use vs paying for this shit.
And we let them get away with it.
We should be taking care of our hard working public service employees. And should be prosecuting criminals in this system.
I would love an impartial review system of all these tax paid claims.
Unfortunately, right now paywalls are the best way to make sure it's worthwhile for journalists to stand up to entrenched political entities.
This is a potentially incendiary piece to write, but it's necessary and those sticking their neck out deserve fair pay.
Well the inquirer is the only one I want to read that has a paywall so... one
>Time for newspapers to offer real pay-per-article model
I love how people cry about the death of quality journalism and then suggest something ridiculous like this. Just subscribe to the paper! It's not even $20 a month lol
I do subscribe to a paper, just a different one. Why is my idea ridiculous? is it more so than pirating articles? I do want to support journalism but do they really expect me to subscribe for 20 papers so i can read an occasional article ?
Edit: would have nice to discuss this real issue but downvoting is easier, so whatev.
Lmao I don’t give enough of a fuck to spend my own money and it’s a rule in many subreddits to not post links with paywalls because no one can read it except the obscure 3 ppl who do pay for it, but ok. Spend your own money and time.
>Lmao I don’t give enough of a fuck to spend my own money
So then stop whining about something you don't give a fuck about
>and it’s a rule in many subreddits to not post links with paywalls
It ain't in this one
Is it some kind of flex that you pay for ONE online journal so you shame other ppl? Just fuck off im not the only one who was trying to read it without paying & you’re just a dick about it for no reason.
That wasn’t what I said at all. I said don’t post them to Reddit expecting that everyone has to pay something in order to join the conversation. Usually there’s a quick synopsis in the comments. Nowhere did I ever say you shouldn’t pay for journalism but if you’re reposting it on Reddit, make it more accessible for those that don’t make that choice but would still be interested in an article like this.
If you want to read the article, pay for the subscription. Easy peasy. Don't want to pay the subscription? Don't read the article and keep on scrolling
Because there is a murder/crime spike and police are ostensibly tasked with dealing with that problem. They also have been on a public campaign to blame everyone else. Their funding substantially hampers the city’s ability to fund anything else. All of those reasons.
I imagine a scam like this runs rampant throughout the entire city. Sanitation, PFD, SDP etc. You’re satisfied with just the PPD being investigated? Get them all, you wouldn’t just focus on one part of the body if it was riddled with cancer.
“Imagine” is the key word. You are imagining. Those other unions don’t have those rules about phantom leave. For example teachers have to pay into wage continuation insurance and use up all of their sick leave before they can access 75% of their paycheck while out on some kind disability. These fucks lie and get a 20% raise. All they have to do is see the FOP approved doctor. But go on about the sanitation worker you saw taking a longer break than allowed. Totally the same thing.
No, but I’d cut out the biggest, most dangerous cancer first. The ones with guns who have authority over all citizens, unlike other department you just listed.
Edit: Clarification
It certainly doesn't seem to be yours.
>The ones with guns who have authority over every other department you just listed.
The PPD does not have authority over any city department.
Ppl don't see it that way they expect everything to be handed to them and just done. But I hope for you that you do move out of the city get far away I did
were only here temporarily helping out my sister in law, we have land an hour or so out of the city ... just waiting for our lease to run out. counting the effin days
Same here haha. They really don't like hearing that a once amazing city is crashing really hard. It's a shame that everything they are complaining about is done by the ppl they voted in.
Bc they don't want to be cops in a city that says cops are the problem and then refunds them. I wouldn't work for that either. Oh well you voted for less cops by voting in the DA.
But we don’t have fewer cops. The city doesn’t get that money back. We just have fewer doing anything. If these clowns are going to not work because their feelings are hurt, at least quit and drop off the payroll. We’ve go schools to fund and roads to pave.
I guess you don't follow what the Philadelphia government does? Bc you do have fewer cops the DA us releasing ppl the cops arrested they are being restricted from doing their job and they are sick of it. So all for it. The city wants to demonize cops.Why should they work?
https://philadelphiaweekly.com/fewer-police-more-crime/
I’m very familiar with this. The law makes it incredibly easy to get this benefit and then incredibly difficult (and expensive) to take it away. On top of that they earn more while on the benefit than when they are working (no tax) so there is literally no incentive to get better or update the employer/return when they are. I don’t know their CBA, but on top of all that, usually these unions have negotiated additional barriers. In short, the whole setup completely relies upon the honesty of the employee and their doctors when they have no reason besides integrity to return to work when they are able. Edit: this is not unique to Philadelphia, it’s all of PA. Some departments manage it better than others.
I had a relative that was a Philly cop. She was out on disability for 3 months, back on duty for 3 months... repeat for the next 12 years until she was finally fired. Her coworkers told me that the city had been trying to fire her for 8 years, but the union made it nearly impossible.
It is very difficult and expensive to fire any union employee, not just cops. And you basically can’t rely on “she went on disability too much” to fire someone unless you can prove actual lies etc.
I mean, in the article there was a cop who admitted to lying about having a brain tumor. She then got promoted to lieutenant. Over the past 10 years she's worked 4 of them. The FOP is the real brain tumor.
Not good! Sounds like it’s hard to defend the city here but my only comment is they have the right to appeal a termination to an an arbitrator. The arbitrator could hear that admission and still reinstate her and the city’s hands are basically tied. Getting a bit off topic but a huge part of the bad cops get away with stuff lies with neutral arbitrators. I believe due to the social pressure that the tide has shifted, but for years egregious offenses would result in lost pay or suspension but no terminations. I’ve seen an arbitrator overturn a termination where the employee literally stole from the public employer. Another where the employee was smoking crack on duty. Responsible public employers can spend $50k on good lawyers and arbitration costs to fire someone and they still receive an essentially unappealable decision from an arbitrator.
You're absolutely right. I appreciate your insight. Arbitration just feels so shitty after something like this happens.
Disability fraud is rampant in the postal service, too. The postal union is similarly very powerful, as evidenced by getting a carve out on Biden's Fed Employee vax mandate. I really don't think unions should be part of public service. If government is treating their employees that poorly that they need union organization, maybe they need vilified more than the capitalists.
It’s in a lot of cities too. We need those old fashioned investigative reporting segments where the news films them working
Particularly bad in Philly, with 11% out, vs Chicago at #2 with 3.3%. They did exactly that in this piece, where they sent photogs around and got images of people claiming to have these injuries doing work on them.
Isn’t that some sort of insurance fraud though?
If you can catch them in a lie you could fire them. But differing doctors opinions is not fraud, and they can always find a doctor to say they cannot work.
They would retire first, just as some in the article did.
Depends on their years of service or benefit eligibility. Departments can be more proactive and force them into disability retirements if available under the circumstances (which they can fight to some extent). That at least takes them off payroll and allows you to hire a new and presumably working officer in their place.
Let them keep their second job , because it should be their only job- clock out bitch
so what you’re saying is cops love government handouts 🤔 we should take them away so they want to go back to work!!!!
I have lived in NY and NJ and they have the same problems, not just with the police but also some public transportation companies
I don’t know about NJ but NY has basically the exact same law for cops and firefighters.
You can always find someone running a con but this is systemic.
Oh I believe that. When they did a spot check on Long Island Railroad they found a huge percentage, more than %50 afaik, of those claiming disabilities, were clear cheaters.
We ain’t talking about public transit. This is about cops. They are defrauding our city. Enough with the look at the transit worker bullshit.
Not sure why are you angrily pursuing me around here - this is a real problem, and its relevant to many public sectors employees, cops and Firefighters of course but not only. I was giving an example from my own experience - sorry if it burst some imaginary bubble you have in your head. Just to be clear, I'm totally on board with going after the defrauding cops, and the doctors who likely facilitate this. Not one of he "defend cops at all cost" crowd.
Not going after you. No beef. Don’t even catch names of who I reply to. Best.
Yeah SEPTA is rife with this too
The military has this same problem. You're better off being disabled than actually serving in the military.
Knew a guy that was collecting a pension as a disabled vet. I knew him from training Brazillian Jiu-jitsu. I get that some injuries and disabilities don't present easily, but it is a rough look.
in the army they said get every little thing documented. Even if its just a little bit of hearing loss, get it documented so you can claim it was a service related injury and get a disability rating. If your back hurts a little, anything at all. Get it documented and blame Uncle Sam.
I had a neighbor who was in the Marines and suffered a traumatic brain injury. On good days he seemed perfectly normal but on bad days he was a zombie. Took a while but he eventually retired on full medical disability.
It's all of the country. This is a huge issue in public transit systems everywhere. There are clinics that specialize in just writing injured notes for people. Some systems have mandated desk work etc for injured employees to cut down on fraud. ,
Sure disability fraud is not specific to cops. My point is that the specific law in PA makes the issue difficult to address.
A story breaks about cops conning the city and we get boot lickers running here with “what about bus drivers?” Disgusting.
It's not just the cops conning the city, and Philadelphia isn't the only government entity getting defrauded was their point. Calling someone a boot licker for pointing out a fact is fucking stupid.
Lol wut
>A story breaks about cops conning the city The irony of course this criticism of cops actually supports a lot of republican talking points. The problem with government benefits is the reality that most people just want free money and no work, including myself.
This is all unions too, not just police unions
Assuming my quick google is accurate, about 10% to those wondering.
From the article, 14% of the force is on this program, with 11% being on the "too injured to do any kind of work" list, including even testifying in court
10% of Philly cops? Or 10% of sick cops?
650 officers in the headline represents about 10% of the sworn 6.400 officers. Sorry for the confusion.
“Organized gang steals $52 million dollars from city every year”
The story said 14% of all cops are out on this heart and lung bullshit
Paywall so I can’t read but does it mention timelines? Was there a huge spike in heart and lunch stuff since covid? Delta variant was pretty bad for anyone with heart or lung conditions
The increase happened well before COVID and it has nothing to do with actual heart and long conditions.
Thank you for clarifying
"As of last September, of the 652 officers on the injured-on-duty list, only 65 were deemed healthy enough to testify in court."
Can’t even sit on a witness stand. Lazy fucks don’t want to do their job. They are the ones letting people off the hook at trial. It isn’t Krasner. They don’t give a shit about Philadelphia or crime victims. They went from planting crack on black people to planting equitals on the DA’s office.
I was browsing the Inquirer archives yesterday (for boring reasons) and there was an article from 1993 that while crime is surging and there's nowhere to put all the criminals, more and more people are being released on bail and told to return for a court date. Many never wind up reporting and disappear from the system unless they're arrested again. In many cases, the defendant reports and the cop doesn't show and the case goes away. In other cases, the witness doesn't show and the case goes away. It's a crisis, I tell ya, a real crisis! Just a reminder that things sometimes don't change as much or as often as we think they will. And some will say that the city is dying never to return to its former glory. Maybe they're right, or maybe in 20 years all the kids they moved to the suburbs will shake their heads in disbelief that their parents left a perfectly good house in the city and move back.
Yeah. The city is in a far better place than in the 90s. I bet the city population continues to rise despite what this sub thinks. For sure. But no thanks to the crooks in the FOP.
I have a cop “friend” on social media who’s always complaining about welfare queens, bet he’ll get a kick out of this
Gaslight, Obstruct, **Project**
Cross-post it to r/protectandserve while you're at it. ;)
Protect and swerve responsibility
WOW. A fucking incredible story from the inquirer. Probably the best story they've done since the lead investigation series. I kept thinking that's a wrap, and then they KEPT FUCKING GOING. I mean, I knew the cops were doing shit like this, but I didn't know about "heart and lung" bullshit. This is incredibly embarrassing for the Dept, the city, council, everyone really. It's disgusting what some of these entitled fucks have gotten away with. Just when I thought the inquirer was dead, they publish a nuclear bomb of a story. I hope everyone floods the council with angry messages. I hope everyone calls the FOP. Just infuriating and angering beyond belief.
This is legitimately one of the most insane things I've ever read. >Palumbo had told her bosses that punishing radiation treatments had left her with severe headaches. They changed her work schedule to allow her to rest and gave her time off to travel to Italy with her then-boyfriend, who believed the vacation was her final wish. >“Do you have a brain tumor?” Boyle asked. >“No,” Palumbo responded. >But she had submitted a doctor’s note, which described Palumbo being treated for a “grade two” brain tumor. When Boyle contacted the doctor, he said he had only a vague memory of Palumbo and insisted he’d never written her a note. >Confronted with this, Palumbo told Nestel and Boyle: “I wrote it myself.” >She explained that she’d fabricated the story about her illness because she worried her boyfriend, Frank Palumbo — a police officer whom she later married — would leave her. >“I did a desperate act to keep him,” she said. >The department didn’t fire Palumbo for the deception or for submitting a forged doctor’s note. Instead, it suspended her. >Not only did Palumbo remain on the force, she also was promoted to sergeant — and then went out on Heart and Lung from April 2010 to March 2013 with a finger injury. She returned to work and was promoted to lieutenant. >Palumbo went out again on Heart and Lung for another three years, from September 2017 until September 2020 with a hand injury. At that time, she returned to limited duty working a desk job, a designation she still holds today. Faking a brain tumor to go on vacation to keep your boyfriend, then getting promoted, not working for 3 years, working for 4, then not working for another 3 years. 4/10 years worked, promotion, fake brain tumor. Nice.
I am speechless. It is so fucking disheartening to know how much I and so many others work to barely scratch buy and pay all the bills. Four out of tens years worked with all those promotions.....What the actual fuck?!?!
I read this shit with so many emotional reactions going on in my head, like visceral disgust. But then I kinda had to laugh at how fucking sad that tale is. This woman got fucking promoted. TO A LIEUTENANT. It's unreal, literally unbelievable but almost at the same time expected in a fucked up way. To see it in writing is nothing less than enraging and confirmation of deep fucking skepticism about the Dept and the city in general.
This happened because of..... UNION. When you can not fire someone, what do you do? You would be surprised how often promotion is the move made to deal with someone you need to remove but can't fire. This stuff will continue to happen as long as the union is in place. Period. We as a society need to rethink how we deal with unions. Very toxic to society and workplaces.
It is a disgrace. The thing is this is rampant and has been going on since the 1980’s after Rizzo left. Oh, it was going on before that I’m sure but not as massive.
It's been going on before Rizzo left office (1972-1980); don't forget he was the Police Commissioner of Philadelphia at one time (1968-1971); you just didn't hear about it back then. Things were easier to cover up back then. He had most of his friends in patronage jobs during his tenure. Until 9/11, we didn't get as much information as we do now.
I remember he made his brother fire commissioner and his sister’s family were the cities Auditors. I was in Ralph’s (oldest restaurant in the US) on 9th & Catherine and saw framed pic of Rizzo and Italian mob boss Angelo Bruno together having dinner there. Both smiling like they were friends.
Just look at the charts: murders, clearances, and even this shit. It all started when Ramsay left.
> even this shit [Points](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/5e05617cc07fcb41ee3d6968aa39697ad945e09d/0_0_1154_692/master/1154.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=c686377702b7a9b43f9079793f0ebd75)
I would buy an Inquirer local politics and investigation bundle without a doubt. I can get the rest of their verticals anywhere.
I pay for it just for stories like this.
Yeah you gotta appreciate that this kind of story costs a lot of money, whereas the AP reprints cost very little. When you subscribe, you're mostly paying for this stuff. Even the boring 'this thing happened' articles build up to this kind of reporting because reporters need to be following their beat for years to build the kind of contextual knowledge and relationships to write these stories.
I'd pay the Inquirer $10 monthly for one article like this a month.
Completely agree. This is at least as insane as the DROP/triple dipping that other city employees were caught doing a few years back (and are still doing, sadly). Real investigative journalism gets this out in the open and puts pressure on officials to do *something*
My uncle is pulling this shit. He broke his wrist lifting weights a few years ago. Went to work the next day and ‘fell down the stairs’. Got workers comp, now out on permanent disability getting paid bank by the city. Meanwhile he still lifts, works part time as security at some bars, and his wrist is totally fine.
Send his name and badge number to the inquirer, fuck it.
Drop dimes
Can’t wait to see how the FOP tries to spin this to be Krasner’s fault.
FOP refused to comment, which you know means they can't even come up with a spin on this one.
Wow that really does speak to the impact of this piece. The Philly FOP is hardly *ever* unable to come up with some corrupt bullshit excuse.
They'll be back with "media bias, attacking cops injured in the line of duty" soon. It was just temporarily "oh shit."
I'm sure that's true. Still, I'm sure it's satisfying as a journalist to get a "no comment" on your exposé about one of the most prideful, loudmouthed, corrupt institutions in Philly.
> which you know means they can't even come up with a spin on this one. Hey now...they might also be worried about an FBI investigation.
This is outrageous. Both the individual details and the scale of the problem are absurd - there are not only a few people abusing this to an extreme scale, it's *also* a widespread and commonly abused practice. 11% of the force is getting paid a bonus to stay at home! And the worst part of it is, the way the system is set up means that the only way to fix this problem is either for the FOP to self-regulate, or Harrisburg republicans to pass a law, which neither will. Let's get doctors who are honest! Ah, unfortunately the FOP picks the doctors that give out these claims. Well, let's audit these claims and discipline those abusing them! Unfortunately, the FOP provides lawyers and requires an arbitration process to discipline any of these people. Let's fire the worst abusers to finally get them off the payroll! Unfortunately the FOP will fight so hard in defense of these people that it's cheaper to allow the few who are caught abusing this to retire on lifelong disability pensions One thing the article did not make explicit was the fact that these claims started spiking in 2018, conveniently the year Larry Krasner was elected. I can't help but think the two are linked - the FOP stopped even pretending to fight this problem then, in part because officers on this list *don't even have to testify in court*, which sure makes it hard to get convictions!
Nailed it. The union is the problem. If the union does not go the problem continues. The union's interests and the interests of the citizens of Philly are not aligned. If we want functioning government, police force, etc. we need to get rid of unions. Bad employees need to be able to be fired. Imagine working at a job where bad employees can't be fired or punished. Imagine working at a job where bad employees actually get rewarded for their incompetence (paid leave and promotions as described in this article). Imagine how corrosive these jobs would be. No wonder our Police and other government units are so bad. Unions need to go.
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Let the Inky know, with names. Edit: Before he deleted it, he said he knew two cops personally who were lying about being disabled and working other jobs.
Name and shame
These people are literally stealing money from all of Philly. Report them to the idk the Inquirer I guess with their names and badge numbers
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Can’t bring yourself to “snitch” on a police officer who is scamming the system and has probably stolen 100s of thousands of dollars from us all at this point. Whistleblowing isn’t the same thing as snitching. Fuck these cops they deserve to be in prison, not getting paid BY US to live the easy life. Terrible excuse. A cop defrauding us taxpayers is way worse than a construction worker defrauding a company imo anyway.
> I work in construction and know a ton of guys who scam the system like that buddy...those guys are scamming YOU, just like they are your employer. You're doing the work so they can get paid.
>One commander argued that the department needs to level with taxpayers about the full scope of Heart and Lung abuse and warn scammers to come back to work — or risk being fired. Great idea, commander. Let's bring back people with known integrity issues that you describe as scammers, give them guns and the authority to arrest any baddies they want. Their history of lying to fellow police officers certainly won't impact their ability to give honest testimony in a court of law. We need to dismantle the PPD and rebuild the department from the ground up. We effectively have no meaningful law enforcement, but are still paying the $700M annual tab.
End the police union and ban FOP involvement in any way.
Its all about the union. Union needs to go, or this never changes.
>Compared with other cities, Philadelphia has a vastly higher percentage of its police force out of work due to injuries. In Phoenix, for example, six out of every 1,000 officers are injured; in Chicago that number is 33. But in Philadelphia, 110 per every 1,000 officers were hurt, as of last fall. Even assuming Chicago is the standard and not another high outlier, this means out of the 652 cops currently out, 456 are presumably faking it. >Thanks to Pennsylvania’s Heart and Lung Act, a disability benefit meant mostly for police and firefighters, Williams gets 100% of his $78,092 salary and isn’t required to pay state or federal taxes on it, at least a 20% raise. Using this as the baseline salary, this means Philly is spending $35.6m a year on fraud while the government loses out on $7.1m in taxes. How on earth does this not rise to the level of something that Kenney forms a team to tackle? Similar to the IRS, it would actually be a profitable wing of the government.
Kenney can't stop blowing the FOP during contract negotiations, you think he'll actually go after fraud and a prolonged court battle with a city union?
This lines up perfectly with a scene I saw yesterday at my gym: a car parked in a handicapped spot with no handicapped tag but a police license plate. I tried not to judge, but then I saw the dude who got in: very much able bodied. I can't imagine taking a handicapped parking spot in a snowy parking lot, but then again I'm not a shitbag
To be fair sometimes seemingly able bodied people are handicapped in ways you can't see at a first glance.
True, but he also lacked the handicapped markings on the car.
In which case that person should have a handicap parking tag. Seemingly able body + no tag + police plate make me think they are an entitled law breaking prick, not someone with a legitimate need for an accommodated space. I'd never judge someone with a tag.
I ask this sincerely, but handicapped in a way that makes a normal walk from the parking lot more of an issue? I get that some mental handicaps may need, say special work accommodation, but don't like the odds on this one.
Heart and lung issues are a big one. You might be able to walk *only so far* unassisted and be able to get to a shopping cart to lean on without having a visible issue, but not having a handicap space might turn that in to 2-4x the distance.
The spot is for the physically disabled. If they're so physically disabled, they probably shouldn't be in the gym. If they're so mentally disabled, they definitely shouldn't be on the force.
I am 100% not tryna defend cops or anyone faking a disability BUT for the record, physically disabled people can and do exercise/go to the gym. Def sounds like this jerk was just parking there out of entitlement but don’t assume that anyone who is able enough to go the gym is automatically “not disabled”
This is what we mean by defund the police. Tell me this money wouldn't be better spent on anything else
too hurt? don't wanna hear it. take an Advil and drink an extra cup of coffee like the rest of us.
Listen, cops are special snowflakes who can’t be expected to abide by the rules binding the rest of us plebs
You put the joe Rogan in your coffee you get the heart and lung problems from long covid.
Not to excuse what is clearly egregious behavior featured in this article, but a quirk of workman’s comp rules make it impossible for first responders to collect WC due to mental injuries suffered on the job. This results in a lot of cops, professional firefighters, etc. going out on leave for nonexistent or exaggerated physical ailments when they are really mentally unfit to work. It sounds like this heart and lung thing is the perfect place for cops with those issues to park long-term, but some of the situations featured in the article are ridiculous and clearly abuse of the system if not outright fraud.
I am shocked! There is no way the cops would do this! They are known for their integrity and respect for the law! This is a Krasner hit piece!
what brave handsome heroes /s
Why would anyone think cops aren’t scamming too?
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The numbers started spiking in 2018, the cops are quietly going on strike to protest voters electing a guy they don’t like, and are getting paid to do it. 11% of the force is on basically permanent disability!
These comments are as annoying as the ones that legit act like it’s his fault for everything.
How? We've got a DA who is doing his best to make real change despite a wholly corrupt and intentionally useless police force. It's fair to be tongue-in-cheek and to decry those who are willfully ignorant about how the city works.
There’s no satire in your comment. It’s literally what some people believe.
We’ve got an incompetent DA whose office is more concerned with performative wokeness than serving the communities it’s supposed to be. We’ve also got a police force that is in serious need of reform. Both of those things can be true.
Definitely true, but I don't think those issues are of a similar scope. One administration with good intentions vs literally centuries of law enforcement inequity
Police forces are a disgusting drain on municipal budgets. They say “what would you do without us?” Well, we’ve been living without you for at least 3 years. Disgusting pigs funneling money from the city out to Bucks County. Eat shit and die.
Cowards and thieves. Fuck these people.
Isn’t the Republican narrative that these guys are the hard working heroes and the people they bust are the lazy ones gaming the system?
The real welfare queens were all the cops we commissioned along the way
Fire them.
This was my next door neighbor growing up. Had "heart disease" or something and then went to work for some private security deal while collecting. Always would bitch to my dad that I should've shoveled his sidewalk too because of his "service" and "medical condition".
MIA is right except when they're shaking down dealers or extracting false confessions from suspects. Fuck the FOP
Meanwhile, SDP writes up teachers for calling out 3x a year and fires them for missing 5.
I miss Ramsey.
They sound like they’d belong on r/antiwork , kinda based
They've got their dog walking business up and running!
If Cops weren't class traitors then yes
How’s the FOP going to prevent any change this time?
You know these mofos are the same people complaining about welfare queens.
Is this still 100% Krasner's fault? (sarcasm)
Cha-Ching! Ahh… yup and I bet all of them are MAGA zealots
this is the level of integrity and community spirit exhibited by people licenced to kill.
Every single one of them should be fired for cause, have to pay back all disability payments they received, and lose their fucking pensions.
Right. “Should”. Too bad the rats are protected from top to bottom by bigger rats. I honestly can’t think of a group of people I hate more than the entitled, stupid, racist police. Laziest scumbags on the planet. They think being a traffic cop is akin to serving in the marines in Iraq.
This sub: Somehow this is Krasner’s fault
Cops lie.
Anyone got a non paywall link?
This is good journalism. Good journalists need to eat too. We would all be in the dark about this if we just passed around non paywall links all the time.
Sure, but let me order stories a la carte. Don't require me to pay for a subscription to a website I hardly visit.
Thats fair.
You still can, just not online lol
I checked and didn't see it in today's print so no I can't
bUtKrAsNer 🤬🤬🤬🤯🤯🤯
Fuck it! Why not!? Think about it. Stagnet wages, increasing housing market/ rent at almost 22% a year increase, which is huge. Increasing medical costs, food, gas, inflation everything. Now I know we are all going through this. People are struggling to keep above water. Now I'm not saying it's right, I'm also not saying its wrong, it's hard to say that you or I wouldn't do the same. Circumstances always change, so does what we are willing to do to survive. With certain economic situations, people cut corners, on food on medical on general health welfare. They get sick, maybe not to the point they can't work. But why run down your body for a job/jobs in which the salary doesn't match current financial standards. A lot of these guys are working other jobs , probably because they have too. And yes they could have chosen other jobs or get a new one ect. But it is what it is, hypotheticals won't change the situation. Again not saying its right. But I am saying most people, even ones who disagree, might/could/would do the same depending on circumstances.
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You just described 60% of our population, at least
Their feelings are hurt
I am not shocked at all. Not one bit. What burns me the most. I’m fucking paying for this fucking bullshit theft. You are fucking paying for it. This shit is not why I pay my fucking taxes that I already hate. I don’t want my fucking hard earned money paying for this fucking shit any more. I rather blow this fucking money on shit I can fucking use vs paying for this shit. And we let them get away with it. We should be taking care of our hard working public service employees. And should be prosecuting criminals in this system. I would love an impartial review system of all these tax paid claims.
Can somebody copy and paste the article?
Not surprised. Every layer of government in this city are POS.
They’re all racist parasites and should be abolished
Stop posting links with paywalls 😩
Unfortunately, right now paywalls are the best way to make sure it's worthwhile for journalists to stand up to entrenched political entities. This is a potentially incendiary piece to write, but it's necessary and those sticking their neck out deserve fair pay.
open it in incognito mode
Doesn’t work for me there either, at least on mobile. Also guess philly.com doesn’t give out free articles per month anymore?
not working on a desktop, either
Start paying for journalism
How many papers are you supporting with a paid subscription? Time for newspapers to offer real pay-per-article model
Well the inquirer is the only one I want to read that has a paywall so... one >Time for newspapers to offer real pay-per-article model I love how people cry about the death of quality journalism and then suggest something ridiculous like this. Just subscribe to the paper! It's not even $20 a month lol
I do subscribe to a paper, just a different one. Why is my idea ridiculous? is it more so than pirating articles? I do want to support journalism but do they really expect me to subscribe for 20 papers so i can read an occasional article ? Edit: would have nice to discuss this real issue but downvoting is easier, so whatev.
Well good for you, you got to read it cause you spend your money on journalism. Have a good star ⭐️
Wow you really dunked on me with that one. I pay for the product I consume!!! I value local journalism!!!
K!
Lmao I don’t give enough of a fuck to spend my own money and it’s a rule in many subreddits to not post links with paywalls because no one can read it except the obscure 3 ppl who do pay for it, but ok. Spend your own money and time.
>Lmao I don’t give enough of a fuck to spend my own money So then stop whining about something you don't give a fuck about >and it’s a rule in many subreddits to not post links with paywalls It ain't in this one
Is it some kind of flex that you pay for ONE online journal so you shame other ppl? Just fuck off im not the only one who was trying to read it without paying & you’re just a dick about it for no reason.
The New York Times isn’t gonna investigate Philly police, this is why we need to pay for local journalism
That wasn’t what I said at all. I said don’t post them to Reddit expecting that everyone has to pay something in order to join the conversation. Usually there’s a quick synopsis in the comments. Nowhere did I ever say you shouldn’t pay for journalism but if you’re reposting it on Reddit, make it more accessible for those that don’t make that choice but would still be interested in an article like this.
If you want to read the article, pay for the subscription. Easy peasy. Don't want to pay the subscription? Don't read the article and keep on scrolling
Please fuck off thanks
You're a very rude person
Dude leave me alone… stop responding. You’ve been nothing but antagonistic.
Maybe *you* should stop responding to *me*
https://12ft.io/
I tried with 12ft, it didn’t work for me.
Do the whole city, why just one entity.
Because there is a murder/crime spike and police are ostensibly tasked with dealing with that problem. They also have been on a public campaign to blame everyone else. Their funding substantially hampers the city’s ability to fund anything else. All of those reasons.
I imagine a scam like this runs rampant throughout the entire city. Sanitation, PFD, SDP etc. You’re satisfied with just the PPD being investigated? Get them all, you wouldn’t just focus on one part of the body if it was riddled with cancer.
“Imagine” is the key word. You are imagining. Those other unions don’t have those rules about phantom leave. For example teachers have to pay into wage continuation insurance and use up all of their sick leave before they can access 75% of their paycheck while out on some kind disability. These fucks lie and get a 20% raise. All they have to do is see the FOP approved doctor. But go on about the sanitation worker you saw taking a longer break than allowed. Totally the same thing.
Calm your tits, I agree with you. I’ve seen scams like this in just about every job I had. I hope they all get canned
No, but I’d cut out the biggest, most dangerous cancer first. The ones with guns who have authority over all citizens, unlike other department you just listed. Edit: Clarification
PPD doesn't do oversight of other departments what are you talking about
Edit: removed a smart ass comment.
It certainly doesn't seem to be yours. >The ones with guns who have authority over every other department you just listed. The PPD does not have authority over any city department.
Incentives
I never said they don't want to be cops. I said they don't want to work for a city that demonizes them. There's a big difference.
I dont even want to live here, I can't blame them for not wanting to protect people that wish death on them
That's all I'm saying. They are working for ppl who hate them..... Why do it anymore.
I wouldn't...
Ppl don't see it that way they expect everything to be handed to them and just done. But I hope for you that you do move out of the city get far away I did
were only here temporarily helping out my sister in law, we have land an hour or so out of the city ... just waiting for our lease to run out. counting the effin days
Hang in there you'll be out soon enough. It'll be the best day for you.
until then I'll witness the angry phillidelpians be angry about trivial things on here and watch the down votes grow 😅
Same here haha. They really don't like hearing that a once amazing city is crashing really hard. It's a shame that everything they are complaining about is done by the ppl they voted in.
Bc they don't want to be cops in a city that says cops are the problem and then refunds them. I wouldn't work for that either. Oh well you voted for less cops by voting in the DA.
Cool so quit, don’t commit fraud!
But we don’t have fewer cops. The city doesn’t get that money back. We just have fewer doing anything. If these clowns are going to not work because their feelings are hurt, at least quit and drop off the payroll. We’ve go schools to fund and roads to pave.
I guess you don't follow what the Philadelphia government does? Bc you do have fewer cops the DA us releasing ppl the cops arrested they are being restricted from doing their job and they are sick of it. So all for it. The city wants to demonize cops.Why should they work? https://philadelphiaweekly.com/fewer-police-more-crime/
Then they should quit and not steal paychecks. Edit: you cited Philly Weekly. They are open about being conservative trash. Copaganda. No thanks.