The Philadelphia Police Department has recent success to point to. The city had 220 homicides in 2025, the lowest in 60 years, and the rate of crime in several categories — including gun robbery and retail theft — dropped from the prior year.
Looking to the future, the PPD developed its first ever five-year strategic plan to steer the department’s priorities and shift how it polices our community. Last week it launched a public comment period, which runs through Feb. 11, so Philadelphians can comment on the plan before it’s finalized.
David Zega, executive director for strategic planning for the department, spoke to us about how to get involved in the planning process.
[The strategic plan] was developed in part based on results of a survey that the public took. How many people participated and what were some of the things that they said?
“ Over the past 10 months, 200 individuals from across Philadelphia have come together to build the strategic plan component by component.
“ We had thousands of responses to a survey we put out to get some initial input as well. [We] did 20 listening sessions across the city, six listening sessions internally with our police divisions across the city. All that went into the final draft that is now out for public comment.
The public comment period for the plan is now open and ends February 11th. What does that involve, and what kind of feedback do you want to hear from Philadelphians?
“Go to phillypolice.com/strategicplan. On the left-hand side, you'll see a blue public comment button. You can click that and read the plan and provide some input and feedback.
”There's some specific questions that we are asking specifically around how we're prioritizing a few different things in the plan. And then a series of open-ended questions where residents or employees in the city of Philadelphia and the department are welcome to submit comment as well.
“We want to consider it all, review it all. After that, we'll be finalizing the plan and publishing it in advance of the mayor’s budget address in March.”
What does success look like?
“Doing the things that we said we were going to do right and doing them well. Continuing to see the outcomes that we’re seeing in Philadelphia with homicide rates dropping and shooting clearances increasing. Those are the numbers we wanna see. But also internally, how are we measuring success, as the commissioner said, for the men and women who work here? How is their health and wellness? What’s the morale of the department?
”Making sure that we're tracking those indicators, if we’re on track or off track, and then making those adjustments that are needed along the way.”
🎧 This is an excerpt from a conversation with Zega and Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel. Listen to the full version of today’s episode on City Cast Philly.
