Malcolm Jenkins of the Philadelphia Eagles wrote an opinion piece on Monday for the Philadelphia Inquirer that lists the reforms he wants to see within Philly’s police department.
Afterward, the president of Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police #5, John McNesby, called Jenkins “racist” for the article, and he used personal attacks to insult him.
In his piece, Jenkins listed six major changes that he wants to see under the new police commissioner. The last commissioner Richard Ross resigned in August after being accused of ignoring a woman’s sexual harassment claim. Reportedly, that same woman also had a two-year affair with Ross beforehand.
One of Jenkins’ reform ideas has to do with the way Philly residents are being policed.
“Broken windows policing, stop-and-frisk practices, and the war on drugs have not made us safer,” he wrote. “Stop-and-frisk actions in Philadelphia, for example, resulted in gun recovery in less than 1% of all stops. What those policies have done, however, is lead to alarming rates of arrests for black and brown boys and men.”
“The next commissioner should pledge to focus on solving the serious violent crimes that are harming the community instead of harassing citizens for low-level offenses,” added Jenkins.
Jenkins also said he wanted a commissioner who fought back against the police union that he believes always defends officers’ bad behavior.
The Eagles’ star safety said more transparency within the department is needed as well, and he wants the search for a new commissioner to be open and discussed in public meetings by the mayor. Because now he feels the entire process has been “shrouded in secrecy.”
McNesby shared his response letter Tuesday on Twitter and blasted the Philadelphia Inquirer for publishing the piece, as well as Jenkins, who he said doesn’t live in Philadelphia.
But that piece of information is incorrect, according to NBC Philadelphia, who confirmed that Jenkins lives in the Northern Liberties section of the city.
“Hurling slurs and false allegations against police officers nothing in the way of improvement,” wrote McNesby.
“Like other has been football players, they now do most of their running with their mouths. This character’s proposal would leave Philadelphia many crime victims as defenseless as his poor play has left his football team,” he added.
Afterwards, in an interview with 6 ABC Action News, Jenkins didn’t mention McNesby by name but seemed to respond to his letter and bashing.
“When you have this rhetoric that comes from either side, what it does is people begin to cover who’s fighting, who’s talking about what, which is why I never respond to those things. I want to keep it about, you know, the topic at hand.”
Jenkins, who co-founded the Players Coalition, a social justice group, recently released a PSA about Black children being killed by police officers. He released the video in partnership with Jay-Z‘s Roc Nation, who’s working with the NFL on social justice initiatives.
