Why a Police Dept. Got in Touch With Its Feminist Side

In post-Diallo America, police forces nationwide face heightened scrutiny over their sensitivity toward minorities. So it's a safe bet that the nation's police chiefs will be following closely the reaction to a Philadelphia Police Department policy unveiled Tuesday that provides women's groups, such as Women Organized Against Rape and the Women's Law Project, with input and oversight pertaining to departmental policies for investigating rape cases. This may not exactly be akin to handing the reins of the NYPD over the NAACP, but law enforcement experts cite it as a revolutionary step in including a disaffected group in a department's policy-making. The Philly PD's sex-crimes unit has been the target of public ire for years, because — as former and current top-level department officials have admitted — since 1981 it has discarded about a third of its rape cases, allegedly to improve its crime statistics. The cases, according to an investigation by the Philsdelphia Inquirer, were routinely downgraded without proper review, and labeled either "not credible" or "unfounded."

It remains unclear exactly what impact the new policy will have, and some see it as a mere public relations ploy. Police department spokesman Roland Lee told TIME Daily that the specifics have not been worked out yet, and that it remains unclear whether the women's groups will have the authority to review each and every case that is downgraded. What's more, said Lee, "the women's groups will look at some cases, but the final determination of whether to investigate them will still be made by the police department." Still, the move can be taken as another sign that America's police forces are acknowledging a certain level of public dissatisfaction and doing something about it.