No. 024 · · Courts, Personnel
Security incidents in the courts nearly triple; a judge calls it a “disaster waiting to happen”
Court security is one of the office’s three core functions. In 2023, the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts tracked 72 security incidents in city courts — a nearly threefold increase from the 25 logged in 2019, the year before Bilal took office — and 2024 was on pace to be higher, with 59 reported through mid-September. Incidents at the Criminal Justice Center and the city’s four other court buildings were being reported at a rate of about six per month.
The shortage of deputies delayed trials. Some jailed defendants waited for hours in the Criminal Justice Center’s basement, only to be driven back to prison because a deputy failed to transport them to the courtroom, according to an assistant chief of the Defender Association. One judge described the situation as an “emergency situation”; another called it a “disaster waiting to happen.”
As of the article’s publication, the office had 253 deputy sheriffs against a budgeted level of 307. Bilal had not responded to the Inquirer’s requests for comment over two weeks.
The shortage
As of September 2024 the office had 253 deputy sheriffs against a budgeted level of 307, and major buildings like the Criminal Justice Center had about half the deputies the office estimated it needed.
The Philadelphia InquirerThe hiring money
Eighteen months earlier, records showed the office had diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars intended for hiring uniformed staff — including deputies — to executive raises.
The Philadelphia InquirerSources
- William Bender and Ryan W. Briggs. “'Disaster waiting to happen': Courthouse security incidents, trial delays have soared under Sheriff Rochelle Bilal.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, .
- Ryan W. Briggs and William Bender. “Philly sheriff used money meant to hire deputies for executive raises, tried to double her salary to $285K.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, .