Murder of Sgt. Fitzgerald Renews Calls for More Officers Around Temple

The killing of a Temple University Police officer last month renewed calls for more police officers to patrol campus and the North Philly area surrounding it.

But even before Sgt. Christopher Fitzgerald was shot and killed, the Temple area was already struggling with increased crime.

An NBC10 Investigators analysis of crime in the Temple Police patrol zone shows that motor vehicle theft went from 5 in 2018 to 118 in 2022. 

Non-fatal shootings rose from 6 to 32 during that time frame. Homicides stayed relatively flat over the last five years.

And there was a decrease in some crimes such as residential burglary and aggravated assault without a firearm.

The changes in crime occurred while Temple and Philadelphia Police had a supplemental patrol agreement in place. Four officers and a supervisor from the 22^nd District were stationed at four different corners within the patrol zone on certain nights. 

“We need significant change, it’s not just one or two more police officers - we need 40 additional,” said Alec Shaffer, a Temple Police officer who also serves as the president of the Temple University Police Association.

Jennifer Griffin was hired as the university’s vice president of public safety in August and oversees Temple Police.

She says the prior agreement with Philadelphia Police was not working. 

“It was only being run out of the 22^nd District and as you know Philadelphia is also down a significant number of police officers,” she said. “By only having it run out of one district you only have those eligible officers so when they are short on staffing that takes priority over any supplemental patrols. So the (Temple) patrols were not being filled.”

Griffin put a pause to the agreement at the end of last year. She told NBC10 she was working on a better model.

Five days after Fitzgerald’s funeral, the partnership between the two agencies was relaunched.

“Since we initiated the modified supplemental patrol, it’s been filled every night,” Griffin said.

While the detail is still the same with four officers and one supervisor, they are now being pulled from districts all over the city rather than only the 22nd. The officers are also on patrol rather than static. 

NBC10 asked Griffin how she would measure the success of the new agreement. 

“A couple of different things. One is just making sure it’s filled,” Griffin replied. “That’s extremely important.” 

Griffin also told NBC10 they would be tracking crime. 

“See if there’s decreases in some of the thefts from vehicles, vandalisms, car jackings, violent crime,” Griffin said. 

Griffin told NBC10 she’s still working on an official plan. She highlighted some of her crime-fighting strategy in a memo earlier this month however.  

It includes creating a dozen strategic and leadership positions from accreditation to training to event operations.

“To align Temple University with best practices and also build the foundation, those positions are important,” she said.

Temple’s public safety budget is $31.5 million. That includes 111 sworn officers, detectives and supervisors as well as 360 security personnel. 

Griffin told NBC10 she wants to hire more police but wouldn’t say how many more.

Like many other police agencies, she says they are having trouble recruiting qualified candidates.

“The good thing is we actually, there’s no cap,” she said. “I’ve been given the affirmative that we can continue to hire as we need.”

Eight Temple Police recruits just graduated last week from the police academy and two more started in the new academy this week.