When murder suspect Robert Davis showed up to his family home in Grays Ferry last year, his older brother, Quran, was worried for Robert’s well being.
“He was, I would say, emotionally unstable or detached,” Quran Davis said.
At that point, Robert Davis had been on the run for two weeks following the murder of Philadelphia activist and former city hall staffer Josh Kruger.
Police had a warrant for Davis’ arrest and were asking for the public’s help in finding him.
Get top local stories in Philly delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC Philadelphia's News Headlines newsletter.
“As in every homicide case, there’s a $20,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of Mr. Davis,” a law enforcement official said at a news conference weeks earlier.
When Robert arrived home, Quran dialed 911. He says he wanted his brother to be safe.
“We didn't want to just, oh let him spazz out, run around, walking around, because, you know, 50, 50% chance someone can find him and oh I found him but he's dead,” he said. “I would rather me see you through a glass than me having to put you in a casket.”
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
Robert Davis was arrested in front of his home without incident. He eventually pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison for killing Josh Kruger.
His brother, Quran, applied -- and was rejected for the $20,000 crime reward.
An NBC10 Investigators review of the crime rewards process shows that despite police saying $20,000 is available for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of a murder suspect, there are various criteria that must be met to be paid. And even when criteria seems to be met, people are still being denied crime rewards.
It’s unclear how many have been denied. Prior to this year, Philadelphia Police didn’t have a formal denial process. We know that between 2017 and August 2023, 39 people were paid or shared a crime reward payment.
According to a city spokesperson, no one has been paid a crime reward since August 2023.
What’s new this year is that rejected applicants now get an official letter stating the reason for the rejection-- and providing instructions for how to appeal.
But the new appeals process, which is supposed to go through the Board of Licenses and Inspections Review, is on hold for the time being.
“The appeal process for crime rewards is currently under review and hearings will be scheduled upon completion of the review to allow them to proceed effectively and efficiently,” a spokesperson for the City Solicitor said.
It might be because of that appeals review that Davis has not yet received an official rejection letter.
Davis said the detective in charge of his brother’s case told him that he qualified for a reward.
After all, he didn’t meet any of the disqualifying factors. Quran is not a city employee, he was not wanted for a crime, and he was not trying to remove criminal competition.
“It was going to take a couple of weeks, a couple of weeks for them to review the information, get everything set, and then I was going to get the money,” Davis said.
He said the detective in the case approved the reward and sent it up the chain of command-- where it was ultimately denied by Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel.
“She said they didn't give her a reason why they didn't approve it,” he said.
A high-ranking source in the police department tells the NBC10 Investigators that the denial was because Quran Davis’ call to police didn’t count as “essential information” as defined in the department’s crime reward policy.
PPD defines essential as “information, independent from that obtained or discovered by law enforcement, which is indispensable in establishing probable cause to arrest and convict any person or persons for homicide…”
Quran Davis believes his call was essential to police.
“I didn't have to call them. I could have just let him. Come here, do his little episode, and then… Right. He could have just been out here. Still do what he was doing. Case would have been ongoing.”
Since August, we have been requesting to speak with the police department about its crime rewards-- but each time the department has either declined or not responded.
We tried asking Bethel at a recent police event -- but he declined.
“I’m not doing that, I’m not doing that,” he said.
He also didn’t say why he denied Quran Davis.
A spokesman chimed in, saying “you’ve been supplied a statement.” But we have yet to receive a statement regarding the department’s denial of the Davis crime reward.
Davis would like to appeal -- if he gets the opportunity. But if it’s anything like what another tipster went through, they are in for a long and uncertain road.
The NBC10 Investigators previously featured the story of a tipster who was having a hard time navigating the city’s crime reward process.
“It's like they got the information they needed and they just forgot about me,” the tipster told us in November 2023.
The tipster had provided police with information on the location of a homicide suspect who was ultimately arrested and convicted of murder. The detective in charge told the tipster that he would send the paperwork for the tipster to receive the $20,000 crime reward. But it was then radio silence for months.
Until this summer when the tipster received a formal rejection notice signed by the head of homicide.
The two reasons cited for denial were: that they are a city employee in the managing director’s office and that they refused to provide a written statement.
“That is very inaccurate,” the tipster said.
The tipster’s name is nowhere on the city’s payroll. The company they work for is a subcontractor for the city.
As for the written statement, the tipster says they were told initially one was not needed. They say that had they been asked they would have provided one.
“It's not fair. I offered and the Detective stated that there was no paperwork needed at this time that he would follow up once the case was closed,” they said.
The tipster invited the NBC10 Investigators to accompany her to file her appeal with the Board of Licenses and Inspections Review.
While we were there, a staff member told the tipster that they were the second crime reward appeal to be filed and that it was unclear how the crime reward hearings would be scheduled.
The board reviews appeals for permits, violations and notices for various city departments.
The tipster was told they would receive a letter in the mail with a hearing date.
But nearly five months later, the tipster has yet to receive a letter.
A police department spokesperson told us that the new appeals process was set up by the managing director’s office.
When we reached out in September to the managing director’s office regarding the appeals, a spokesperson said in an email that the L&I board has three pending appeals for crime rewards. None had been scheduled for hearings.
“The City is currently exploring whether a different forum may be more appropriate for reviewing crime reward appeals," the spokesperson wrote.
But still, we wanted to understand why the current process was selected-- and why presumably it hadn’t worked, given their exploration of other forums.
We requested an interview several times and were denied.
So, we caught up Managing Director Adam Thiel about the current process, following a recent event.
“That’s not a question for me. Get somebody from the police department,” he said.
It was the police department that told us appeals went through Thiel’s office.
A spokesperson for the Managing Director’s office later sent us a statement, saying:
“The crime rewards program is a Philadelphia Police Department program. That has not changed. What is changing is the appeal process, which is under review.”
Kenneth Woodson, the chairman of the Board of Licenses and Inspection Review, didn’t even know that crime reward appeals would be going before his board.
“I don’t know anything about it,” he said.
He said the board doesn’t know about which appeals are filed until they are put up for a hearing in front of them.
He referred us to the spokesperson for the Department of Licenses and Inspections, which would be the entity to schedule the hearings.
“The appeal process for crime rewards is currently under review and hearings will be scheduled upon completion of the review to allow them to proceed effectively and efficiently," the spokesperson said.
The informant wishes the process was clearer.
“There needs to be better transparency to the public,” the informant said.
