Drexel researchers evaluated a 2014 program implemented by Kevin Bethel when he was deputy police commissioner that led to fewer arrests of students in schools.
Philadelphia school district data indicates the annual number of school-based arrests in the city has declined by 91% since 2013. Largely responsible is the Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program, which was instituted in 2014 by then-Deputy Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel, according to researchers from Drexel University. Through the program, when officers are called to a school, they cannot arrest the student involved if that student has no pending court case or a history of adjudication; instead, school personnel decide how to respond to the student's behavior.