Where Philadelphia Police Officers Live

Number of police living in each zip code as of Aug. 31 (Click on the map for zip code and number of police. Click on upper-left arrow for legend).

SOURCE: City of Philadelphia Staff Graphic

The lieutenant said dozens of his colleagues had also moved in recent years to Bucks or Montgomery Counties.

“For the most part, it’s everybody who has kids,” he said. Schools “are the deciding factor.”

The flight of middle-class public servants is not unique to Philadelphia. Many metropolitan police departments, including those in Detroit and Miami, have a majority of their force living outside city lines. Whenever residency requirements are eased or eliminated, an outcry follows about the effect on community police relations.

That was the argument the Nutter administration made in 2009 after an arbitration panel approved a residency policy for Philadelphia officers that said they must remain in Pennsylvania, but need to live in Philadelphia for only their first five years on the job.

“I believe there is immense value in having police officers live in the city where they work,” Michael Nutter said after the ruling. “They better understand their fellow residents, and their very presence in neighborhoods sustains a safer quality of life.”