The aide, Raymond Alvarez, said Ortiz was acting in response to an Inquirer series, published this week, that described 20 cases in which people had sustained serious injuries - including paralysis - while riding handcuffed in police wagons.
The victims told of being propelled from their seats and tossed to the floor during wagon rides marked by quick accelerations, abrupt stops and swerving turns. With their hands cuffed behind their backs, passengers could not right themselves or cushion the blows. Most of the wagons lack seat belts or padding.
The cases documented by The Inquirer cost taxpayers $2.3 million in legal settlements.
Council's hearings would focus, among other things, on whether the department adequately investigated injuries and disciplined the officers responsible.
"I'm looking for answers," Ortiz said.
Councilman David Cohen, vice chairman of the committee, joined Ortiz's call for an inquiry.
"It certainly made me feel terrible that this is an ongoing practice that we have known nothing about," Cohen said. "It's hard to imagine such inhumanity on the part of civilized people."
Since Council will begin a summer recess next week, the hearings would begin in the fall.
On Tuesday, Police Commissioner John F. Timoney ordered that all patrol wagons lacking seat belts or protective padding be removed from service. Only 10 of the department's 86 wagons have those safety features.
The fleet of wagons - Ford cargo vans - has served as the department's transport arm for years, ferrying suspects to local police stations and Police Headquarters for processing.
Timoney's order will require redeploying hundreds of officers from wagons to patrol cars as the department rushes to purchase new wagons and add the safety features to existing models.
In the short term, that will mean a big change in the way police transport suspects.
