Mayor Nutter and Commissioner Ramsey are announcing a major shakeup in the Philadelphia Police Department, with dozens of changes made -- some allowed for the first time in decades due to the recent charter revisions that were approved by voters.
But there’s more to be done, and the police commissioner is shaking up the department to do it.
Commissioner Charles Ramsey (above) says much more must be done, and it’s too early to know exactly what tactics are working. But he says they have added nearly 250 officers to patrol duty. And that, he says, does two things: it helps reduce crime and comforts the public:
"People need to feel safe and secure. People are just inundated constantly with violence, whether it's watching news reports, movies, it’s listening to what is going on out there in the neighborhoods. It's coming from a variety of places. They want to see cops out there on the street."
There has also been a major reorganization in command and structure of the department, and the goals include better accountability, better flow of information, and focus on the mission.
Ramsey announced that dozens of changes were being made -- some allowed for the first time in decades due to the recent charter revisions that were approved by voters.
One charter change now allows commissioners, including the police commissioner, to name up to 10 deputies. So far Ramsey has named four new deputies to join the four that have already been serving.
Dozens of other Police Department changes were made at the commander level. City officials released a document (reformatted here for web display) detailing most of those top-level reassignments.
As soon as he was sworn in as mayor last January, the mayor declared a "crime emergency" in the city and ordered incoming police commissioner Ramsey to come up with a plan to fight the rising tide of violent crime.
The mayor says they are making progress in the fight against crime and he thinks the initial results have been very good.