Philly's Commish Says He's Had It With Cop Corruption
KYW Newsradio Team Coverage --
Acting on orders from the mayor, Philadelphia police commissioner Charles Ramsey today laid out details of his plan to rid the force of bad and corrupt cops.
KYW's Tony Hanson reports that Commissioner Ramsey (above) is fed up:
"We got too many guys that on occasion feel as if they have special privileges as police officers. Well, they don't."
Emphasizing that only a relative few have broken the law and made news, tarnishing the department, Ramsey made it clear that such acts will not be tolerated.
And he says the department will take steps to reinforce the bedrock principles of "Honor, Integrity, and Service" contained in the department's motto -- and perhaps change a mindset among some officers:
"And maybe that is where we have fallen down, making it so people feel comfortable reporting. The mayor said it in his opening remarks that we ask the public every day to stand up and report criminal activity. Well, we have to have people stand up in our own ranks and report wrongdoing if they see it."
Ramsey's anger boiled over with good reason last week, after the latest incident -- a police officer charged with stealing money from a safe in a bar, while on duty investigating a burglary (see related story).
And making matters worse, it was the same bar where officer Gary Skerski had previously given his life, taking a point-blank shotgun blast while answering a report of a robbery (related story).
Other officers have been charged with murder, sex offenses, and robbing drug dealers (related story).
Ramsey says the department will be upgrading the minimum requirements for applicants -- increasing the minimum age from 19 to 21 and the minimum education to two years of college (from the current high school diploma or equivalent).
He says the police department is also setting up a hotline for the public to report corruption and implementing new training programs on job integrity.
KYW's Mike Dunn reports that John McNesby, the head of the local FOP, has a few quibbles with Ramsey's plan but on the whole supports the changes:
"An older, little bit more mature applicant can only be better for the police department. The minimal hours for possible college credit or military service I think is a plus. And it will give us a better pool of candidates to pick from."
McNesby did voice some misgivings about the new hotline to report instances of corruption. He said the union would want to ensure that officers don't get caught up in what he feared could be frivolous complaints.
(Photo by KYW's Tony Hanson)
