By Andrew Maykuth
The Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA — Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey announced a shake-up of the department’s command – doubling the number of deputy commissioners to eight - as he began to unveil his crime-fighting initiative to put more patrol officers on the streets as the weather warms.
Less than four months into the job, Ramsey reconfigured the 6,600-member department into two main operating groups that will be headed by current deputy commissioners.
Deputy Commissioner Richard Ross, now head of internal affairs and gun control strategy, will oversee all Field Operations -- the muscle of the department. Deputy Commissioner Patricia Giorgio-Fox, former the head of operations and first deputy, will be in charge of organizational support services -- the administrative backbone of the department.
Ramsey and Mayor Nutter announced the major reorganization today on the date that Ramsey had promised to put 200 new officers on patrol duty in an effort to increase the department’s visibility and to reduce crime.
The commissioner said the city already is following a pace that would allow it to meet his year-end goals of a 25 percent reduction in homicides and a 20 percent reduction in violent crime.
The commissioner introduced his new “management team” at a news conference after spending the morning in individual meetings with the more than 40 commanders who were promoted or shifted laterally.
Commanders, some sullen with shoulders sagging, streamed out of the Police Administration Building after meeting with the commissioner. Some conferred by cell phone with colleagues and family.
Ramsey promoted four new deputy commissioners: Capt. Thomas Wright, Capt. Kevin Bethel, Chief Inspector William Blackburn and Inspector Stephen Johnson.
Wright, commander of the 25th District in North Philadelphia, and Bethel, commander of the 17th District in Point Breeze, catapaulted several ranks up the hierarchy to land in Ramsey’s inner circle. Ramsey, in his previous position as police chief in Washington, chose several young commanders to rocket into top positions.
Two other current deputies join Giorgio-Fox: John Gaittens and Charlotte Council.
Ramsey said he not appointing a second-in-command. “I’m the one accountable,” he said, adding, “What I have here is a management team.”
At a press conference with Mayor Nutter, Ramsey vowed: “We will not let you down, sir.”
In turn, Nutter said: “I have a tremendous amount of confidence in this team.”
Nutter also said that “this city is safer today than it was a year ago,” though he noted a spate of violence in recent weekends made the gains “fragile.”
To bolster that point, in a press release on the reorganization department officials said they were making “good progress” toward achieving goals in reducing crime.
So far this year, the department said, homicide is down 24 percent across the city and the number of shooting victims is down 25 percent.
In nine districts targeted earlier this year for an increased police presence, homicide is down 40 percent and the number of shooting victims is down 30 percent.
Additional details are expected to be announced this afternoon as Ramsey and Nutter elaborate on the plan.
In January, Ramsey had promised to shift 200 additional officers by today into nine police districts that experienced the greatest number of violent crimes.
The commissioner already has disbanded the Strategic Intervention Tactical Unit created last year by former Commissioner Sylvester Johnson. The SITE officers were redeployed to beef up district patrol staffs.
Earlier this week, Ramsey announced the 135 officers in the Narcotics Strike Force would be attached to the Patrol Bureau, where they would focus on a broad range of offenses, including property crimes.
Ramsey says he has initiated a department-wide review of special units with an aim of increasing the number of “generalists” who can be dispatched to fight a range of crimes and increase the department’s visibility.
“To me, in my way of thinking, everything exists to support the patrol fuction,” Ramsey said in an interview Tuesday. “Everything. If you don’t support the patrol function, I question why you exist.”
Copyright 2008 The Philadelphia Inquirer