Is it the commissioner or the system? (The Next Mayor)

Dan and I are going to tag-team the question of the role of the police commissioner in fighting violent crime.

Below, he wants to know what you think would happen if a candidate suggested building another much-needed prison. (My snarky response is in the comments.) But I have something else to point out:

We run the risk here of talking more about who will be police commissioner rather than solutions to crime.

I point out Dwight Evans' promise to bring back John Timoney . I also point out the interesting story that Daily News reporters Simone Weichselbaum and Damon Williams had in the Dec. 22 paper, with current Commissioner Sylvester Johnson taking time from what sounds like a CompStat meeting to point out that his post will be political fodder over the next several months. And I point out the comments from the FOP about Johnson. And the apparent jockeying among insiders to replace him when he retires.

Look, I know that the choice of which commish to back is one of the most important crime-fighting decisions that a mayor makes. I realize that the choice says something about crime-fighting philosophy. I realize that a commissioner must be a leader and command the respect of the city and those who he must manage, including the FOP, and therefore is a Very Important Hire.

But I know, too, that the talk of which commissioner to back is really no more than politics.

It's about alliances and friendships and favors from way back, just like everything else. So it's my hope that the crime discussion be about more than who is in charge.

This is the point that Tom Ferrick made in his Sunday column (though his solution is to create another deputy mayor, and I am not sure that anyone in this city feels a deep need for any more deputy mayors). Dwight Evans made a similar point when he published a whoa broad plan for fighting crime in his first issues statement as a candidate.

I don't mind talking about the commissioner as one piece of a larger plan to prevent crime. But that's all it should be.

Comments (6)

Dave

Good post.

On the prison subject, how much of a difference would it make to bring Holmesburg back (assuming Councilwoman Krajewsky can be convinced to allow it)?

If I were a mayoral candidate, I might point out that, once we build and staff a prison, we're sort of stuck with it (especially the building) for the forseeable future. The prison guard positions might also be hard to get rid of, given the city's historic experience with labor unions. In fact, that's sort of the answer I got when I asked this question of a candidate. In the meantime, using Holmesburg sounds like it could provide a relatively inexpensive temporary solution (it could be made clear from the start that it's temporary).

Posted by Dave | December 27, 2006 11:00 AM

Dan

Convincing Krajewski may be the hardest part of that plan. I wrote this post a while back about the experience my colleague here at WHYY had when she asked the Councilwoman about the Holmesburg idea.

With the power that each Councilperson wields over their own districts and the tendency for this each of them to be unable to grapple with citywide problems, it makes such a solution a very tough sell.

Posted by Dan | December 27, 2006 12:32 PM

Tim:

The prison issue is one thing, but to get back to the Commish. What strategies has he put forth to fight crime? He is not the only leader in the Police Department that needs to be scrutinized. There hasn't been much leadership coming out of the 3rd floor at the PAB for a long time. If the Police Department stuck to the basics, clearing corners, enforcing curfew. The one idea the 3rd Floor had was to in effect appease the media, they put all plain cloths officers in uniform to patrol the streets. In yurn they took the narcotic enforcement teams back in unifrom, which created a free for all on the corners, because they knew the NETs temas where not service. This idea alone increased the murder count this year. Its time to elect a Mayor who will choose the best person for job. A Mayor who isn't worried about upsetting people from his own community.

Posted by Tim | December 28, 2006 2:07 PM

Frankie J.G.:

Philadelphian's will vote on a referendum to elect a Police Chief. Mayor Bob Brady supports the idea, and City Council goes along.

Posted by Frankie J.G. | December 29, 2006 7:22 AM

There are narcotic officers still in plain clothes, but they work in several districts, with a emphasis on large quantities of narcotics. The NETs officers work in their respective districts, concentrating on the hand to hand drug sales. They are intimate with the local (corner) drug dealers. They set up a surveillance observe several drug sales then affect an arrest. Now, that is not being done in some districts. You can not conduct these investigations in uniform. These officers were a wealth of information for other investigators and again this information is lost, because these officers are not hitting the corners after the drug buys. Which leaves more guns on the street and more potential victims of Robberies and Homicides.

Posted by Tim | December 29, 2006 11:22 AM

mr711

That was an excellent post Tim. In addition, the police should get back to policing on the small scale. What i mean by this is that all of the small time crimes should be addressed and "mapped". The muggings, purse snatchers, even the aggressive drivers we have should get banged. Taxpayers and consumers alike will not continue to live and shop in a place that is threatening. These are the quality of life crimes. Yes we need more police to take reports in the station house and even more to patrol the streets. Yes we need a place to lock them up in. I'm certain these things are probably being discussed as we speak. The judges "must" be held accountable by the people for being soft on crime. This is the third part of the system that I believe is failing us. The Police lock them up, the DA's office prosecutes them and the judges drop the ball. It's disgusting.
Take a look at Rudolph Guliani's "Leadership" book and take some ideas from how he dealt with the myriad of problems facing New York City when he took the city over from Mayor Dinkins. He did it with effective leadership and talented people. We have to find both and put the team together to act.

Posted by mr711 | December 31, 2006 12:21 PM