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Philly's New Top Cop Has High Hopes For PPD

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - It's been nearly 50 days since Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross was sworn into his new role as top cop, and he says it's been a tough start:

"It's been interesting. It's been busy. In some ways, traumatic."

Just two days after swearing-in, Commissioner Ross had to manage the aftermath of a police involved shooting that gained international attention. Officer Jesse Hartnett was shot in the arm by a man claiming to have acted on behalf of ISIS.

"I still wish he never went through it, but he made us all proud," Ross said about Hartnett.

Ross said he's learned from his predecessors and mentors through the 25 years of his various roles on the force. He says his goals aren't much different from former Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and others before him:

"Continuing to drive down crime would be the big thing. Using technology, smart policing, and community policing, with respect to our unique neighborhoods."

Among the tactics: body cameras. For more than a year, a group of about 20 officers from the 22nd police district have been testing body cameras while on patrol.

"We are about to outfit the entire district with them," Ross says. "They (officers) believe it has helped them to lower their temperature in some volatile situations and interactions with community, and it has helped to document some things that protect them as well."

He said he is leaning towards eventually equipping the entire department with body cameras:

"It's like anything else, it's change. And change is difficult. But, I think once some of these officers get accustomed to it, I think they will become almost 2nd nature to them, just like a lot of other things we done and we have changed over the years."

Ross says community policing is a top priority:

"Without our communities, we are never going to get it done. They want fair and impartial policing. They don't want to be brutalized, but they do want the police there because they know the police make a difference and we don't want our police to lose sight of that."

But Ross says he also understands how disheartening it can be for officers to hear the anti-police rhetoric across the country, and there needs to be a balance:

"Particularly sitting in this seat, letting police officers know you support them. You support their efforts, you recognize the dangers of this job," he said. "It's not easy, because you are asking police officers to put their lives on the line each and every day."

And with that, Ross says the department needs officers who engage with the community:

"People who are self starters. People who are compassionate, people who understand the need to see life beyond even what even they are accustomed to."

He says ultimately, he hopes to drive down crime and leave the city better than he found it:

"We do not exist to serve ourselves, we are here to protect and serve."

 

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