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What We Know About Acting Philadelphia Police Commissioner Christine Coulter

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Christine Coulter has been named acting Philadelphia police commissioner after Richard Ross abruptly resigned Tuesday. Mayor Jim Kenney says Ross' resignation comes after new allegations of sexual harassment as well as gender and racial discrimination within the department were brought to his attention.

christine coulter
(credit: CBS3)

Ross was not named in the allegations.

Kenney says Coulter is "an experienced police commander with nearly 30 years of law enforcement service."

Coulter was elevated from a two-star to three-star deputy commissioner in 2017. She has a masters of science in public safety management from Saint Joseph's University.

"When I was a kid, we didn't have women police officers in Philadelphia, so it wasn't something you look down the street and see someone riding in a police car," Coulter said at the time. "It wasn't until I was in my 20's that I thought this was something I would like to do."

Among her duties as a deputy commissioner, Coulter oversaw the use of technology to improve community-engaged policing.

Coulter will be acting commissioner until a permanent replacement is named. She was also named as a defendant in the bombshell lawsuit about the police department's failure to properly report and address sexual harassment allegations.

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