Philadelphia Inquirer
Thursday, February 19, 1998

New police commissioner named

Rendell brings in ex-deputy from N.Y.

By Howard Goodman and Thomas J. Gibbons Jr.,
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
Contributing to this article were Inquirer staff writers Clea Benson, Laura Bruch, Karen E. Quinones Miller, Craig R. McCoy, Mark Fazlollah and Rusty Pray.

With surprising swiftness, Mayor Rendell yesterday set the stage for sweeping change in the Philadelphia Police Department by naming a key figure in New York City's crime turnaround as the city's new police commissioner.

Only a week after accepting the resignation of Commissioner Richard Neal, Rendell turned to John F. Timoney, former first deputy commissioner in the New York Police Department who was a first-tier candidate for police chief in Washington, D.C., and Chicago.

Timoney, a 49-year-old career cop who played a major role in carrying out reforms pushed by former New York Commissioner William Bratton, will begin work March 9.

The commissioner-in-waiting wasted no time, meeting an array of city officials and civic leaders yesterday and vowing a more aggressive attack on crime rates.

``I am making a promise to the citizens of Philadelphia,'' Timoney declared, ``that the Police Department will actively go out and fight crime.''

Rendell, who apparently relied on little counsel but his own in making his decision, defied Philadelphia tradition by reaching outside the department. Timoney will be only the third commissioner this century to come from outside the ranks.

But Rendell said, ``I thought we were at a critical juncture'' with the Police Department. At a time when elected officials and everyday citizens are clamoring for more effective policing, the Philadelphia force is nearing 7,000 uniformed officers for the first time in years.

``We now have the ability to do the kind of restructuring that can be effective,'' Rendell said. ``And I thought we needed the very, very best - someone who has done this type of restructuring.''

In choosing Timoney, Rendell performed some political alchemy of his own, instantly converting months of unflattering comparisons to New York into a blueprint for Philadelphia's future.

He didn't just steal a page from his critics. He took the whole script. And they didn't mind at all.

``There's no question this is an excellent move,'' said Rep. Dwight Evans, a leader of the ``Gang of Five'' state legislators who agitated last year for more aggressive police strategies. ``I said over and over we need a general, someone to give us some vision and direction.''

Timoney - a Dublin-born long-distance runner with pink cheeks, blue eyes and a mixture of brogue and Brooklyn in a quicksilver tongue - comes advertised as one of the avatars of the latest thinking on effective police work.

``I think [Philadelphians] will see a police department that is out there on a daily basis fighting crime,'' Timoney said. ``I'll be out there myself. I won't sit at an armchair. I'm a hands-on individual. I won't just give the orders. I'll go out in the streets myself.''

Although members of City Council were taken aback by Rendell's abrupt decision-making, nearly all hailed the result. In a striking departure from past years when candidates' race was a major consideration in picking a police commissioner, Council President John F. Street emphasized that Timoney appeared to possess a more important qualification.

``The issue is effective policing,'' said Street, the city's most powerful African American office-holder and a potential mayoral candidate in 1999. ``That is what people want. They want to feel safe. They want to be able to sit on the porch at night.

``The bottom line: Are we doing a better job in providing the service that people are looking for? And I think that's the basis upon which any and all commissioners will be judged.''

Rendell said a number of high-ranking Philadelphia police officials were well-qualified to be commissioner. But with 22 months left in his mayoralty and with Timoney available, Rendell said, the opportunity to take a bold step was irresistible.

``The reason I've picked someone who will be classified as an outsider,'' Rendell said, ``should not be seen as a reflection on any of our commanders.''

Rendell credited Neal, commissioner for 5 1/2 years, for laying the groundwork for restructuring the department. ``But there is much more work to be done,'' the mayor said.

Rendell said he was able to make a quick decision because he knew the top police commanders. He also knew Timoney. Last fall, spurred by critics, Rendell hired Bratton to consult on a redeployment plan for the Police Department. Bratton brought along Timoney to help out.

``I was enormously impressed with him,'' Rendell said.

Richard Zappile, a deputy commissioner, said Timoney would face ``some problems'' as an outsider. Nevertheless, ``I think he'll be received well. John has a great reputation as an administrator and as a cop.''

The man some thought had the inside track on the job, Edward McLaughlin, a former police chief inspector now assigned as a deputy commissioner in the city's Licenses and Inspections Department, said he was ``fine'' with Rendell's pick. One commander, however, said privately that McLaughlin was ``devastated.''

Timoney ``has an excellent reputation as a problem-solver, which is just what this city needs,'' McLaughlin said. ``I'm here to help him if he needs me.''

Neal, who leaves office March 6 for a new career as a security consultant for Drexel University and the Penn's Landing Corp., met with Timoney yesterday. He did not return a phone request for an interview.

After Richard Costello, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, met with Timoney for an hour yesterday, he said, ``This man has a reputation as a cop's cop.'' But he added that a key test would be whether the mayor allowed him autonomy in running the department.

Rank-and-file police officers will wait and see, Costello said. ``I think optimistic is too strong a word.''

Kevin M. Tucker, the last outsider to lead the Philadelphia police, said Timoney would face management hurdles he didn't have in New York. ``The limitation that he may have is his lack of flexibility in appointments,'' said Tucker, a former Secret Service official whose reform-minded administration lasted from 1986 to 1988.

Willie L. Williams, Tucker's successor, said Timoney's real challenge would be ``to learn who the forward-thinking command personnel are in the organization [and] hopefully gain the support of the police leadership in the city.''

Timoney, however, evinced plenty of confidence. ``Ninety percent of the police departments in the United States are very insular,'' he said. ``They hate outsiders. But outsiders should do fine in most police departments. My track record will help me.''

That record includes 29 years on the NYPD, culminating in his appointment as Bratton's first deputy in 1995. That put him in charge of day-to-day operations of a police force of 39,000 officers and 9,000 civilians with a yearly budget of $2.7 billion - a bigger organization than the entire Philadelphia city government. He oversaw hiring, training and promotions; coordinated the merger of transit and housing police with the NYPD; and put into effect Bratton's reforms.

They included a crackdown on quality-of-life crimes and use of computer crime-mapping.

The payoff: From 1992 through 1996, New York's crime rate fell 39 percent. In the same period, Philadelphia's rose 2 percent. On a graph, the two crime lines crossed in 1995 - New York's plunging downward, Philadelphia's inching up.

Timoney came to the United States from Ireland at age 12. He holds a master's degree in American history from Fordham University and a master's in urban planning from Hunter College in New York. He is married and has two children.

Timoney left the New York department when Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, annoyed by Bratton's predilection for publicity, fired his increasingly famous police commissioner. Since 1996, Timoney has worked as a consultant.

Rendell said Timoney would be paid $113,000, $10,000 more than Neal received, but less than the $130,000 that Timoney earned as Bratton's deputy.

Timoney's hectic schedule yesterday included, significantly, a meeting with J. Whyatt Mondesire, head of the local NAACP. Mondesire, who had been one of Neal's most ardent supporters, declined to comment last night.

``I've been asked a lot of tough but fair questions,'' Timoney said early last night. ``While I answered their concerns, only my achievements will make me or break me.''