Richard Ross was sworn in as Philadelphia’s 30th police commissioner yesterday at his alma mater, Central High School. “When we talk about some of the issues we will face, they’re complex issues with no easy fixes,” Ross said. “We need to be more responsive and more accountable to all our neighborhoods. And we can’t be afraid to show people who we are and how we do things,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Ross, 51, said someone broke into his house a few books away when he was 9. After fathers on the block started a local patrol, “Nobody broke into a house on that block for years and years to come,” he said. “It speaks volumes for what you can do when you work together.”
New Mayor Jim Kenney said Ross “instilled in me and instills in us a quiet confidence.” Ross worked his way up through the ranks of the police department and has long served as second in command, most recently to Charles Ramsey. The Fraternal Order of Police is fighting hard against some of the department’s most dramatic changes – “but hopefully they’ll see the greater good in this,” Ross said.