170 cops promoted as Ross makes changes

It was an unusually exuberant sight for the normally stoic Police Commissioner Richard Ross.

As 170 officers were officially promoted Monday morning in a Temple University auditorium filled with families and friends, Ross - standing next to Mayor Kenney and other top police officials - whipped his arms up and down to stir the applauding crowd into a greater frenzy.

"We cannot [make progress] without your leadership." Ross had told the promotees a few moments earlier. "What you need to do is make sure your leadership is exemplary all the time."

The promotional ceremony is a time-honored tradition in law enforcement, a day for officers to become sergeants, lieutenants to become captains, and high-ranking supervisors to move further up the ladder. A sea of men and women sat by rank to receive their new designations, the different blues and whites of their shirts or coats signaling where they lie in the department hierarchy.

This year, however, Ross acknowledged that the promotional cycle was also a way for him to put more of his imprint on the structure of the 6,200-officer force. When he oversaw the promotion ceremony last year - his first as commissioner, in which 126 were promoted - Ross had only been in the top job for a few months.

This year, he said, the promotions and associated transfers made it "possible for you to expand your vision."

Among the organizational changes, Ross said he was adding 11 detectives to the Homicide Unit and creating a bureau to centralize intelligence gathering operations. He also said that within the last year the department had created a human trafficking unit and a unit to investigate police-involved shootings, and that all new initiatives require the correct blend of officers from differing ranks.

"You have to be very thoughtful and intentional in how you go about it," he said.

Ross also said he expects to name at least two new deputy commissioners this week, though he did not say who. Deputy Commissioner Denise Turpin is retiring soon after 35 years in the department.

The new investigators in the Homicide Unit should bump the number of detectives above 70, which Ross hopes will help raise the unit's so-called clearance rate, the percentage of murders in a year that are considered solved. In 2016, the rate was just 45.4 percent, the lowest in at least 15 years and the third consecutive year the rate had declined.

Ross hopes the additional manpower can allow new cases to be spread out among more detectives, lightening the load on those who are already handling a variety of open murders.

As for the other officers promoted Monday, the commissioner said they should be proud of making it to a new step in their careers.

"That's why we were pumping up the crowd, trying to let them know they should be happy for their loved ones," he said.