History of Phila. police on display

Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey was at a plaque-dedication ceremony some months ago, paying tribute to an officer who had died in the line of duty, when he had an epiphany.

Even with murals and plaques all over the city in remembrance of fallen officers, Ramsey realized there were many others whose names have been all but forgotten over the 250-plus years since the department began service.

Ramsey and other officers decided there was a need for a comprehensive updated memorial. Their vision started with the idea of inscribing a wall with the names of the department's 266 fallen officers, and ended with an interactive multimedia display, donated by Comcast, to be presented tonight at the Comcast Center before the families of some of those men and women.

"We are all trapped in our own period of time when we're on the job, which is natural and normal," Ramsey said in an interview this week. "But it's important for the department, as a whole, not to lose sight of where we came from."

Along the way, the memorial became part of a larger project to showcase more pieces from the department's past, including photographs and mementos that had been filed away in dusty boxes for decades.

To that end, the lobby of Police Headquarters at Eighth and Race Streets will be transformed over the next month into a small museum showcasing, among other memorabilia, a vintage motorcycle and miniature replicas of cruisers throughout the years.

The memorial, which will be installed in the lobby, features a 42-inch touchscreen panel that can be used to view photographs and biographies. The screen will be surrounded by digital picture frames showing a rotating series of historical photographs. The department also will soon present a memorial Web site that will link to the material in the Comcast kiosk.

The museum will be open to visitors and school groups, said Sgt. Ray Evers, one of the officers who has worked on the project. Police are still trying to determine how to make it accessible while preserving building security, but Evers said making sure the public can see the completed lobby was a priority.

Many other small improvements are under way. A row of new display cases is being installed, thanks to a donation from the Philadelphia Police Foundation. Columns have been repainted. Life-size photographs of members of the department during a march have been displayed on the walls, a donation from Clear Channel Radio. The Fraternal Order of Police paid for large letters to be mounted near the entrance to the station, reading Honor, Integrity, Service.

Comcast got involved after executive vice president David L. Cohen spoke with Ramsey at an event about how to modernize a new memorial. The department pulled together a few technology-minded people and teamed them with representatives from Comcast to design the digital display and Web site.

"One thing that's nice about Web technology is that we're not too locked in to a particular design," Cohen said. In the future, he said, the memorial might include video and more.

For Roderick "Scratch" Scratchard, the department's graphic artist and unofficial historian, the minimuseum is a chance to finally dust off some of the relics he's been collecting and storing in a trailer behind the Police Academy for years.

Photos, files, clothing, and other artifacts fill the trailer. There is far too much to be displayed in the lobby, but Scratchard said he planned to rotate the items on display.

"This is long overdue," he said. "I just keep collecting things and I keep shoving it all in there."

Scratchard also encouraged Jay Weinstein, who works in metal manufacturing but in his spare time builds replicas of the city's police cruisers, to share his collection with the burgeoning museum.

Weinstein, of Chadds Ford, has built several hundred model cars, all historically accurate representations of the vehicles Philadelphia police officers have driven throughout the century. The first car on display in one of the lobby's cases is a 1925 Model T, which is followed by later models, including a 1946 Chevrolet and a 1985 Ford Bronco.

Weinstein painstakingly studied newspaper photographs from Temple University's Urban Archives to design his cars, then customized models with special-ordered decals and parts.

"More than one cop has wandered into my basement and wondered why the history of the Police Department's cars is in my basement and not here at the station," Weinstein said.

Scratchard hopes the department might someday have a full-size museum, perhaps built out over the empty courtyard next to the building on Race Street. Ramsey, too, shares the dream of a separate museum.

"This is the oldest police department in the country," Ramsey said. "That in itself is a reason to honor the past. There are reasons for us to be proud of our history."