Annette John-Hall: As police chiefs go, this one's a keeper

All you have to do is look at an incident that occurred a few weeks ago to understand why Charles H. Ramsey is one of the best big-city police chiefs in the country - if not the best.

When police discovered that some of the Breathalyzer machines that officers used to test for DUIs were miscalibrated, potentially throwing at least 1,110 cases up for retrial, Ramsey didn't try to save face by coming up with some convoluted explanation.

No. Cutting the authoritative figure that we've come to admire, with four-star epaulets gleaming on his uniform jacket, Ramsey said, "We screwed up, folks. We screwed up plain and simple, and now we're paying for it."

May sound like a trivial thing, but do you have any idea how refreshing that is to hear, coming from a cop?

After all, it's no secret that the thin blue line extends to an unspoken no-snitching policy, especially when it comes to admitting wrongdoing. But time and time again, Ramsey has shown a willingness to cross that line in the name of justice.

Which is why when it became clear that Ramsey was being wooed with a hefty offer by Rahm Emanuel in Chicago, my One Big Idea for making Philadelphia better boiled down to keeping Ramsey in Philly, no matter what.

Well, it cost us, all right: A $60,000 raise, from $195,000 to $255,00, for the 61-year-old Ramsey (and a box of chocolate cupcakes for his wife).

That may sound like a lot of money, but it's the going rate if you want to hold on to the best, even in these financially strapped times.

In other words, I'd rather that we keep the best talents by offering a salary they deserve rather than through that uniquely Philly perk, the Deferred Retirement Option Plan. I mean, if the point of DROP is to keep the best talent, why has it only guaranteed our keeping mediocre elected officials?

I'll take someone like Ramsey, earning an honest day's paycheck, every time.

Sure, Ramsey's had a few missteps. I still don't understand why it was only after a group of African American officers sued that the commissioner disabled Domelights, the racially toxic website run by one of his supervisors.

And plenty in the city are at odds with Ramsey's stop-and-frisk tactics, which subject hundreds of innocent African Americans to humiliating stops and searches. Getting guns off the street is a worthy goal, but the practice has led to mistrust and lawsuits.

Still, Ramsey has pitched a near-perfect game since coming here four years ago.

He's shown himself to be a tough-on-crime enforcer. (People still talk about the time Ramsey arrested a bunch of drug dealers on his way to a community meeting in Southwest Philadelphia.)

He's been masterful at implementing community-policing initiatives, credited with cutting violent crime by 14 percent during his tenure.

And as the city reeled from a horrific spate of officer deaths, including five in a 10-month period between 2007 and 2009, the commissioner demonstrated a steely, steady compassion. In fact, he cited his relationships with the officers' families as a reason for staying.

At the same time, Ramsey has set a standard for integrity among his own rank and file and has stuck to it. He's weeded out corrupt cops - a dozen so far. He fired four officers and suspended four others after determining they used excessive force in videotaped beatings of two suspects - who turned out to be innocent - in 2008. The grand jury ended up exonerating all of the officers, saying they did not violate police procedure, but Ramsey knows what he saw on that video, just like the rest of us.

This is a commissioner who understands that one bad cop undermines the integrity of the thousands of good ones.

"Ramsey really does see the big picture, which is the relationship between the police and the rest of society," Temple criminal justice professor Ralph B. Taylor says. "That's why it's so great to have him here. "

That's not to say he doesn't have challenges ahead, like coming up with a plan to decrease the violence in Philadelphia's public schools.

It might seem hopeless, but somehow, with Ramsey in charge, it doesn't seem impossible.