A career officer who has his critics

Even when he was head of the Washington, D.C., police force, Charles H. Ramsey always answered his phone like a regular cop.

"Ramsey," he'd say.

A Chicago native who rose through the ranks in the Windy City department, Ramsey is a career officer with a tough view on crime, a down-to-earth attitude and a flair for giving a colorful sound-bite.

Brought to Washington in 1998 after a massive corruption scandal, Ramsey - who served through 2006 - redeployed officers, reduced police shootings, cracked down on abuse of medical leave and updated police stations and gear.

Homicides dropped from more than 400 a year to below 200 during his tenure.

"Basically over the course of nine years, he not only turned around the place, but he left the place a better place than he found it; he rebuilt the infrastructure," said Chuck Wexler, head of the Police Executive Research Forum.

But Ramsey had his critics, among them current Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty, who thought police were not visible enough in neighborhoods. Ramsey stepped down when Fenty took office early this year.

Some residents of violent neighborhoods complained about a lack of police presence under Ramsey. And there were clashes with the police union, which said Ramsey would declare crime emergencies, which freed him to ignore work rules, change schedules and assign extra shifts.

"It was not only a lack of respect for the collective- bargaining agreement, but all rules," said Kristopher Baumann, chairman of the Fraternal Order of Police in Washington.

Baumann echoed the complaints about a lack of cops in high-crime sections.

"There was a lot of focus in areas where there's an affluent population," said Baumann. "Millions of dollars were spent on a new command center downtown, but in the section of the city where officers are needed the most, it was the same old thing."

Ramsey also took heat for the mass arrests of 400 protesters and bystanders at a 2002 demonstration against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The city has paid out $1.6 million so far in settlements to people who claimed they had been illegally arrested.

At first Ramsey defended the arrests, but later acknowledged an error and apologized.

"They made a mistake - they made some arrests they shouldn't have; he acknowledged it," said Wexler. "You can't be a big-city police chief in this country for nine years and not make some mistakes."

Asked about his critics yesterday, Ramsey said he knows they're out there, but his record is strong.

"First of all, I'm a 57-year-old man - everybody has a little baggage," he said.

On the issue of changing hours or work rules, he said, "I have a great deal of respect for organized unions with contracts. There were times when I needed to suspend part of the contract. I had to make changes in the case of crime emergencies."

He said he has a strong commitment to reducing crime and improving quality of life in Philadelphia.

"Can we improve it? You're doggone right or I wouldn't have taken this job," he said.

"I'll have my critics and my supporters, and that's how life is," Ramsey added. "And I'm a big boy and I can handle it."

And what about the problem of coming in as an outsider?

"I've gone through it before," he said. "I was the first police chief in the history of the Washington, D.C., force to be from the outside.

"It is challenging because you don't know personnel and you don't really understand fully the culture of the department and things like that," Ramsey said. "But that's all fixable stuff that can be overcome as long as people give you an opportunity to show what you can do." *

Staff writer Christine Olley contributed to this report.