Philadelphia Daily News (PA)
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July 28, 2006
He's the Commish -
and he's staying
PHILADELPHIA has been in crisis over gun violence and a rising homicide rate for well over two years.
Remember that 10-year-old Faheem Thomas-Childs was shot to death in front of his school in February 2004 and that the murder rate in 2003 was 21 percent higher than the year before. |
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And yet through it all, including last year's 15 percent increase in homicides, Police Commissioner Syl-vester Johnson, the likable, soft-spoken, ever-accessible cop, remains firmly secure in his job.
Inside the Street administration, there's no stomach for chucking Johnson.
In the political arena and among neighborhood groups, there are no calls for Johnson's ouster.
No public official is saying it's time for new management with fresh ideas. In short, Johnson is politically bulletproof.
Even retirement is a nonstarter.
Last summer, in the midst of a growing furor over the violence, Johnson sought to dispel rumors that he was going to step down.
Those rumors have kicked up again this summer, but in a recent interview, the 42-year veteran of the Police Department says he doesn't want the police commissioner's job to become a football in the upcoming mayoral election.
"There are times when I get frustrated," Johnson said. "But my intention is to stay through the [2007] election until the new commissioner is in place."
As one close observer noted of Johnson's relationship with a mayor in the twilight of his term: "At this point, I'd say they are married to each other. Sylvester can't leave now with the homicide rate like this and allow his legacy to be defined in those terms."
A second source close to both men said: "Sylvester is really the bulletproof vest for the mayor. As long as Sylvester is out there, you have to go through him to get to the mayor."
It was not always so for police commissioners.
In 1997, Mayor Rendell's taciturn top cop, Richard Neal, ran into a City Council buzz saw over the spread of drug dealing on city streets.
Orchestrated by then-Council President John Street, the assault came during budget hearings and dramatically weakened Neal.
Meanwhile, state Rep. Dwight Evans and a bipartisan group of legislators, the so-called "Gang of Five," pushed Rendell to adopt policing methods used in New York City.
By March 1998, former New York cop John Timoney became Rendell's new police commissioner after Neal was eased out for a job at Drexel University.
Now, eight years later and under another crime wave, Evans, who may run for mayor again next year, has a different view. Changing police commissioners this time "makes no sense," he said.
"Maybe it was appropriate then, but I don't see it as the right solution in the current environment. If Sylvester Johnson left today, you would not in my opinion see a reduction in shootings and murders," Evans said.
Rather, he said Johnson and others are "good people trapped in a bad system."
J. Whyatt Mondesire, president of the Philadelphia NAACP, defended Neal against the "political wannabes, outside agitators and Johnny-come-lately verbal crime-fighters."
He's also a strong backer of Johnson.
"He's the most accessible police commissioner in the 20th century and this century," Mondesire said. "He's a very likable human being, and he's made all the adjustments in policing that he's been asked to do."
In the end, he said, "you can't blame a single individual" for the intractable problems of poverty, joblessness, drugs and easy access to guns.
Johnson, who was promoted to deputy commissioner for narcotics enforcement by Rendell just two months before Neal resigned, said that as he rose in the ranks, he chose a management style quite unlike Neal's - one that sends him to community meetings and places him in constant discussion with elected officials.
Having a fine-tuned political sensibility has served Johnson well.
Jannie Blackwell, City Council majority leader, said, "Not only is Sylvester bulletproof now, but I've talked to many of those who want to run for mayor and they say what I say: 'If I was running for mayor, I'd keep him in office.' People know he's accessible and a man of his word."
Even a sometime critic like Councilman Frank Rizzo says Johnson is safe in his job because of his courting of neighborhood groups.
"He's a survivor because he comes across so well at community meetings. He works hard and shows up at the right places," he said. "It's tough to take on someone who has been doing so well serving your needs."
The Rev. Myrtice Sermons has run the Anti-Drug and Alcohol Crusaders Inc., a safe haven after-school program, for 20 years in West Philadelphia.
She says she doesn't know Johnson personally, "but my daily experience tells me that he is a man of integrity, doing all he can." She also says he's "caring and concerned," and she strongly opposes removing him.
But those strong feelings of support aren't universally shared.
Sam Ricks, a Town Watch activist in the crime-ridden 12th Police District in Southwest Philadelphia, says just like a private company fires a boss who isn't delivering profits, it's time for Johnson to go.
"I think the mayor should fire him," said Ricks, who heads Parkwatch 9015 Town Watch in the Elmwood section. "There is no crime-prevention plan. Police just react. They respond to 911 calls."
And Marc Stier, a civic activist in Northwest Philadelphia, wonders why Philadelphia can't halve its homicides as New York has.
He thinks Street should replace Johnson.
There's also been plenty of friction between Johnson and Street.
Perhaps the most public example was Johnson's willing admission that he'd pressed Street for 500 more cops over five years as the budget was being hammered out last winter. Street wanted to increase overtime by $10 million in a program aimed at targeting crime hot spots.
Councilman Michael Nutter convinced his colleagues and the administration to fund an increase of 100 officers as part of a budget deal. In effect, Council went Johnson's way on the issue, at least for a year.
"The mayor is difficult because he has his own ideas and philosophies, though sometimes he listens," Johnson said.
Noting with gratitude that Street has backed him in many public ways, Johnson said, "I try to tell the mayor what I think. If I need to, I tell him he's wrong."
But the wear and tear of the last few years are beginning to show. In a recent meeting with Council members, Johnson was asked to get tough by starting random searches of people on the street in an attempt to reduce the number of illegal guns.
Johnson said the idea is likely illegal and would jeopardize the department's reputation. (But Johnson is leaning toward a plan to search parolees for weapons. See story on right.)
"I get frustrated with politicians who think they know more about law enforcement than we do," he said.
Johnson, who technically retired for a day in October 2003 and collected almost $390,000 in special pension benefits known as DROP, was rehired the next day by the mayor. He now makes $148,000 and could retire with a pension for that amount.
He's built a new home in Delaware and bought a new Mercedes-Benz.
"I haven't had a chance to spend any of my retirement money, and I've put maybe a thousand miles on my car," he said.
He rents a place near the Philadelphia airport, but the lifestyle is taxing.
"It's difficult having two residences and spending so much time away from my family," he said.
But in a life of public service, Johnson says it's never been about the money or the power.
"For me the issue has always been about the quality of life in the neighborhoods and in minority communities." * |