Beat Cop to Top Cop: A Tale of Three Cities

12. Pugnacious Philly

12 PugnaciousPhilly If I am elected mayor, I will keep John Timoney as my police commissioner. —SA M K ATZ, R E PU BL ICA N CA N DI DAT E FOR M AYOR W hen I accepted the job of commissioner from Mayor Ed Rendell, I did so believing that I would hold that position for his last two years in office and then be off on my merry way because every new mayor wants to have his own police commissioner. After the Democratic primary in May 1999, John Street, the former president of the City Council, won the nomination for mayor. Running against him was Republican Sam Katz. As the campaign began to heat up toward the end of the summer, Katz ran on a platform that included keeping Timoney as the police commissioner. Street was noncommittal, indicating that he would name his own team once he won the election and that no amount of pressure would force him to do otherwise. As the election grew closer, Katz maintained his slight lead over Street in the polls. This was quite unusual in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans four to one. Ten days before the election, at the final televised debate , Katz reiterated his intention of keeping Timoney if elected. Street responded, “So will I, what’s the big deal?” And ten days later, Street was elected mayor and kept his televised promise. There was intense speculation as to whether the new mayor and I would get along. I never quite understood the basis for this speculation 240 p h I l aD el p h I a because I had had a very good relationship with John Street when he was the City Council president. I found him to be smart and extremely funny, contrary to the perception: smart guy, not so funny. During my first formal meeting with him as mayor-elect, he informed me that he would run a cabinet form of government with weekly meetings, that I would be a member of his cabinet, and that I would get a pay raise. Mayor Street’s first six months were very effective, if uneventful. As we headed into the summer we began to heighten our preparations for the upcoming Republican convention that was to be held in Philadelphia that August. My relations with the mayor could not have been better, and he showed up at the hospital any time a police officer was injured in the line of duty, day or night. A year earlier, I had selected Deputy Commissioner Robert Mitchell to work full time on the Republican convention, much as I had done in 1992 in New York. Mitchell was a seasoned veteran who had been the security coordinator for most of the big events held in Philadelphia over the prior decade. I had total confidence in Robert. He was a tough, hard taskmaster, and that’s what the job required. Caught on Tape About ten days before the Republican convention, I asked my top commanders to give me presentations on how they would handle their particular assignment—traffic, dignitary protection, protestors, convention hotels. The presentations were excellent, and I felt confident about our ability to police the convention with little difficulty. I then spoke to all the commanders and let them know how much I appreciated their individual efforts, and I mentioned that I thought we were in great shape and that police-community relations were also excellent. “But,” I added, “as you all know, ours is a volatile business. Things go wrong all the time. So let’s keep our fingers crossed so that we get through the next ten days.” Fingers never stay crossed for long. Later that afternoon, I was leaving City Hall when a call came over the police radio regarding a police officer shot and a stolen police car. I then heard that the injured officer was being taken to a local hospital, which was just three blocks from City Hall. My driver, Tony Pino, and I pUGNaCIOUs phIlly 241 headed to the hospital. We actually arrived before the officer and were there to greet him. He was not seriously injured, with only a gunshot wound to his hand. The police radio continued to crackle, and we were then informed that the subject of the chase was in police custody, so things seemed to be working out fine. Soon the press began to arrive at...