ABOVE PHOTO: Police commissioner Richard Ross resigned immediately following allegations of sexual harassment and accusations of retailiation from a former affair. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
After nearly four years as the city’s top cop, Commissioner Richard Ross resigned on Tuesday under a cloud of allegations regarding sexual harassment and a former paramour.
By Denise Clay
When then Mayor-elect Jim Kenney announced that Richard Ross, the second in command to former Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, would be taking over the top cop’s job, it was one of the few times that the mayor, the Fraternal Order of Police, and the Philadelphia NAACP had agreed on anything.
On Wednesday, Mayor Kenney found himself in the crosshairs of reporters seeking answers regarding Ross’s resignation and the sexual harassment lawsuit that partially precipitated it.
A mere week after helping diffuse a hostage situation in North Philadelphia that garnered national attention, Ross tendered his letter of resignation after notifying Mayor Kenney of an amendment to a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by two officers, one of whom claimed her complaint was mishandled due to her ending her two-year affair with the former commissioner.
Cpl. Audra McCowan and Officer Jennifer Allen filed a sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit against the city and a group of Philadelphia police officials including Ross and his replacement, Deputy Commissioner Christine Coulter, in July. It was recently amended to include an accusation that Ross refused to take McCowan’s complaints seriously as retaliation for ending their affair.
Because of this, both Kenney and Ross agreed that it might be time for the commissioner to step down.
“It was a serious decision because the police commissioner is one of the most important, if not the most important appointment we make,” Kenney said. “We agreed that [Ross’s resignation] was the best course to take at this time. I am grateful for Commissioner Ross’ many years of dedicated service to our City, and the many reforms he brought to the Department. However, I believe new leadership will help us continue to reform the Department and show that racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination simply will not be tolerated.”
“Despite what some of you think, this is voluntary,” Ross reiterated to a gathering of reporters on Wednesday morning. “I thought it would be for the greater good of all of the citizens of Philadelphia, and the fine police officers here and the Mayor that it would be better if I move along. With everything else we have to contend with here, this issue would be a distraction that the department and the city don’t need. My love for this organization and this city compelled me to make a decision that’s bigger than me.”
While he wouldn’t comment further on the lawsuit, Ross did address McCowan’s charges of retaliation, angrily denouncing them.
“In 55 years of life and 30 years of law enforcement, God and everyone who knows me knows I have never targeted or sought retribution on a person, personally or professionally,” Ross said. “So I take serious umbrage with that part of this issue.”
The latest intersection between sexual misconduct and the Philadelphia Police Department comes a year after City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart issued a report saying that the city’s sexual misconduct reporting system left a lot to be desired.
In spite of the Kenney Administration’s assertion that it can handle the reporting of sexual harassment using its current system, the lawsuit filed against the Police Department, the resulting resignation of Commissioner Ross, and the fact that there are two police officers currently in supervisory positions —- Inspector Carl Holmes, who remains on duty despite the city paying $1.25 million to settle a sexual assault lawsuit against him, and Inspector Anthony Washington, who now oversees the Special Victims Unit despite accusations of sexual harassment —- shows it can’t.
“The reports regarding Richard Ross’s resignation from the Police Department paint a concerning picture of issues we know to be deeply engrained cultural problems in the City, and specifically within the police department,” she said. “While there are many questions yet to be answered, the issues of sexual misconduct have been well known and reported on for years. If Mayor Kenney and his administration are serious about changing the culture, we need to deal with these specific cases, as well as look to citywide reforms on how sexual misconduct allegations are handled.”
As part of her report, Rhynhart recommends a centralized process that includes a single independent office that would be in charge of accepting, documenting and investigating issues of sexual misconduct.
“This is still what the City needs to do to ensure that victims are heard, perpetrators are dealt with appropriately, and superiors take action to protect their subordinates and are held accountable when they don’t,” she said.
Coulter, a three-star deputy in the department, most recently served as deputy commissioner of organizational services. She becomes the first woman to hold the commissioner’s job, and at his press conference, Kenney expressed faith in her.
“Deputy Coulter is an experienced police commander with nearly 30 years of law enforcement service,” Kenney said. “She has diverse experience in patrol operations, narcotics intelligence, and investigations. I have full faith in her ability to lead the department during this time of transition.”
When asked about her new position, Coulter was humbled.
“I have always been honored as both a woman and a police office to serve this city and I look forward to that moving forward,” she said.
But she’s not without her own issues. In addition to being named in McCowan and Allen’s lawsuit, Coulter was also accused of helping to conceal information about the beating death of tow truck driver Moises DeJesus. The city wanted to punish Coulter by giving her a 10-day suspension for lying to investigators, but the suspension was overturned through arbitration, according to the digital news outlet Billy Penn. A wrongful death suit filed by the DeJesus’ family was later settled for $250,000.
The search for a new commissioner will begin soon, and will take a variety of factors into consideration, including diversity and the needs of the community, Kenney said.
Community leaders like Minister Rodney Muhammad, president of the Philadelphia NAACP, are already making their wish lists, and if they had their way, the future of police leadership in Philadelphia would be female, he said.
But it would also be less personality based, he said.
“In this case, the new commissioner should be a Black woman,” he said. “Whether they find someone from the outside or the inside, serious consideration should be given to an African American female.”
“But right now, we’re focused on the new police contract,” Muhammad continued. “When the police department steps out of line, we have to see past relying on personalities. We have to have policies.”
Mayor Kenney gave no specific timetable for the search for a new commissioner.
Leave a Comment