Philly's Top Cop Staying Put After Emanuel Balks at Salary Demands

By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 7, 2011 2:00PM

Philadelphia Police Superintendent Charles Ramsey, who has been widely reported to be Mayor-elect Emanuel's choice to replace Jody Weis as Chicago's top cop, is staying put in Philly, sources are telling the Sun-Times. Although Ramsey told the Sun-Times in an interview that the support he received from Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, business leaders and media were what swayed him, the Bright One suggests that Ramsey would have bolted for his hometown had Emanuel signed off on his $400,000 annual salary demand.

Ramsey acknowledged to the Sun-Times that compensation was an issue, but the deciding one. It isn't as though there's precedent for such a high salary. Mayor Daley justified former Police Superintendent Jody Weis's $310,000 when he was hired by comparing it to salaries of top cops in other cities and by noting that Weis would also be in charge at disaster scenes.

Regardless of whether Ramsey suggested the high salary demand at Emanuel's behest or as away to bow out gracefully from consideration for the job, he managed to parlay his talks with Emanuel into a pay raise from Philadelphia, to $255,000. It also puts Emanuel back at Square One in his search for a Police Superintendent who believes in his philosophy that "the beat officer is the backbone of the force." The Police Board is accepting applications for the superintendent's job through Monday.