Ramsey bids farewell as top cop

With the swearing-in of a new police commissioner, Tuesday marked the last day for Charles Ramsey, who now calls himself, “a retired gentleman on a fixed income.”

During a press conference last week offering an overview of crime reduction during his eight-year tenure, Ramsey took some time to reflect on what hopes to leave behind as his legacy in Philadelphia.

“I would hope that I’ve been here long enough to be able to help develop the leadership of the future, not just in Philadelphia, but nationally,” Ramsey said.

“I think leadership development — I would like to be remembered for that anyway.”

As for regrets, he said, “not really.”

“Do-overs don’t exist in real life, so I don’t waste my time even thinking about it or worrying about it. I don’t waste time with regrets, you get stuck in neutral if you do that.”

Ramsey praised the new chief, Richard Ross, and said he has the utmost faith in him at the helm.

“He’s very much on top of everything we’ve been doing. He’s going to be his own man. He’s going to be his own police commissioner, and he’s going to be a good one, in my opinion. We’ve had some conversations, but many of those conversations were private and will remain so, because that’s just the nature of the business,” he said.

“You’ve just got to be able to talk through some things and not read about them the next day in the newspaper.”

Moving forward, Ramsey said he’ll stay in Philadelphia with his family, and may do some consulting work — and that may even be for Chicago, his hometown.