Richard Ross will be the next police commissioner of Philadelphia, mayor-elect Jim Kenney's campaign announced Wednesday morning.

Ross, the department's 51-year-old first deputy commissioner, will take over for highly-regarded Commissioner Charles Ramsey who plans to retire on January 7 after seven years leading the department.

A 26-year veteran of the force, Ross has been widely rumored as Kenney's choice for the post. He's been Ramsey's number two since 2008 overseeing 6,000 officers and civilian personnel working in the Patrol, Special Investigations and Homeland Security units. He previously served as the deputy commissioner of Internal Affairs and was captain of the Homicide Unit.

From 2005 to 2008, he oversaw department operations, including making policy changes in training and investigations of police shootings. He also coordinated the city's World Series celebration in 2008.

Ross grew up in Philadelphia and attended Central High School. He has a bachelor's in Labor & Industrial Relations from Penn State University and master's in Criminal Justice from St. Joseph's University.

Ramsey's predecessor, Sylvester Johnson, was the last police commissioner to be promoted from within the department. Ramsey came from Washington, D.C. and John Timoney, who served from 1998 through 2002, had previously served in New York City.

Kenney formally announced Ross as his police commissioner pick at an afternoon news conference.

During his campaign, Kenney was endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police and vowed to end the police practice of stop and frisk. Ramsey countered that the department does not encourage that policy and that he supports the lawful version of the practice — known as "Terry stops" after the 1968 Supreme Court ruling upholding an officer's right to pat down a person suspected of criminal activity.



Ross said the department will only make stops when "reasonable suspicion" warrants them.



"That is the law, and we obviously cannot arbitrarily stop people for no reason," Ross said. "... Reasonable suspicion is the phrase that we use and that's what we'll be working under."



He said officers receive training every year on legal tactics, and officials would continue "to message out properly what we will and will not tolerate."



He said a pilot program of Philadelphia officers wearing body cameras would "absolutely" be expanded.



"The officers who wear them are excited about it; they think a lot of good things come from that," he said.

Ross told reporters he sees his appointment as a "passing of the baton" from Commissioner Ramsey, whom he called a mentor.



"I don't feel the need to act like we're going to start from ground zero, because we're not. We are going to build on it," Ross said. "Commissioner Ramsey is his own man and he's a great one, but he doesn't expect me to be him. ... I'm my own man."