PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, wooed to return to his hometown by Chicago Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel, is staying put in Philadelphia, the city's mayor said on Thursday.
Philadelphia is giving Ramsey a hefty $60,000 annual raise, to a total of $255,000 to remain, a sum still far less than the reported $310,000 he was offered by Chicago.
Clearly pleased that the police boss will remain in his post, Mayor Michael Nutter said Ramsey faces some major challenges in the year ahead.
Among them are lowering the city's high homicide and violent crime rates, rooting out corruption within the department, and improving community relations, the mayor said in an interview with Reuters.
There have been 87 homicides in the city so far this year, compared to 73 in the same period last year.
"They still have a lot of work to do," Nutter said.
Other city officials expressed relief that they would not have to endure a recruiting process and a new commissioner slowed by a learning curve.
(Reporting by Dave Warner; Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Jerry Norton)
