[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 178 (Thursday, December 20, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13936-S13937]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO COMMISSIONER JOHN F. TIMONEY

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to the long and 
distinguished career of one of our Nation's top police executives, 
Philadelphia Police Commissioner John F. Timoney.
  Commissioner Timoney will leave the Philadelphia Police Department in 
early January, and I want to highlight some of his achievements. I 
believe John's record of achievement will benefit America's police 
officers for years to come.
  John Timoney immigrated to the United States from Ireland at the age 
of 13. In 1969, after graduating from high school, he joined the ranks 
of the New York Police Department. He spent the first twelve years of 
his career as a patrol officer and later a narcotics investigator on 
the streets of Harlem and the South Bronx. As his reputation for 
integrity, innovation, and perseverance grew, he rose through the 
department's management structure, eventually assuming the position of 
Chief of Department, the highest ranking uniformed position in the 
department. It was during Mr. Timoney's tenure in the upper echelons of 
the NYPD that New York's crime rate began to drop precipitously, due in 
no small part to the new management structure he instituted, merging 
the Housing and Transit Police Department with the NYPD. In 1996, upon 
his departure from the NYPD, then-Chief Timoney had accrued over 65 
Department Medals, including the prestigious Medal of Valor.
  After retiring from the NYPD, John entered the world of private 
security consulting, and offered his expertise and advice to law 
enforcement authorities all across the country and around the world. He 
served as Vice Chairman of the Irish Commission on Domestic Violence, 
and he advised Britain's Patton Commission, which focused on policing 
Northern Ireland.
  In March of 1998, Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell appointed John 
Commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department. His tenure in that 
position was marked by the same commitment to excellence and 
improvement which characterized his career in New York. John brought 
the innovative Compstat system to Philadelphia, and helped to 
reinvigorate the department. Running a department of 7,000 officers and 
900 civilian employees is no easy task, and Commissioner Timoney's 
efforts to modernize the department have been rewarded by a decline in 
Philadelphia's crime rate.
  While I thank John profusely for what he has done to make the streets 
safer for millions of New Yorkers and Philadelphians, I rise today for 
another reason: to thank Commissioner Timoney for the lessons that his 
expertise and experience have taught the entirety of the law 
enforcement community. While his achievements as a cop on the beat 
deserve our thanks, I want to make special mention of the contribution 
he has made to our understanding of how police departments can better 
employ their resources to combat crime across the country.
  Commissioner Timoney's career in the upper echelons of law 
enforcement have been marked by two major paradigm shifts. Without 
them, law enforcement would not be nearly as successful. And because 
Commissioner Timoney's work represents what I think is the best of law 
enforcement--because I believe that we at the Federal level ought to 
encourage and promote police departments around the nation to promote 
just this kind of progress--I want to draw special attention to it.
  First, Commissioner Timoney was at the forefront of efforts to get 
both the New York and Philadelphia Police Departments to embrace 
Compstat, a high-tech system which allows police departments to monitor 
and analyze crime data better, empowering them to re-deploy resources 
as needed.

[[Page S13937]]

Compstat was revolutionary policing in both New York and Philadelphia, 
contributing to dramatic crime reductions in both cities.
  Second, Commissioner Timoney has been an outspoken proponent of 
community policing, which was an integral portion of 1994's crime bill. 
The Commissioner has set a high standard in the practice of policing 
multi-ethnic and multi-racial communities by empowering precinct 
captains and other officers in local areas to develop constructive 
relationships with members of the communities they police. I've always 
believed that the more integrated cops are with the communities they 
serve the better. Commissioner Timoney has lived that principle, and 
the great accomplishments of his career are due in no small part to his 
promotion of community policing.
  I am grateful to be able to call John Timoney a friend. The people of 
Philadelphia will miss his law enforcement expertise, the police 
officers of his department will miss his extraordinary leadership, and 
the nation's law enforcement executives will lose one of their 
brightest lights. Good luck in your future endeavors John. A grateful 
and safer nation thanks you for your service.

                          ____________________