gordon joins us live in studio with a closer look at ramsay's career in our city. >> reporter: charles ramsay has become a national figure no doubt about it. nam an important crime fighting panel he's probably got a seat at the table. president obama described him as extraordinarily grateful for ramsay's service. locally the numbers say he's been a successful crime fighter but that success has come at a cost. with the nutter administration winding down, commissioner ramsay made it official. he will retire in january when the mayor leaves office. >> and it's just time. i mean i've been at this a long time. now, i'm not tired. i'm not burnt out. in fact, i'm actual until my prime. (laughter). >> reporter: ramsay was already retired after nearly 40 years of policing in chicago and d.c. and then mayor elect nutter hired him in late 2007 to fight crime in a city that averaged nearly a murder a day. >> thank you for coming to philadelphia. >> reporter: eight years later, emotional nutter heaped praise on his top cop. >> philadelphia is, was and will be very very lucky to benefited from the talent a

in new castle can you with more details coming up at six. >> philadelphia police commissioner charles ramsay's retiring, mayor nutter leaves office in january. 65-year-old ramsay a 47 year police veteran and the longest serving commissioner in philly pd history. the question now, of course, is who will replace the commissioner. >> the names of several possible candidates for the top post have been bouncing around but one of those names is on of one's lips. >> fox 29's bruce gordon live in the newsroom. what's the let betting line here, bruce. >> the favorite by far seems to be the first deputy that rob richard ross much he's a local guy. master's degree in criminal justice from st. joe's. been with the department for a long time. since 1989. ross is seen as sharp and professional, often front and center when big incidents occur. commissioner ramsay in fact said today he's her the scuffle but that ross may be his likely replacement. >> i couldn't agree more that he is capable of running this department and if he doesn't run this one he'll run one someone else. that's the kind of talent this m

news" reporter todd quinones was there >> reporter: protesters interrupted police commissioner charles ramsay'srance tuesday night at national constitution center. about a dozen people were holding signs and chanting. >> black lives matter! >> reporter: after many were he is cored out by us park rangers ramsay continued on with his town hall style efforts to strengthen police community relations. he says for reasons of credibility and transparency he supports having the pennsylvania state police head up investigations into philadelphia police officer involved shootings. but he added, people need to keep in mind officers often confront people with violent intentions. >> you also have to role lies, that everyone shot by a police officer is not someone who is unarmed and innocent and whatever sometimes -- listen i've been here 7.5 years, a little more. i've had eight police officers killed in the lionell of duty. five of them shot to death. i had five in a nine-month span. that's real. that's reality. >> reporter: ramsay also opposes bill right now that's in harrisburg that would prevent police de

threat came in and schools responded with heightened security and philadelphia police commissioner charles ramsay says credible or not, you have to take these types of threats seriously. >> i was at the coffee shop anton of armed guards with like vests. >> reporter: drexel university was among many local colleges with increased police patrols and end hasn'ted security procedures. in light of a threat of violence posted online. allegedly planned for 2:00 p.m. today. federal investigators notified schools in abundance of caution. >> no specific college or university was identified. >> when i spoke with the atf over the weekend, they didn't think it was credible, however, in the avenue math of oregon, obviously, you know, we wanted to make sure we took appropriate steps. >> reporter: philadelphia police commissioner charles ramsay says his officers provided coverage for smaller campuses like the community college of philadelphia. fortunately, all remained quiet. >> my biggest concern is always copycats but then you start doing similar things and of course we have to investigate them all. >> reporter

police commissioner charles ramsay says every threat must be taken seriously. >> you can't ignore it because we got got a lot of idiots in the world then have guns and they'll go and do things like that. >> reporter: campuses including south jersey and delaware sent alerts to students and heightened police patrols. some students on the campus of drexel university felt a little uneasy going into the school d day. >> i'm nervous like i'm not going to my one class over in center city. >> i feel like they should have canceled all classes today. >> every street corner there's at least tightened security. >> every class we go to we have to show id. >> reporter: some students think this should become standard procedure. >> stuff like this could happen all the time. you never really know. >> reporter: and commissioner ramsay said he had talk to the atf and those officials did not think that this threat was credible, but you can never be too safe. he's urging students and staff at local colleges to remain vigilant and follow that old motto if you see something, say something. lucy yes. >> act

. >>> after close to eight years as philadelphia's top cop police commissioner charles ramsay announced his retirement today. ramsay's last day on the job license january 7th. during a news conference at city hall, mayor mike nutter praised ramsay saying he changed the culture of the police department for the better. the 65 year old said he's had a blessed career and talked about how he hopes to be remembered. >> certainly the drop in crime. i'm not satisfied with it, but it's better than it was. and you have to keep pushing forward and try to make it better and better and better. i don't know if it's practical to think you ever get down to zero but the closer we push toward that goal, the better off we are as a city. >> thank you for coming to philadelphia. thank you for making my city a safer city. >> we asked some philadelphians what they thought about the commissioner's tenure and there was mixed reaction. >> he had his way he was going to put a stop to stuff. if he retires that ain't never going to take place. >> they doing nothing about the murders. all he worried about who out he

it has happened again, again protesteprotesters have interrud philadelphia police commissioner charles ramsayuring a town hall event. >> black lives matter! >> black lives matter! >> commissioner was speakin spet town hall event at the national constitution sent. the subject how police officers do their jobs. minutes after ramsay began speaking protesters stood up and began chanting. park rangers he is cored them out. this isn't the first time something like this had a happened. just last month protesters interrupted him speaking at an event at eastern state penetentiary. >>> you decide 2016. tonight all five democratic presidential candidates on one stage in las vegas. debating each other for the first time. unlike the past two debates with a crowde crowded republican fiel the candidates appearing on the same stage. no upper or lower tear debates this time around. hillary clinton entering to night's cnn debate as the front run are in. pundants say the form secretary of state's biggest challenge will from come from vermont bernie sanders. >> martin o'malley, lincoln safety and jim web hoping

police commissioner charles ramsay today said it's time to retire. >> as fox 29's bruce gordon showss the general feeling is he's leaving the city safer than when he arrived. >> reporter: the 65-year-old ramsay said the decision to retire as police commissioner when mayor nutter leaves office in january was his and his alo alone. ramsay spent nearly 40 years doing police work in chicago and washington now eight more in philly. >> it's just time. i mean i've been at this a long time. now, i'm not tired. i'm not burnt out. in fact, i'm actual until my prime. (laughter). >> reporter: hiring ramsay was one of the first moves made by mayor elect nutter in november of 2007 after campaigning on a promise to reduce crime in philadelphia. eight years later nutter choked with emotion -- >> thank you for making my city a safer city. >> reporter: called ramsay the best in the crime fighting business. >> children and adults of our city owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude. >> reporter: if fact, year to date crime statistics show murders down by 32% since 2007. though the numbers are actually up

commissioner charles ramsay and many of the city's top cops were on hand to announce the department'sccreditation this afternoon that. honor came through the state's law enforcement accreditation commission. the agency recognizing philadelphia's police department for up policemenning standards for the best practices of poli policing. officials say it's an extension seive but fulfilling process. >> accreditation a assessment is an extremely successful kind. nobody likes to to have someone come in and tear your house apart. that's what the erie view assessment is all about. >> the philadelphia police department is now the largest accredited municipal law enforcement agency in pennsylvania. one of only about 100 accredited agencies out of more than 1100 in the commonwealth. >> it was supposed to be a memorial for four lives lost after a carjacking -- carjacked suv and hit and killed a mother and her three children in that spot but it ended looking like this. completely littered with trash. the community wasn't about to stand for it. they say it's beyond disrespectful. >> our chris o'conn

charles ramsey is retiring. he was joined by mayor nutter as the announcement was made yesterday he'll retire next january. ramsay served eight years as philadelphia police commissioner, homicides, shootings, have all dropped during that time. ramsay says the job is not done yet. >> there are still some neighborhoods still far too unsafe. there are too many people shot in our city. too many murders. too many robberies, too much crime. >> chief ramsay's 47 year history in law enforcement dependant when he was an 18-year-old recruit for the chicago plashd he was chief of police in washington, d.c. >> when he was there we also saw a drop in violent crime. he led that department from 1998 until 2006 and while he was there, he attracted national attention when his department investigated the death of chandra levy in 2001. he is known for investigating the d.c. sniper attacks, which left ten people dead. after his time in washington, that's when mayor michael nutter nominated ramsay to be the philadelphia commissioner. he came out of retirement and was sworn in at the beginning of nutter's term in 2008. >>> president o