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Charles Ramsey consulting fee questioned as shootings rise in Wilmington

Since leaving his post as Philadelphia police commissioner, Charles H. Ramsey has traveled the country working with universities and think tanks, and consulting for cities struggling with violent crime.

In Wilmington, Del., where shootings continued to rise after Ramsey completed a $112,000 consulting contract, some are questioning whether the city's money was well spent.

Ramsey was awarded the contract in January 2016 by then-Mayor Dennis Williams to address the rising number of shootings, including 26 gun homicides in 2015 in a city of 71,000.

"He is here to drive crime down," Williams said last year, according to a report in The News Journal.

In 2017, the city has recorded 21 shootings and eight homicides -- four times the number reported in the same period last year, according to a News-Journal article Wednesday.

The newspaper reported that Ramsey had been paid the full amount of his contract, which was to last for seven months. Kevin Bethel, a former deputy commissioner under Ramsey, was a subcontractor and received $42,000 of the $112,000.

City Councilman Robert A. Williams, a police officer in Wilmington for more than two decades, told The News Journal that he did not believe the Ramsey contract had any impact on public safety.

"We got nothing to show for our money," Williams said.

Ramsey could not be reached for comment.

Ramsey retired from the Philadelphia Police Department in January 2016.

He has also consulted for Chicago as that city was dealing with a federal civil rights investigation. He was paid $350 an hour and ultimately billed the city $37,490 for his work before he decided he could not continue in his paid role, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. His work covered less than four months.

In January, Gov. Wolf named Ramsey as chairman of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. That position is unpaid, but Ramsey is reimbursed for travel expenses related to his work with the commission, said agency spokesman Matthew Leonard.