Ramsey said the department will work on encouraging officers to report their colleagues when they witness inappropriate behavior.
"The police department continues to ask the public to step up and report wrongdoing," Ramsey said. "We will ask no less of its own members."
The department is launching a hotline and e-mail address that go straight to Ramsey's office, and which officers and the public can use to anonymously report police misconduct. The phone number, which will be active on Monday, is 215-686-3009. E-mails can be sent to police.commissioner@phila.gov.
Ramsey has charged Patricia Giorgio-Fox, Deputy Commissioner for Organizational Accountability, with implementing the new strategies.
Ramsey was spurred to announce the plan after Kenneth Crockett, a 26-year veteran of the 6,600-plus force, was charged last week with stealing $825 from a Northeast Philadelphia bar.
The announcement also followed the arrest of three police officers last month on federal charges of robbing a drug dealer.
Eleven officers have been arrested since March 2009, including two on murder charges stemming from off-duty shootings. Another officer was fired this year after admitting that he fabricated a story about being shot by a black man. In fact, the officer shot himself.
Ramsey said Thursday that the department has opened investigations into several additional officers, but declined to comment further.
"It's a cloud," Ramsey said of the spate of scandals. "And it's going to take time for that cloud to lift. But we're not going to run from it."
Ramsey has said attracting stronger recruits is a priority. Starting in 2012, new officers will have to be at least 21 and have three years of driving and two years of college classes under their belts. Standards now allow 19-year-olds with no college education and little driving experience to join the academy. The residency requirement has been lifted, which could draw candidates from outside of the city.
Police experts said implementing an anti-corruption plan would not be easy. Some officers arrested recently were veterans, and had nothing in their backgrounds that would indicate a predilection toward criminal acts.
A larger obstacle to fighting corruption is often a version of the "don't snitch" culture officers battle when policing urban areas, said Rich Jarc, executive director of the Josephson Institute, a Los Angeles nonprofit that educates police departments on ethics. In many departments, Jarc said, it's all but demanded that officers stand together, and "ratting each other out" is discouraged.
"It doesn't mean that the department is totally corrupt," Jarc said. "But that cultural code of silence might be preventing some people from stopping this behavior."
Ramsey said Thursday that many officers do report misconduct by other officers, but that the department must reach those who are hesitant. After Crockett's arrest on theft charges last week, Ramsey said more information came forward from officers who knew or suspected Crockett was not always going by the book.
"We've got to create an environment where people feel comfortable coming forward and reporting something," he said. "It's the right thing to do."
Contact staff writer Allison Steele at (215) 854-2641 or asteele@phillynews.com
