Thin Blue Line

The Thin Blue Line is sensational - in every sense of the expression. A riveting murder investigation that is also a documentary, Errol Morris' quirky account of a 1976 Texas killing combines the sleuthing savvy of Sam Spade with the morbid humor of Blood Simple. All this, and a Philip Glass score, too! Directors have long been attracted to the sagas of gumshoes. The Thin Blue Line might be the first film where the director is the gumshoe who has uncovered controversial evidence that may overturn a conviction.

Looking down at all those blue shirts at Friday's police promotions ceremony, Eleanor Thompson wished aloud that her son-in-law didn't have to wear a uniform. "It used to be a symbol of respect," she said. "Now it's a target. " Lt. Rick Lanzetta was one of 178 officers getting new stars or stripes at what had to be one of the most emotionally draining celebrations in Philadelphia Police Department history, coming at the end of a week in which three officers were shot, one fatally.

The thin blue line got a little thicker yesterday with the graduation of 60 officers from the Philadelphia Police Academy. The class members got their marching orders from Mayor Goode, who presented diplomas during ceremonies at the Civic Center. Among those receiving special recognition was William Schulze, the academy's top grad, who was trained on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania's police force.

As far as I know, there's never been a film like "The Thin Blue Line. " On the surface, it's a documentary about the murder of a Dallas police officer - Robert Wood, who pulled over a car on a November night in 1976 and was shot five times and killed. A drifter named Randall Adams was arrested, convicted of murder and sentenced to death; the sentence was eventually overturned on a technicality and commuted to life in prison. But "The Thin Blue Line" is no mere documentary. First and foremost, it is an attempt by the director, Errol Morris, to prove that Adams was innocent.

Deploying 65 police officers for the pre-dawn arrest Wednesday of a couple of alleged cop killers may have struck some Philadelphians as excessive. Would the police be half so zealous if an ordinary citizen had been murdered instead? But something far larger than tribal loyalty is at work here. The police place themselves at constant risk in their mission of keeping the city as safe as possible for the rest of us. When an officer is shot and the killer escapes, the system itself is placed at risk.

I RESPECT Mayor-elect Nutter's decision to appoint Charles Ramsey as top cop in Philly. But given the fact that D.C. is a far smaller metropolis than Philadelphia, I don't put a lot of weight in the dramatic drop in murders there. I'm trying to be positive, but my gut is telling me that a local police veteran may have been the better choice. By the time Mr. Ramsey acclimates himself to our city, precious time, and more lives, will be gone. He does sound confident, but we have heard those words before.

FELLOW citizens, I say we have another parade on Broad Street! Instead of the Phillies, the people on the floats should be the police officers and the families of the slain officers who lay their lives on the line every day. And put a sign in your car window thanking those men and women in blue. Do you think we would get two million people? No way. Besides Jill Porter's column about Port Richmond, I haven't seen many blue bows anywhere in the Northeast. Wake up, people.

On any given day, any of the Harley-Davidson Road Kings that the Philadelphia Police Department's elite Highway Patrol officers rely on might not start. While immaculately kept and built for the rugged demands of police work, the cycles are 10 to 19 years old and have taken a beating over the years, officers said. But thanks to a nonprofit foundation, CopWheels Inc., started by local lawyer James Binns, the 65 motorcycles, or "wheels" as officers call them, will soon be replaced.

Don't expect the four new faces on City Council to shake up the institution very much. Change will be driven more by the dynamics of federal budget cuts, the mayoral jockeying toward 1999 and the ongoing saga of the public schools. At most the new Council will be slightly more conservative and slightly less malleable in the hands of Mayor Rendell and Council President John Street. The two leaders should be able to chart the budgetary course. Tax increases are unlikely.

The footage of the Los Angeles beating - the baseball-bat swings to the torso, the boot kicks to the face - is taking on a life of its own, something like a latter-day Zapruder clip, that endlessly rerun film of John F. Kennedy's shooting. It too may come to mark a turning-point in America's consciousness. Which direction it will point, however, is in some question. That is why the defiant obtuseness of Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates is particularly galling. Every word from his mouth has blamed the victim, minimized the savagery of the perpetrators, failed to appreciate the enormity of the abuse.

All you have to do is look at an incident that occurred a few weeks ago to understand why Charles H. Ramsey is one of the best big-city police chiefs in the country - if not the best. When police discovered that some of the Breathalyzer machines that officers used to test for DUIs were miscalibrated, potentially throwing at least 1,110 cases up for retrial, Ramsey didn't try to save face by coming up with some convoluted explanation. No. Cutting the authoritative figure that we've come to admire, with four-star epaulets gleaming on his uniform jacket, Ramsey said, "We screwed up, folks.

FELLOW citizens, I say we have another parade on Broad Street! Instead of the Phillies, the people on the floats should be the police officers and the families of the slain officers who lay their lives on the line every day. And put a sign in your car window thanking those men and women in blue. Do you think we would get two million people? No way. Besides Jill Porter's column about Port Richmond, I haven't seen many blue bows anywhere in the Northeast. Wake up, people.

I RESPECT Mayor-elect Nutter's decision to appoint Charles Ramsey as top cop in Philly. But given the fact that D.C. is a far smaller metropolis than Philadelphia, I don't put a lot of weight in the dramatic drop in murders there. I'm trying to be positive, but my gut is telling me that a local police veteran may have been the better choice. By the time Mr. Ramsey acclimates himself to our city, precious time, and more lives, will be gone. He does sound confident, but we have heard those words before.

Looking down at all those blue shirts at Friday's police promotions ceremony, Eleanor Thompson wished aloud that her son-in-law didn't have to wear a uniform. "It used to be a symbol of respect," she said. "Now it's a target. " Lt. Rick Lanzetta was one of 178 officers getting new stars or stripes at what had to be one of the most emotionally draining celebrations in Philadelphia Police Department history, coming at the end of a week in which three officers were shot, one fatally.

On any given day, any of the Harley-Davidson Road Kings that the Philadelphia Police Department's elite Highway Patrol officers rely on might not start. While immaculately kept and built for the rugged demands of police work, the cycles are 10 to 19 years old and have taken a beating over the years, officers said. But thanks to a nonprofit foundation, CopWheels Inc., started by local lawyer James Binns, the 65 motorcycles, or "wheels" as officers call them, will soon be replaced.

POLICE Commissioner Sylvester Johnson can tell you precisely how an officer is supposed to react when somebody fires at him. But there is no official protocol for how he should react when he's being fired at from the pulpit by a minister preaching a slain policeman's funeral. You won't find anything in police textbooks about second-guessing from comrades along the thin blue line who feel you have failed to close ranks around one of your own either. If Johnson ever hangs up his holster, he'll be able to write that chapter based on his experiences and tough decisions in the August 24 shooting death of officer Terrence V. Flomo.

Center City was the place to be Friday night, but once you got there, you were going no place ? slowly. Market, Broad and Arch Streets - jammed. Seventh, Eighth and Ninth - ditto. "Traffic's a mess," radio dispatcher Ed McDermott said as he worked the phones at Police Headquarters at Eighth and Race Streets. Outside, occasional sirens blared and horns honked as motorists tried to get going. "Everyone wants to get there first, but you're after me," said Sgt. Ed Margerum, who took 10 minutes to maneuver his cruiser five blocks to respond to a minor accident.

Want to be a Philadelphia cop? It's time to apply. Police recruiters have been scouring military bases and local colleges to find candidates for the Department's brand-new, race-neutral qualifying exam, to be administered for the first time July 17. Lt. Frederick Cotton has logged a lot of miles lately, visiting places like Came Lejeune, N.C., and Ft. Myers, Va. "We get to their job fairs and set up my booth and table. " Cotton said, "I hand out my applications and brochures, and we talk about Philadelphia.

The man, tall, bulky and bespectacled, looked down at his wife menacingly. He was home from work. Dinner was not ready. "I'm going to bruise you from your head to your toenails!" he yelled, before launching into a profanity-laced tirade. A few minutes later, the police arrived. It was common scene of domestic violence - one that became a lesson in down-and-dirty police work for the dozen students of Haverford Police Department's Citizens Police Academy. In an era when most citizens encounter their police officers only when something has gone wrong, the academy provides a rare chance for Haverford residents to meet and learn from the police on more friendly terms.

Call them Philadelphia's Top Guns. For the first time ever, city cops are taking their war on crime to the skies. And their not-so-secret weapons are two hulking $1.5 million Bell Long Ranger helicopters. The department began testing one of the choppers yesterday at the Northeast Airport, where their new home in Hangar A is still being completed. "They're not flying yet," said Mayor Rendell's spokesman, Kevin Feeley. "We've never had a helicopter here before, so we're still working out the drill.