Patrick V. Murphy
Patrick Vincent Murphy (May 15, 1920 – December 16, 2011) served as the top law enforcement executive in
Education and early years
Murphy was educated in Catholic elementary and high schools in his native Brooklyn. He married Martha E. Cameron in 1945. The son, brother, and, eventually, uncle of New York City police officers, Murphy joined the
His first foot patrol was in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. While on the job, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from
By 1962, Murphy was a deputy inspector when the department gave him an 18-month leave of absence to become the reform police chief in Syracuse "which found itself in a nasty corruption scandal."[2] He returned to the NYPD in 1964 and left the next year with the rank of deputy chief.
Washington, D.C., and Detroit
In 1965, the
The jobs in Syracuse and Washington underscored two of Murphy's principal concerns. Throughout his "illustrious career in policing, Murphy earned a reputation as a fierce advocate of reform, particularly with regard to police corruption and race relations," according to Charles R. Epp, a public affairs professor at the University of Kansas.[4]
In his memoirs, Murphy notes he fought off strenuous resistance from his police chief and a powerful congressional chairman whose committee controlled the DC department to appoint Jerry Wilson, a talented young commander, as assistant chief of field operations. He says that Wilson emphasized restraint in planning and implementing major changes for the prevention and control of disorders. Murphy credits these changes with minimizing violence in the
"Murphy dispersed the mob as gently, and with as few arrests, as possible," The New York Times reported. "His statement that he would resign rather than order the shootings of looters was widely quoted, with approval in liberal circles and as a sure sign of anarchy by the right."[6]
Congress established the
Return to New York City
In April, 1970
Murphy quickly began "changing his department irrevocably … (he) put in place systems to hold supervisors and administrators strictly accountable for the integrity and civility of their personnel… He rewarded cops who turned in corrupt or brutal colleagues and punished those who, although personally honest, looked the other way when they learned of misconduct," according to criminal justice scholars Jerome H. Skolnick and James J. Fyfe. They write that "Murphy used his three and a half years in office to create an environment that loudly and clearly condemned abusive police conduct, those who engage in it and – equally important – those who tolerate it."[9]
In August 1972, after overseeing the most corrupt police department in NYC history, per the Knapp Commission, Murphy introduced a new policy restricting "the use of deadly force to situations involving the defense of life, replacing the traditional 'fleeing felon' rule. The policy also prohibited discharging firearms as warning shots, as calls for assistance, or at or from moving vehicles," writes Samuel Walker, a criminal justice professor at the University of Nebraska. Murphy's defense-of-life policy "was a radical innovation. To be fair, there were undoubtedly other law enforcement agencies that already had restrictive policies... The important point, however, is that none had the lasting national impact on policy that New York City's had. Within a matter of a few years, the defense-of-life policy was the standard policy in major cities across the country."[10]
Police Foundation
In late 1973, Murphy became president of the
Under Murphy's watch, the foundation published more than 30 books and reports on matters ranging from police corruption to firearm abuse to policewomen on patrol to domestic violence and the police. A study on the police use of deadly force found that in the mid-1970s police agencies differed widely in their policies governing the use of deadly force, but that there appeared to be increased restraint in police use of firearms.
Perhaps the most notable of its publications was the report of a foundation experiment set in Kansas City, Missouri, that concluded that the accepted police strategy of routine preventive patrol in cars had no significant effect on crime rates, citizen fear of crime, or citizen satisfaction with police service.[11] These results "suggested that it is not sufficient to merely assign uniformed officers to random patrol and that more sophisticated means of deploying personnel may be necessary," according to Police Administration.[12]
Not all of the foundation's resources went to research. In 1975, Murphy enlisted the help of ten police chiefs from large jurisdictions around the country to help him create the Police Executive Research Forum. The foundation provided generous start-up funding, and the forum was formally incorporated in 1977. Murphy envisioned an organization the forum has become – in its words on its web site, "a national membership organization of progressive police executives from the largest city, county, and state law enforcement agencies … dedicated to improving policing and advancing professionalism through research and involvement in public policy debate."[13] The forum now has 1,500 general and subscribing members.
During Murphy's tenure, the foundation also assisted in the development of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) and assembled the National Advisory Commission on Higher Education for Police Officers. The commission's 300-page report issued 43 recommendations designed to upgrade the quality of police higher education.[14]
At the 1980 conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, delegates rejected by a 4-1 margin a resolution introduced by Murphy calling for departmental restrictions on the use of deadly force. Instead, the delegates affirmed the traditional fleeing felon rule.
Murphy continued to speak out on the matter and in 1982 the IACP leadership censured him "for his ongoing criticism of traditional police practices," Epp writes. "The issue was widely covered in terms unfavorable to the IACP. The New York Times gave front-page coverage to the story on July 8, 1982." About 150 similar stories, "all unfavorable to the IACP, appeared in other newspaper and magazines." Several large-city police chiefs opposed the IACP's censure of Murphy and the executive directors of the
In 1985, the Supreme Court in Tennessee v. Garner decreed that it was reasonable "for the police to use deadly force to defend life or to apprehend armed and dangerous felony suspects, but shooting nonviolent fleeing property crime suspects was a form of unreasonable seizure that violated the Fourth Amendment and that therefore must be forbidden."[16] This was in line with the shooting policy Murphy introduced to NYPD in 1972.
Murphy retired from the foundation in 1985. He taught at John Jay College of Criminal Justice from 1985–87 and was director of the police policy board of the United States Conference of Mayors from 1985-98.
Death and legacy
With his wife, Murphy had eight children, 21 grandchildren, and 17 great grandchildren at the time of his death. He died in 2011 at North Carolina of complications from a heart attack.[17] He was 91.
The Patrick V. Murphy Papers are housed in the Special Collections of the Lloyd Sealy Library, John Jay College of Criminal Justice.[18]
References
- ^ FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin November 1986 p. 4
- ^ "Murphy Among The 'Meat-Eaters" New York Times Dec. 19, 1981
- ^ Murphy, Patrick V., and Thomas Plate Commissioner: A View from the Top of American Law Enforcement Simon and Schuster p. 103.
- ^ Epp, Charles R. Making Rights Real: Activists, Bureaucrats, and the Creation of the Legalistic State University of Chicago Series in Law and Society p. 77 (Kindle Edition)
- ^ Murphy Commissioner Chapter 5
- ^ Murphy Among The 'Meat-Eaters" The New York Times Dec. 19, 1981
- ^ Robert Blau (1 February 1992). "DETROIT DIVIDED OVER TRIAL OF POLICE CHIEF OF `A THOUSAND FACES`". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
I promoted him to lieutenant in 1970, said Patrick Murphy, director of the Police Policy Board for the U.S. Conference of Mayors, who served as police commissioner of Detroit that year. Back then he enjoyed such an outstanding reputation in the department. He was highly respected by the people above him and below him in rank. His performance evaluation couldn`t have been better.
- ^ "Study Lauds Changes by New York Police" The New York Times May 27, 1978
- ^ Skolnick, Jerome H., and James J. Fyfe Above the Law: Police and the Excessive Use of Force Free Press pp. 179-180
- ^ Walker, Samuel "Police Accountability and the Central Problem in American Criminal Justice" in Holding Police Accountable (Candace McCoy ed.) The Urban Institute Press p. 4
- ^ Police Foundation Progress Report Washington, DC 1979 p. 17
- ^ Fyfe, James J., et al, Police Administration (5th Ed.) McGraw-Hill p. 590
- ^ "About PERF". Policeforum.org. Archived from the original on 2011-01-05. Retrieved 2011-12-16.
- ^ Police Foundation Progress Report Washington, DC 1979 p. 9
- ^ Epp, Charles R., Making Rights Real: Activists, Bureaucrats, and the Creation of the Legalistic State University of Chicago Series in Law and Society, p. 77 (Kindle Edition) pp. 81-82
- ^ Fyfe, James J., et al, Police Administration (5th Ed.) McGraw-Hill 204
- ^ "Murphy, police chief who urged restraint, dies". MercuryNews.com. Associated Press. Retrieved 2011-12-16.
- ^ "Manuscript Collections". Lloyd Sealy Library Special Collections, John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Retrieved 5 March 2013.