A gunpoint robbery in his family’s Southwest Philadelphia corner store inspired John Walker to join the police department.
The incident put Walker, now a captain, on a path that has led him to the 15th Police District, where he took over as commander earlier this month after being promoted from lieutenant. He sat down with the Northeast Times on Thursday after a week on the job.
“At the age of 19, I had a gun stuck in my face,” Walker, 52, said.
“Whenever you’re victimized, regardless of whether or not you’re injured, there’s a psychological component to that,” he added. “It just creates a little difference in your life when that happens to you.”
Walker comes to Northeast Philadelphia’s busiest police district after spending most of his 28-year career south of Market Street. In his most recent role, he oversaw special investigations for Southwest Detectives. During Walker’s 13 years there, he handled more than 4,000 shootings.
He believes in a targeted approach where officers concentrate on certain corners and identify who is causing issues in a particular neighborhood.
Many times, removing a few bad actors off the street can make an area significantly safer and drive down the crime rate, Walker said.
“I think often times when people see violence they think it’s on a large scale,” he said. “I don’t believe it is. I think it’s a small amount of people, 2 percent of people, that are committing the violence.”
What Walker doesn’t believe in is a heavy-handed approach. When he started at the department, he remembers patrols going to neighborhoods and stopping everyone in a particular area. That only creates animosity between the good people in the community and the police, Walker said.
Instead, Walker wants the 15th Police District to adopt what he calls a “laser-focus” approach to crime. He also wants to bring a community policing approach where officers interact more with residents.
“It’s a long-term solution you have to have, and it takes time,” Walker said. “You have to change the behaviors of people. A lot of these kids are just misguided who just need a little bit of help to get back on their feet.”
Walker said he first saw the benefits of community policing while working on the South Street Detail, where he was commander for five years. He said the detail was able to work with residents, businesses and young people to improve the corridor and surrounding areas.
The new head of the 15th District does not believe connecting with community organizations in the Northeast will be a problem.
“My early assessment here is that there seems to be a lot of community involvement,” Walker said.
Perhaps Walker’s biggest struggle so far has been getting familiarized with the Northeast. He was raised in Southwest Philadelphia and currently lives in the Packer Park neighborhood.
“The one thing that shocked me the most coming up here was the amount of traffic,” Walker said.
Walker has spent his first days as captain getting an idea of the crime trends in the 15th District and meeting community members and elected officials.
He took over from Capt. Anthony Luca, who was reassigned to the Highway Patrol Unit.
In addition, Megan McLaughlin is the new community relations officer for the district, replacing Matthew Crosson. Crosson is now serving as a victim assistance officer. ••
Jack Tomczuk can be reached at [email protected]
