Philadelphia Police Commissioner Named

PHILADELPHIA — Mayor W. Wilson Goode named a former U.S. Secret Service agent Wednesday as the city’s new police commissioner to head a department rocked by 29 extortion convictions.

Kevin M. Tucker, 45, will succeed Gregore J. Sambor, who resigned last month under fire for failing to root out corruption and for his handling of the May 13 confrontation between police and the radical group MOVE. In that standoff, police dropped a bomb on the group’s fortified house, starting a fire that left 11 persons dead and 61 homes destroyed.

Tucker resigned in June as agent-in-charge of the Philadelphia office of the Secret Service to become vice president of planning for a private company. He will take a $20,000 pay cut to assume the $55,000-per-year appointment, effective Jan. 1.