A department-wide ban on smoking on-duty or in uniform was dropped for now by Philiadelphia Interim Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson.
In October, Johnson’s predecessor put out the order after a newspaper photograph showed an officer smok-ing as he helped lift a man in a wheel-chair outside a burning building. But the Fraternal Order of Police objected and filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board. The commissioner decided to rescind the policy now and negotiate with the FOP on a compromise that would probably only prohibit smoking in cars and in buildings, according to Karen Simmons, an attorney for the Philadelphia Police Department.