Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison today rolled out two plans for driving down crime and transforming the Baltimore Police Department, promising new metrics for officers, such as 10-minute response times, and to use data to deploy officers in focused patrol areas where crimes are statistically more likely to happen.
It was frustration that prompted Councilman Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer to try and take the pulse of the Baltimore Police Department’s rank and file. The 5th District councilman says a few months ago, during a Baltimore City Council committee hearing, he asked BPD leadership for data showing whether a departmental move to deploy District Detective Unit officers to patrol spots had effectively reduced crime.
Leaders could not provide a data-backed answer, Schleifer said.
Responding to a report this week about the Baltimore Police Department’s apparent failures to fill hundreds of patrol positions, as well as a net decline in the number of sworn officers over the last year, officials today said a recently implemented shift change and an uptick in applications from recruits should help boost patrol ranks.
Maryland’s Senate today voted unanimously to approve legislation requiring the Baltimore Police Department to review the boundaries of its nine districts, as well as the allocation of resources and officers for each one, after the census every 10 years.
With the approval of Baltimore’s spending board this Wednesday, as well as a confirmation vote from the Baltimore City Council in March, Baltimore’s incoming police commissioner would rake in $275,000 a year in salary.
Baltimore Police Commissioner-Designate Michael S. Harrison will participate in nine community meetings–one in every police district–starting on Feb. 11, weeks before the city council is scheduled to consider his candidacy, Mayor Catherine Pugh’s office announced today.
Legislation sponsored by Sen. Cory McCray that would require all Baltimore Police Department officials ranking at captain and up to live in Baltimore City has Mayor Catherine Pugh’s backing, as well as that of the city’s incoming police commissioner.
The Baltimore Police Department has identified the officer who shot at a car outside the Gilmor Homes in West Baltimore on Saturday night.
Within 24 hours of Joel Fitzgerald’s decision to withdraw from the confirmation process to be Baltimore’s next police chief, Mayor Catherine Pugh has picked another finalist from her fraught search process: New Orleans Police Superintendent Michael Harrison.
Fort Worth Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald has withdrawn his name from consideration to become Baltimore police commissioner, the Fort Worth Police Department tweeted this morning.
