Ex-commissioner seeks lost job

Former police Commissioner Kevin P. Clark said yesterday he wanted to reclaim Baltimore's top law enforcement job until his contract officially expires in June, while also continuing to press his wrongful termination lawsuit against the city for his 2004 firing by then-Mayor Martin O'Malley.

At a news conference with his lawyers in Northwest Baltimore, Clark called his win in the state's highest court this week a "hollow victory" and said that he would fight to fix the damage done to his reputation and career.

When asked if his pursuit to get his job back and serve out the rest of his term as police commissioner would be good for Baltimore, Clark said: "It'd be good for me, you understand. My career stopped on that day."

"This is an opportunity to get back and get my professional career in law enforcement back on line," Clark continued. "I came in here with great credentials, and came into a situation that more or less ended my career in an embarrassing and humiliating way. I was removed illegally."

O'Malley recruited Clark from the New York Police Department, bringing him to Baltimore in February 2003 to continue an aggressive style of policing that began under the previous commissioner, Edward T. Norris.

The contract that Clark signed stipulated that the city could fire him for any reason. When a domestic violence allegation emerged against Clark, O'Malley supported him for several months and unsuccessfully tried to block the release of police reports connected to the investigation to the media.

Though the domestic violence allegation was deemed unfounded, O'Malley ultimately fired Clark, saying the controversy had become a distraction.

Clark, who still bristled yesterday about having been escorted from police headquarters by the SWAT team, said he wanted to finish out his six-year term as police commissioner, which would end June 30. But when asked what his crime-fighting plan would be, he said: "We'll see when I get there."

Clark's return to the city's top law enforcement job is unlikely, city officials said.

"It's a legal decision that puts us in a position where we have to litigate this further," said Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for the city Police Department and for Mayor Sheila Dixon. When asked if the Police Department would be preparing for Clark's return, Clifford said: "I would not say that. No."

Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III, who took over the department last year and who has presided over a 41 percent decrease in homicides so far this year, said yesterday he couldn't comment on Clark's efforts to get his job back. Through yesterday, the city has had 38 homicides, compared with 64 homicides for the same period last year, police statistics show.

"This is a situation for courts and lawyers to decide," Bealefeld said. "I and members of the Police Department are just going to remain focused on the crime fight. That's what we do."

Attorneys for Clark said they would move ahead with his civil lawsuit against the city and said they were interested in beginning the discovery process - which typically entails requests for documents and depositions of key witnesses in the case. Neal Janey, one of Clark's attorneys, said the former commissioner would seek to get testimony from O'Malley, who is now governor, and other officials connected to O'Malley's mayoral administration.

On Thursday, the Maryland Court of Appeals - the state's highest court - ruled in Clark's $120 million civil lawsuit that the city had the authority to appoint a commissioner but not fire one, except under specific circumstances. The reason for the split authority is a century-old law making the city force technically part of state government.

Clark's lawyers stressed that they are still seeking financial reparations.

"The liability has been decided," said A. Dwight Pettit. "The court has said, 'You acted illegally.' The only thing now is the compensation and damages to make him whole."

Clark wore a suit to the news conference, which was held in Pettit's Northwest Baltimore offices. The three attorneys who sat with Clark answered most of the questions. They always referred to their client as "commissioner."

In a less formal discussion afterward, Clark talked about the difficulty he has had finding work.

"When someone Googles you and sees all those things that are written about you - extortion, terrorist, liar - it is pretty hard to get a job," he said.

He initially became a consultant and worked the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant, a tough part of Brooklyn.

"I was working in some of the worst sections of Bed-Stuy. ... A one-man army, by myself, cleaning up drug corners and prostitution on my own," he said.

Later, Clark got a job with Elite Investigations, a security company based in New York. He is now a vice president there.

Clark said he is living in New York City with Blanca Gerena - the woman whose accusation of assault started the chain of events that led to his ouster.

Related topic galleries: Court Administration, Lawyers, Abusive Behavior, Martin O'Malley, Regional Authority, Law Enforcement, Sheila Dixon

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