Hamm resigns as police commissioner

Baltimore Police Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm took over the police department in November 2004 when former Mayor Martin O'Malley fired former police commissioner Kevin P. Clark. (Sun photo by Kim Hairston / July 12, 2007)

Baltimore Police Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm, hired to stabilize a department in turmoil but recently under fire as the city's homicide count soars, has resigned, sources close to the decision told The Sun Wednesday.

Mayor Sheila Dixon is expected to make the formal announcement at City Hall today.

The administration has been struggling to craft a response to the rise in homicides and shootings that have sapped police morale and become fodder for Dixon's rivals in this year's election.

Hamm resigned during a City Hall meeting with Dixon on Tuesday night after some in the administration felt that the public had lost confidence in him and that his tenure had become a distraction, sources said. Frederick H. Bealefeld III, the deputy commissioner of operations and a 26-year police veteran, is expected to serve as acting commissioner.

Spokesmen for the Dixon administration and the Police Department declined to comment. Hamm could not be reached Wednesday night. At an event outside the New Psalmist Church in West Baltimore Wednesday night, Dixon declined to comment or answer questions about who is in charge of the city's Police Department.

Hamm's departure not only leaves the city without a commissioner at a critical time -- when homicides threaten to reach the record-high rates of the 1990s -- but it will also become an issue in this year's Democratic primary, as Dixon faces a number of candidates seeking to exploit crime as her biggest vulnerability.

Dixon's leading opponent, City Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. -- who had called for Hamm's resignation weeks ago -- issued a statement Wednesday night criticizing his tenure, and several other mayoral candidates are planning events today to address the issue.

"The interim-mayor has been evaluating and deliberating on this for seven months at the peril of our citizens," Mitchell said. "Now Hamm is resigning, but the failure to lead begins with my opponent."

Hamm, 58, was named acting police commissioner by then- Mayor Martin O'Malley in November 2004 -- he was O'Malley's fourth commissioner in less than five years. The Cherry Hill native, who joined the police in 1974 and spent much of his time in the Central District, was seen as a home-grown leader who could bring stability to a demoralized department that had been embroiled in controversies with its previous two commissioners -- both of whom came to Baltimore from New York.

Hamm hewed to the zero-tolerance approach that O'Malley advocated for tackling crime in Baltimore's troubled neighborhoods, but critics and civil rights advocates blasted the department for making mass arrests. After O'Malley became governor, Hamm and Dixon -- arguing that the city "cannot arrest its way out of this problem" -- began talking about the Police Department's need to adopt a community policing approach to win back public trust in many neighborhoods.

Hamm and Dixon have come under increasing criticism in recent months, not only for the crime itself, but also for their response to it. Last year, Baltimore had 276 homicides, making it the second-deadliest large city in the country, behind Detroit, according to FBI crime statistics. This year, the city's homicide rate has worsened significantly, with police officials and other experts attributing at least some of the increase to a troubling rise in gang activities.

Since May 1, the city has averaged a homicide a day; it is on pace to record more than 300 murders for the first time since 1999. Also, roughly 100 more people so far this year have been victims of non-fatal shootings, a startling increase.

The transition from zero tolerance to an effort focused more on violent criminals -- combined with persistent understaffing -- has been difficult for many of the rank-and-file officers to cope with, officials said, further reducing morale in the department.

"If he leaves, he leaves," said Paul M. Blair Jr., the president of the city's police union. "He makes number eight in eight years. What does it do to the morale? Everyone will be juggling around. Look at the major police departments that have had chiefs for 12 years. They have stability. We haven't had that for a long time in this city."

During Hamm's tenure, total crime declined, though the city's most-watched indicator of violence -- the homicide rate -- did not improve. He encountered many of the same problems as his predecessors: rampant drug dealing, an overburdened court system, poor relations between various city and state agencies involved in administering the city's criminal justice system.

There have also been a number of embarrassing policy reversals on crime. Earlier this summer, for instance, the Dixon administration ordered the department to deploy foot patrols in some of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods -- part of an effort, officials said, to build trust between residents and police. Short on staffing and overtime money, top police officials had to take roughly 85 detectives off of homicide cases and other investigations to walk the beat.

But two weeks later, under mounting pressure and criticism from within police ranks as homicides soared, Hamm and Beale feld decided that homicide detectives would be excused from foot patrols.

Suggesting that her message was not getting through to officers, Dixon held an unusual closed-door meeting in June with roughly 500 city police who were ordered to attend.

As the city negotiated its budget this spring, Dixon promised to curb police overtime -- repeatedly saying that the department didn't have "a blank check." And while overtime was reduced, Dixon amended her position in May by arguing that the increase in crime necessitated spending more money.

Hamm also weathered criticism for several high-profile scandals and miscues, including police corruption cases involving his officers and, more recently, questions over his role in a generous pension package given to his former deputy police commissioner, Marcus L. Brown.

Related topic galleries: Sheila Dixon, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Primaries, Government, Martin O'Malley, Political Candidates, Elections

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