I guess we can forgive Gregg L. Bernstein for anticipating a packed audience for his ceremonial swearing-in on Tuesday as the city's new state's attorney -- the official one was Monday. He scanned the audience inside the grand ceremonial courtroom at the Mitchell Courthouse and proclaimed:
"What a crowd!"
It wasn't an impromptu remark. When we got a text of his speech, we discovered the crowd line had been scripted in. But it turned out to be correct -- he did play to a packed audience -- and that seems to befit the high expectations that with Bernstein the top prosecutor and Frederick H. Bealefeld III the top cop, something will change for the better in Baltimore.
(Bernstein is shown at left with his wife, Sheryl Goldstein, announcing his election victory. The picture is by The Sun's Lloyd Fox).
No doubt police and prosecutors will cooperate more and agree on a crime fighting strategy. Bernstein spent hours in a patrol car with Bealefeld in the opening hours of New Year's and saw first-hand how the city is policed. Bealefeld supported Bernstein from the start, and during the ride he called the prosecutor "the new sheriff in town."
In his remarks Tuesday, Bernstein said:
Bernstein's complete remarks are here:
Chief Judge Welch, Administrative Judge Holland, Chief Judge Bell, Members of the Circuit Court and District Court for Baltimore City.
And a special welcome to Judge Shirley Watts who, for those who don't know, had the honor last week of receiving news from the Governor that she has been appointed to fill the seat vacated by Judge Arrie Davis on the Court of Special Appeals. Judge Watts, I know I speak for everyone when I extend my congratulations on this great achievement in your illustrious career.
Members of the Maryland Appellate Court and Federal Court who are here today. And again, I must single out one judge in particular, Judge James Bredar, who was able to celebrate the holidays with news that the United States Senate recently confirmed his appointment by President Obama to become the next United States District Judge for the District of Maryland where he will join another recent appointment, an alumnus of this bench and the Court of Special Appeals, the Honorable Ellen Hollander, who also was confirmed as a United States District Judge
Congressmen Cummings, Sarbanes, Ruppersburger Mayor Rawlings-Blake, Police Commissioner Bealefeld, Thank you both for being here.
My family: My wife, Sheryl; Sheryl's parents, Sy and Ann Goldstein; my sons, Andrew and Owen; my mother, Sara Bernstein, and my sister, Nancy. Friends and Colleagues, both old, and new.
What a crowd!
I am deeply honored to be joined today by such a distinguished assembly. This is quite a collection of talented, committed and accomplished people, and I am humbled by your attendance and well-wishes. More importantly, I think it speaks profoundly to the notion that this is an important day for the City of Baltimore, and one where, hopefully, together, we can start on the road to making our great city a safer place to live, work and play.
I want to thank the citizens of Baltimore for this tremendous honor in electing me to the office of State's Attorney for Baltimore City. I am humbled and I will do my best to fulfill their trust and confidence every day that I serve.
I have a long list of people to thank who helped during the campaign. And each one, in their own special way, played a vitally important and integral part in the reason why I am honored and fortunate to stand before all of you today as State's Attorney. I would be doing a disservice to those who helped me along the way if I tried to name you all, but in the process, left someone out who was equally significant, so I will simply say thank you to all of you for your help, your encouragement and your belief that we could make this happen.
There is one person, however, that I would like to recognize. My wife, Sheryl. Thank you Sheryl for all you have done for me to help me along the way to this day. I truly could not have done this without you. Those of you who know Sheryl are well aware how true those words are.
I want to thank all the members of the Baltimore City Circuit Court for permitting me to conduct this ceremony in your courtroom, for although we share the same roof where our respective offices are located, I am mindful that whenever I, or any of my assistants, appear in your courtrooms, it is you who control the proceedings and have the last word, and I pledge my utmost respect to each of you in the performance of my duties as State's Attorney.
Judge Holland, in particular, as the Administrative Judge, I know that you have the added burden of making sure the trains all run on time. It is an often thankless job that you do so very, very well, and I promise not to make it any more difficult, but instead, work with you and the Court to find ways to improve the administration of justice for the citizens of Baltimore.
And I also want to thank Chief Judge Welch for the time and care he invested to make this ceremony worthy of our city and citizens … and memorable for my family and me. I am also honored and thankful to be joined by five extraordinary individuals who preceded me as State's Attorney: Judge Charles Moylan (1964-70); Howard Cardin (1970-71); William Swisher (1975-83); Dean Kurt Schmoke (1983-87); Stuart Simms (1987-95). You have set the bar very high, and I will work every day to uphold your high standard of integrity I also want to recognize my immediate predecessor, Patricia Jessamy, who could not be here with us today because she is spending time on a much deserved vacation with her family.
It is no secret that Mrs. Jessamy and I occasionally disagreed during the campaign about the nature and role of the State's Attorney's Office. But those disagreements always were professional, not personal, and we both share a reverence for the office and our dedication to its quality. I wish to recognize her today for her many accomplishments during her long tenure. Her commitment to our city and citizens is undeniable and admirable. And I thank her for her courtesy and assistance during these transition weeks and wish her great success on her future endeavors.
And finally, a special thanks to Judge Bothe, my former partners, Jerry Martin and Marty Himeles, and my good friend, Warren Brown, for their kind and generous remarks, and for staying within the time limits so I can maintain my credibility with Judge Welch who I promised that we would all be brief.
It is my sincere hope that today's ceremony with this extraordinary display of unity will mark the beginning of a new era for our justice system; an era marked by a renewed spirit of cooperation and by results and outcomes that make Baltimore a safer and more just city for all.
And that cooperation includes working with the defense bar and the office of the public defender, and I would like to acknowledge the presence of the District Public Defender for Baltimore City, Elizabeth Julian, who is here today, and who I pledge to work with in the years ahead to improve our system of justice.
Despite great strides in the last few years, Baltimore continues to suffer from too
much violence committed by a small minority of people who, despite previous best
efforts, remain on the streets. We must change the way we do business so that we can
successfully target, prosecute, and convict the violent offenders who continue to harm our
neighbors and neighborhoods.
The season for promises, however, is over, and the time for performance and
action is about to begin. I intend to take three immediate steps to begin our challenging
work together to make Baltimore a safer city. First, we will aggressively prosecute violent offenders who, sadly, more often than not, are repeat offenders. We will redesign the State's Attorney's Office and refocus its resources in a strategic way to pursue with relentless rigor and reason these
repeat violent offenders who prey on our citizens. I also pledge to forge and maintain
better and stronger relationships with all members of the law enforcement community.
Goal two is to ensure that we get the most out of the resources we have and operate the State's Attorney's Office like a top-notch law firm. This will require improved training, as well as top of the line recruitment and hiring practices. I will hire a training coordinator who will develop and implement a comprehensive training program to help all of our prosecutors new and seasoned alike to maximize their effectiveness in both the investigation of cases and their performance in the courtroom. At the same time, we will seek to recruit and hire the best and brightest new attorneys to join our office in the fight against crime.
My third goal is to better incorporate and harness the power of modern technology. With new technological tools, our lawyers and staff can be more productive and better serve the city. We will also use technology to track case outcomes to better understand patterns of criminal behavior, and to share timely, relevant information with the public, and to be accountable to ourselves and to you. We are accountable to every citizen of this city, and we must do all that we can to keep them informed about what we are and are not doing in every neighborhood.
Thus far, I have focused on what we will do. I'd like to take a moment to discuss what we will not do. We will not treat all crimes, and those who are accused, alike. We will continue to take advantage of existing programs and alternatives to incarceration, and look for new methods to partner with the public, private and faith-based organizations that treat and rehabilitate individuals whose behavior may be the result of severe drug addiction or poverty. I will work with organizations that help to put people back on the path to healthier lives, more stable families, and good-paying jobs and achieve the best possible outcomes for all involved.
Finally, we will not point fingers and cast blame on others. We will make mistakes—everyone does—but if we make a mistake, we will accept responsibility, learn from our error, and pledge to do better next time.
My plan represents a change in the way we do business. But what has not changed is the need for qualified and dedicated lawyers. In the final analysis, it is the ability and spirit of the men and women who are Assistant State's Attorneys who have made the office what it is, and who will take it to the next level, and make it what I believe it can be.
Lawyers who are scholars and know the uses of solitary research to help win their cases. Lawyers who are advocates, strong and forceful, who relish the combat of the courtroom, and who live for the chance to answer the call, "Who shall speak for the State?" Lawyers who are investigators, who are sharp and skeptical, who know that human skullduggery is limited only by the human mind, but who have the balance and self-confidence to say there is no case to proceed when that is where the evidence leads.
Lastly and the most important qualification of all—a zeal for public service. I want to attract to the service of this great office, men and women who come to the Bar with idealism as well as common sense, who believe that the law can serve the public and serve it well, who know that the rule of law is only as strong as the protection it gives to the weak. For these lawyers, their reward will not be high income or prerequisites of office, but something more profound.
It will be the matchless excitement of being part of a great enterprise. It is the spirit sometimes found among team mates on the playing field; among the cast of a play; among those bound in a common venture. I have seen this spirit before in public law offices. It is the spirit that for the public lawyer motivates us to serve and help prove the truth of Oliver Wendell Holmes' words that it is indeed possible to live greatly in the law.
There have been and there are now lawyers in the State's Attorney's Office who possess these qualities. I want to build on that base. The State's Attorney's office is one of the largest law offices in the State. I intend to make it to be the best.
I ask for your help and prayers as we embark on this great task. The road ahead will be difficult as we seek to accomplish these goals, and there certainly will be ups and downs, good days and bad. But I am convinced that working together, we can truly make a difference and improve the quality of life of all our citizens and make Baltimore a safer place to live. I pledge to you that I will devote all my skills and energy to make this happen, and I will ask that all my prosecutors do the same, and that we not rest until we achieve what we have set out to accomplish.
Thank you.