Fresh from a hitch in the Army in 1965, Joseph S. Johnson had the notion he wanted to be a police officer. But he couldn't go home to Annapolis. At the time black officers couldn't ride in patrol cars or walk beats in white neighborhoods.
Now, he is running the department, the first African-American to do so.
He has been acting chief since the previous chief, Harold Robbins, resigned in April. Last Monday, the Annapolis City Council unanimously approved his selection as permanent chief.
He will be officially sworn in at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, during a ceremony in the City Council chambers in City Hall.
"It goes to show the changes that can occur in 30 years," he said in an interview. "Now I command everything."
Chief Johnson has taken over a department of 120 officers that for years has been troubled with charges of racism and low morale. His arrival has been greeted with optimism by many.
"He's a refreshing change," said James Lowthers, the secretary-treasurer of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400, which represents the city's police officers.
"He's a good communicator and concerned about his officers," Mr. Lowthers said.
"He's boosted morale. Complaints of racist and sexist policies are almost nonexistent," said Alderman Carl O. Snowden of Ward 5. "I think he's done an excellent job . . . and I believe that sentiment is universal."
Even the officers in the department seem pleased with their new boss. Detective Brenda Leigh Higgs, a 15-year veteran, called Chief Johnson "a policeman's policeman" who "hasn't forgotten what it's like to be a policeman on the street."
"This chief listens to everybody and talks to everybody," added Lt. William Powell, a 22-year veteran whom Colonel Johnson recently promoted to command the patrol division. "He comes out of the office and mingles with people."
Officer Edward Mackiewicz, who has served under six chiefs in 19 years, said, "Johnson will speak to you. Robbins would walk right by you."
A least once a week, Chief Johnson tours the city with Major Norman Randall, a 32-year veteran of the force.
One recent day, they drove through the Clay Street community, once the hub of African-American business and entertainment life in Annapolis, but now a low-income, high unemployment area noted for its crime and drug problem.
People who recognize the men in the unmarked car smile and wave. Some just stand sullenly on street corners. Chief Johnson sees them as visible symptoms of unemployment and the drug traffic.
"These folk ain't waiting to go to work on the evening shift," he said.
L The residents seem split in their reaction to the new chief.
Deborah Johnson, 40, said she feels the department's relations with the black community have declined since he took over.
But she acknowledges she has an "attitude about the way police deal with people."
Gretchen Matthews, 43, said police and community relations have improved "a lot," but added that the chief "should come around and talk to the people more."
Chief Johnson started his police career as an undercover narcotics officer in Washington, which led to his most frightening experience as a police officer.
"I had no partner and no radio. Back then, undercover cops were on their own. I went into one housing development and somehow my cover got blown. A guy who opened a door stuck a pistol in my face. I can remember tearing that door off the hinge, trying to get out of that apartment building."
In 1967, he joined the Baltimore Police Department, moving up the ranks until he became commander of the patrol division's 1,800 officers in 1990.
That year, an ad in Police Chief magazine caught his eye. Annapolis was looking for a police chief.
He was one of five finalists, but lost to Harold Robbins, who, a year later, asked him to become assistant chief of police.
"Harold was someone I respected and could work for," Chief Johnson said. Taking the job was "sort of a homecoming for me."
To run the department in a city of stark contrasts between rich and poor, he must strike "a delicate balance," Mr. Johnson said.
Because Annapolis has a large amount of public housing, the Police Department has detailed a unit of 10 officers and one supervisor to spend 80 percent of its time in the projects, reducing the level of coverage in the neighborhoods of restored 18th-century homes.
"But we rarely get beat on by the elite community about the imbalance in policing," Chief Johnson said.
Sitting in his office, the chief is a commanding figure. His blue pants are freshly pressed, the shoes shined to perfection. His shirt is impeccably white with two silver eagles -- denoting his rank of colonel -- pinned in perfect military style to his lapels.
His closed-cropped hair is specked with gray that -- along with the slight paunch around his 5 feet, 9 inch, 210 pound frame -- is the only sign of his 51 years.
His greatest challenge is increasing the number of black men on the force, he said. In a recent pool of 300 applicants, only 20 were black. Most of the men were eliminated after failing either the written test or background checks and two black women eventually were hired.
The city doesn't get more black applicants because "Baltimore and Washington recruit like hell in this community," the chief said. His department is trying to hire more black officers from other jurisdictions while trying to sell Annapolis as a good place to work. "We have a hell of a lot to offer," he boasted.
And he wants to start a youth corps or youth service program so the department will have a pool of black men from which it can select qualified candidates. Although he has been in police work for nearly 30 years, Chief Johnson, who lives in Arnold with his wife, Margaret, 48, said he may be around Annapolis for some time.
"When I feel I can no longer contribute, I'll get out of the way," he said as he leaned back in the chair behind his desk. "No one will have to say, 'Hey, dinosaur, why don't you get out of the way.' "