Hamm rates low in poll

The Baltimore Sun

With the city on pace to reach 300 homicides this year, only one in four residents say Police Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm is an effective leader, according to a new poll conducted for The Sun.

Nearly 40 percent say Hamm, who has been on the job for 2 1/2 years, is an ineffective police chief.

"How can I describe Hamm? He is untrustworthy," said Jeanette Ishway, a 64-year-old resident of Old Town who was interviewed for the poll. "He and [Mayor] Sheila [Dixon] got their heads together, and the murder rate is rising. I don't like him."

Yet more than a third of those contacted for the poll - 35 percent - don't know how to judge the city's top police officer.

The poll of 601 likely Democratic primary voters was conducted July 8 to July 10 for The Sun by the independent, nonpartisan firm OpinionWorks of Annapolis. It has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Voters' divided responses reflect the disparate assessments of Hamm by the field of eight mayoral candidates.

Both City Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. and Del. Jill P. Carter have said that Hamm should resign, while Dixon has said she continues to evaluate the commissioner. Other mayoral candidates - including Andrey Bundley and Circuit Court Clerk Frank M. Conaway Sr. - have said it's too early to call for Hamm's ouster, promising to assess his performance if elected.

In addition to the surge in homicides and shootings, the commissioner has drawn sharp political criticism for how he handled the departure of the city's deputy commissioner, Marcus L. Brown, in January. Brown left to become chief of the Maryland Transportation Authority police, and Hamm helped ensure that Brown received an early pension.

Michael Crabtree Nutt, a poll respondent, said he isn't that familiar with Hamm but doesn't believe the commissioner's actions have made a difference.

"I truthfully haven't seen that much about Commissioner Hamm personally, and I have not noticed that the police were being terribly effective," the 40-year-old Mount Vernon resident said. "I'm not sure how much of that was him or passed on from up above. But he also has a responsibility to make sure effective policies and procedures do get put in place."

Sharon L. Cook, 51, who lives in Overlea, also said she didn't know anything about Hamm but is familiar with a recent short-lived attempt to force homicide detectives to walk some foot patrols to boost police presence on the streets. That policy was reversed last month after a two-week run.

Minnie L. Sterling, 70, a Gwynn Oak resident, gives Hamm the benefit of the doubt.

"I don't think he's doing a great job, but he's doing his best," she said.

nia.henderson@baltsun.com

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