Mayor Sheila Dixon said yesterday that she replaced her unpopular police commissioner because she "wasn't feeling that drive like I wanted to" and said she was impressed with the way his interim replacement, Frederick H. Bealefeld III, peppered colleagues with engaging and challenging questions during crime meetings.
In an interview hours after she formally announced she had asked Leonard D. Hamm to resign amid plunging support and soaring numbers of homicides and shootings, Dixon confirmed long-standing claims from officers and their union that Bealefeld has effectively been running the department for months.
For this reason, the mayor said Bealefeld's appointment would not signal a change in the strategy to fight crime. But his style could reinvigorate a department struggling with what Dixon called an "out-of-control" murder rate.
"People have no respect for other human beings' lives, and we have to hit it at all ends," Dixon said. So far this year, 178 people have been killed in Baltimore, up from 149 last year at this time. This year, 423 people have been shot - 108 more than at the same time last year.
Dixon said that she did not blame Hamm for the city's crime problem but felt that he did not display the appropriate amount of "creativity" necessary to attack the problem.
"I wasn't seeing the results I wanted to see," she said, adding that she'd been considering replacing him for several weeks.
Dixon said Hamm was surprised when she asked for his resignation, but said, "Good luck."
Hamm, who was scheduled to be at yesterday's morning news conference, was out of town and could not be reached.
Bealefeld, at a morning news conference, said the job will be difficult. "We will make this city safe," he said. "The people of this city have high expectations of their leaders in the Police Department, and they should. I don't take it lightly. The citizens demand action, and the mayor expects results."
To find a permanent replacement, Dixon is creating a national search committee - though Bealefeld expressed interest yesterday in holding on to the top job.
The committee will include Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy, who has been an outspoken critic of the Police Department. Jessamy's office sent out a statement yesterday saying that she was "energized" and "optimistic" about helping with the search.
"In a period of almost eight years, the former mayor never sought my input on any crime strategy or plan, technology or legislation that would help reduce crime in Baltimore," the statement said. "It is a refreshing and welcome change that Mayor Dixon sees the importance of such a collaboration."
Dixon said to expect more changes in the Police Department's leadership in coming days. She would not specify which or how many commanders could lose their jobs - though many believe that the unpopular head of patrol, Col. Deborah A. Owens, will be moved. Dixon said she does not expect to name a new chief before the Sept. 11 primary.
Dixon said Bealefeld will remain committed to her philosophy of targeting the worst offenders rather than the zero-tolerance crime strategy favored by former Mayor Martin O'Malley, who is now the governor.
At an interview yesterday, Bealefeld said he expects to run the department without interference from City Hall and will focus on initiatives to track illegal gun offenders and craft tougher legislation for gun crimes.
He said he wants to see his officers on the street "engaging gangbangers, not sitting in their cruisers" and talked up a new gun initiative, noting that the department has seized about 2,000 guns this year - 200 more than last year for the same period.
When the mayor unveiled the plan in April, Bealefeld spoke passionately in support of it. Since he became deputy commissioner in February, he has frequently spoken at news conferences and is comfortable in front of news cameras and conducting interviews.
At the weekly Comstat session yesterday, where top police commanders gather to review statistics and draft enforcement tactics, Bealefeld said he told them that they have a chance to motivate the rank-and-file officers who work for them.
"I asked them, 'What would they be willing to do to make this city safer? This Police Department better?' " Bealefeld said. "People are getting shot and killed here."
"We're in a pinch here," Bealefeld said in the interview. "This sense of urgency we talk about - that's not a cliche. That's got to be our mantra."
Dixon praised Bealefeld's style yesterday. "I've seen him in action and been impressed," she said. "You watch how he dialogues and analyzes [problems] and says, 'OK, what are we going to do differently the next time?' "
Paul Blair, the president of the police union, said he will "wait and see" how the interim commissioner handles his position and would not comment on previous interaction with Bealefeld during contract talks.
"It could be a whole new attitude," Blair said. "It could be back to treating the officers with respect and supporting the men and the women when they do something controversial."
Some commanders said that the coming shake-up has deepened insecurity and confusion about what is expected of them. One veteran police supervisor, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the officer was not authorized to talk to the news media, said commanders are wondering about their futures at the department.
"It's just a wait and see," the officer said. "If the deputy [Bealefeld] was running it before, and Hamm was just there, and now Hamm's gone - what's really changed? But Bealefeld is a well-liked person."
Sheldon Greenberg, director of the Johns Hopkins University's Division of Public Safety Leadership, said: "How can you do your work when your bosses are being changed almost as often as your underwear?"
He added: "The leaders in the positions haven't been there long enough to keep their feet on the ground. They're sweating bullets."
Bealefeld said he recognizes that his commanders might be feeling some uncertainty. But he said they are professional, and he's confident that they will get his message "to the troops."
Col. Terrence Sheridan, the head of the Maryland Sate Police, said successful programs last through many police chiefs. "The new bosses come in, but they don't change the things that work," he said. "These programs stay though administrations because they bring down crime."
Sheridan listed several initiatives that have passed from one administration to the next unscathed, including the warrant apprehension task force, the vehicle theft task force and the bank robbery task force.
Howard County Police Chief William McMahon said that his force has had two police chiefs in the past 18 years. "It is tough to get continuity to solve problems when leadership changes," McMahon said.
"I think in any organization that a continual change of leadership could pose a problem from consistency solving any problem."
The Rev. Dennis V. Procter, the pastor of the Pennsylvania Avenue A.M.E. Zion Church, said that Hamm never hit his stride as police commissioner. "I think he was trying to get his feet under him," Procter said. "He knew policing; he knew the police Department. How to change it was a mystery to him."
But Procter said there are systemic and cultural reasons for the city's increase in crime that go beyond Hamm's leadership. "There is a lot of distrust in the community," Procter said. "We want to make sure that Hamm is not the poster child for what is wrong in the city. He is one part of a larger problem."
gus.sentementes@baltsun.com annie.linskey@baltsun.com
What's next
A nationwide search will begin to find a new city police commissioner, but Mayor Sheila Dixon (above left) said she did not expect to have one named before the Sept. 11 mayoral primary
Dixon said to expect more changes in the Police Department's leadership in the coming days
The interim police commissioner, Frederick H. Bealefeld III (above, right), said he would aggressively target violent criminals and gangs believed to be a leading contributor to the city's homicide rate. He said he would continue to implement Dixon's crime-fighting plan.