A local nonprofit vice president who has held posts with the mayor’s office and the national Police Executive Research Forum is aiding Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison as he evaluates needs within the department.
Sheryl Goldstein, vice president of the Abell Foundation, is helping Harrison “assess the department’s structure and capacity,” police spokesman Matt Jablow said.
Harrison is in the process of interviewing all command staff to evaluate the department’s needs, he said. Goldstein and James Gillis, the police department’s current chief of staff, are helping to arrange the interviews, Jablow said.
Harrison has said he is bringing Eric Melancon, the deputy chief of staff in the New Orleans, to serve as his chief of staff in Baltimore. Harrison has said Gillis will remain in a senior-level position within the department.
Goldstein and Harrison were connected by the Police Executive Research Forum, in which Goldstein has held several posts and Harrison is a member.
The forum previously helped Mayor Catherine Pugh attract candidates for the police commissioner job before she named Harrison as her choice in January.
Goldstein previously served as director of the Mayor’s Office on Criminal Justice in Baltimore from 2007 through 2012, under Mayor Sheila Dixon and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. She worked closely with then-Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III.
Goldstein is also married to Gregg L. Bernstein, the former Baltimore state's attorney.
She did not return a call for comment Friday afternoon.