Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison pledged to serve as officers’ “strongest advocate,” but asks them to be “proactive,” in a video introducing himself to the department’s rank-and-file.
“I want to take a few minutes to say how proud and excited I am to join you at the Baltimore police department,” he said in the 5-minute-long video.
Harrison, who was sworn in as the department’s 41st commissioner Tuesday, made the video in his first week on the job last month. It was released internally the last week of February, and is among Harrison’s outreach efforts during his few weeks in the job when he’s met with residents across the city’s nine police districts.
“As commissioner, I will be the strongest advocate for the members of this department, making sure you have the resources you need to be successful. Because if you succeed, the city succeeds. As a resident now, I want nothing more,” he said. Harrison said he would work with Mayor Catherine Pugh, the City Council, philanthropies and corporations to get the department get necessary resources, as well as additional training “to ease your workload and allow you to do a better job.”
Harrison said he wants to better utilize technology and scientific analysis to help aid in deployment — “where to be, when we need to be there and who we should be focused on.”
The commissioner also told rank-and-file officers he hopes to help them move up the ranks into leadership positions.
He also discussed the consent decree, which mandates widespread policing reforms over the next several years.
“Implementing the consent is obviously a big part of what we will be doing over the next few years,” he said. But Harrison told officers he doesn’t want to “just satisfy the mandates of the consent decree, but to change the culture in a positive way and ultimately make us the best police department in America.”
While some critics have said the reforms have drawn attention and resources away from lowering crime, Harrison said achieving both goals of compliance with reforms and lowering crime are possible.
“The consent decree will not make us soft on crime. The consent decree only ensures we do our job in a constitutional way. Hear me when I say this, I want you to be proactive. When you see laws being broken, take the appropriate actions,” he said.
Officers should be “tough on crime, soft on people,” he said.
He urged officers to continue to make and improve relationships, but noted the challenges that come with change.
“I’m well aware that changes like I’m talking about isn’t easy but trust me when I say it can be done. I’ve seen it for myself,” he said. He spoke of how the New Orleans Police Department, where he previously worked for 28 years, struggled with similar issues as Baltimore but have come out a much stronger department.
“Over time, by staying focused … we changed the way the public saw us and the way we saw ourselves. It worked,” Harrison said.
“I know what it feels like to work in a once proud department that’s going through difficult times,” he said. “I also know what it’s like to come out of those difficult times, and together we will here in Baltimore, maybe sooner than you think.”