michael harrison

Baltimore's new police commissioner needs a plan of action and to be left unfettered by City Hall.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison is clearly working to change the culture of the department, but he should also work to achieve balance by keeping some leadership around who have roots in the community.

Baltimore Police organizational chart under Commissioner Michael Harrison

Acting Deputy Baltimore Police Commissioner Melvin T.  Russell, a 40-year veteran of the force who leads community outreach efforts and was one of six finalists who interviewed last year for the top job, is leaving the department this week amid an organizational shake-up.

Joel Fitzgerald dropped out of consideration for Baltimore Police Commissioner in January. And now that he’s back to work in Texas, Fitzgerald is facing questions over his commitment to his current position, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is reporting.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison announced additional command staff and structural changes Monday.

A month into Michael Harrison’s tenure as commissioner of one of the country’s most challenged police departments, he’s reshaping it — looking nationally for top candidates and turning a critical eye to command staff.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison welcomed a new academy class of city police officers Friday.

Four people were shot near Druid Hill Park, police say, as a recent spate of gun violence in Baltimore stretches into Thursday.

After months of turnover at the Baltimore Police Department, recently appointed Commissioner Michael Harrison expressed his commitment to implementing reforms at a quarterly consent decree hearing. But much of the discussion was dominated by political turmoil involving Mayor Catherine Pugh.

The head of the Baltimore Police Department’s recruitment section has been suspended, a department spokesman said Friday.

Acting Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young is seeking to reassure residents, city employees and state elected officials, saying he will serve as “a stabilizing force” for Baltimore while Mayor Catherine Pugh is on leave. Pugh's attorney has confirmed the state prosecutor is investigating her.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said Tuesday that, amid the political upheaval at City Hall, he remains focused on the crime fight and on reforming the police department.

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.

The girlfriend of Kevin Mason, who died after an hourslong barricade with Baltimore police this week, says he did not possess a gun.

The head of the Baltimore Police department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which oversees internal affairs, has left the department, a police spokesman confirmed Tuesday.

A man was pronounced dead after an hours-long standoff with police inside a home in Northwest Baltimore, police said Monday.

Baltimore police Commissioner Michael Harrison said he is “troubled” by a video that appears to show an officer asleep in his patrol car.

In the early stages of her re-election bid, Baltimore Mayor Catherine E. Pugh has come under fire for revelations that while she sat on the board of the University of Maryland Medical System, the organization paid her $500,000 for children’s books she authored.

As part of the Baltimore Police Department’s restructuring under its new chief, Michael Harrison, Deputy Commissioner of Operations Andre Bonaparte is leaving the Department.

Baltimore’s spending board on Wednesday will consider a contract extension and pay raise — to $100,000 a year — for Tyrone Powers, a former FBI agent and consultant to Mayor Catherine Pugh who the city uses to help identify potential police hires.

The Baltimore Police Department is again expected to spend millions of dollars on overtime this year, but Commissioner Michael Harrison has pledged increased oversight to curb costs.

Baltimore Police said a man was found shot dead Monday inside a West Baltimore home — on the same block where an 18-year-old woman was killed in a triple shooting last week.

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.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison has recruited two more top officials from the New Orleans Police Department to join him in Baltimore — including its chief of consent decree compliance. 

Nichole George, of the 900 block of Seagull Ave., is charged with several counts of attempted first-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault and several handgun violations, according to police.

Former New Orleans Police Superintendent Michael Harrison was formally sworn in as Baltimore’s 41st Police Commissioner Tuesday morning.

Four people were injured in two separate shootings Monday night in West Baltimore.

Michael Harrison, Baltimore's first permanent police commissioner in 10 months, has received unanimous support from City Council. That means he's also launched on a complex mission: drive down historically high rates of violent crime while reforming a dysfunctional department.

Michael Harrison, who left the New Orleans department to become Baltimore’s next police commissioner, is again taking the challenge of leading a troubled department through expansive court-ordered reforms, while also dealing with a community largely distrustful of police.

Police say they've connected three men to at least 54 armed robberies in Baltimore City, at least 18 armed robberies in Baltimore County and at least four armed robberies in Anne Arundel County.

With all that's happened since Jacquelyn Smith was killed in December, it can be difficult to remember all the facts. Here's a timeline of events since her death in December.

Ganesha Martin, an attorney who spearheaded the Baltimore Police Department’s consent decree compliance efforts before quitting last year, has been rehired by the city to serve as Mayor Catherine Pugh’s top adviser on criminal justice issues.

Acting Police Commissioner Michael Harrison is almost certain to be confirmed on Monday, and he gives a weary Baltimore reason for cautious optimism.

The Baltimore City Council's executive appointments committee has approved Mayor Catherine Pugh's nomination of Michael Harrison as police commissioner. Harrison cleared what appeared to be his next-to-last hurdle with little opposition. He's a former New Orleans Police Department superintendent.

Retired Baltimore Police Sgt. Keith Gladstone has been indicted on federal civil rights and witness tampering charges related to a 2014 incident in which a BB gun was allegedly planted on a man.

Councilman Robert Stokes, chairman of a Baltimore City Council committee that will consider Michael Harrison's nomination as police commissioner, said he expects Harrison will easily garner the votes needed to move on to a final vote by the full council.

Acting Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison says that crime reductions will come as a result of policing reforms mandated under the city’s federal consent decree - but only indirectly, and not right away.

The husband and stepdaughter charged in the death of an Aberdeen woman who was fatally stabbed in Baltimore — which they initially said happened after she gave money to a panhandler — were arraigned in Texas on Monday, authorities said.

Commissioner Harrison can't improve police performance if the police get no support from city residents.

The widower and stepdaughter of a woman killed in an East Baltimore stabbing in December — an attack the man blamed on a panhandler his wife had just helped — have been arrested in her death. Baltimore police say they were trying to flee the U.S. and were arrested in Texas.

Baltimore's struggles with police officer recruitment are demoralizing and costly.

More than $1.5 million allocated nearly a year and a half ago to help resolve a backlog of background checks that Baltimore leaders have blamed for a recruitment bottleneck in the police department — and thus a shortage of officers on the streets — has gone unspent.

New police commissioner Michael Harrison will have a tough time recruiting new police officers.

A police advocacy group's effort to get the Trump administration to weaken Baltimore's police reform consent decree underscores the work the new police commissioner has to make it successful and get buy-in from the most important constituency — the cops.

Commissioner Harrison hasn't said anything inspiring so far but it's too early to tell.

The Baltimore police consent decree “does a tremendous amount of harm,” a law enforcement advocacy group said, and it is asking the Trump administration to modify reforms it calls too burdensome.

The Baltimore Police Department continues to work to bolster its training academy staff, and is requesting a three-week extension within the consent decree schedule to double its personnel.

Acting Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison told area business leaders Monday that he plans to increase the number of civilians within the department and improve technology, which he said would free up officers to respond to violence and other crimes.

Baltimore attorney Ivan Bates once represented Jason Hodge and Andre Haydel. On Friday, he learned the men were both killed in Baltimore’s latest wave of violence.