BALTIMORE_Baltimore entered a new policing era Monday night when the City Council confirmed a new police commissioner.
Michael Harrison, the city's first permanent police commissioner in 10 months, received unanimous support from the council. He has a complex mission _ to drive down historically high rates of violent crime while reforming a dysfunctional department _ and a significant amount of power with which to reach those goals.
Harrison, 49, will make $275,000 in his first year. He has been acting commissioner since Feb. 11.
Legal and law enforcement observers say that with final confirmation of his nomination, Harrison has the leeway to enact his agenda. For example, he can bring in a new command staff or change how police officers are deployed.
Chuck Wexler is the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a think tank that helped Mayor Catherine Pugh recruit Harrison. Wexler said Harrison has been listening to people since he arrived in Baltimore. Now, he will begin to act.
"The first part is assessing your team: what is the command staff of the Baltimore Police Department? And what are its strengths and weaknesses?" Wexler said. "Going forward as a confirmed commissioner simply will allow him to make the changes as they are needed."
Harrison did not attend the vote Monday night.
"I expect a long and productive relationship with the City Council and am looking forward to working together to achieve our goals of reforming the Baltimore Police Department, reducing crime and rebuilding trust with the community," he said in a statement.
Harrison has said he is excited to start pushing through the reforms as outlined in the city's consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice, as he did with a consent decree he oversaw as the superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department before coming to Baltimore.
And, he is eager to begin shaping a command staff that will be able to implement those reforms and attack crime simultaneously, he has said.
"There is talent within, but it will be a combination of bringing some dynamic folks from wherever they may exist to the team, and create this collaborative team of people from within and people who will join us to reform the department," Harrison said in a recent interview.
Jonathan Smith, chief of special litigation in the Justice Department's civil rights division under the Obama administration, said that is the right attitude. Smith said it's important for Harrison to see himself as a leader in the consent decree process.
Smith said it is also critical that rank-and-file officers see Harrison as committed to the work _ and that it is good Harrison has said he is here to stay.
"If they think he's a short-timer, or they think he's going to be undermined by the politicos, which has happened before in Baltimore, or by the union, then officers won't embrace the reforms in the same way," Smith said.
Sgt. Michael Mancuso, president of the police union, said Monday that he is "cautiously optimistic at best" about Harrison's appointment because of the extent of the problems he inherits. They include the consent decree, a lawsuit against the city over pensions and the continued loss of officers from an understaffed department.
"The recruitment and retention issue is very important," Mancuso said. "He will have little success with the current staffing levels where they are." He said patrol is "dangerously short and overworked," while detectives have huge caseloads.
Monday's vote brought to an end a 10-month process to fill the position.
The previous permanent commissioner, Darryl De Sousa, resigned because he faced three federal tax charges, to which he pleaded guilty.
Pugh named Fort Worth, Texas, police chief, Joel Fitzgerald as his replacement. But council members and members of the public expressed concerns about his qualifications, resume and how was selected, and Fitzgerald dropped out of the running because of one of his children had a serious health problem.
Interim Commissioner Gary Tuggle, who stepped into lead the department after De Sousa resigned, expressed interest in taking the job permanently, but later withdrew.
A panel of outside experts advising Pugh in the hiring process after De Sousa's departure identified Harrison as a top candidate. However, Harrison and Pugh said he had not applied for the job.
Later, as Fitzgerald's nomination fell apart, City Solicitor Andre Davis called Harrison and pushed him to consider the post. When Pugh called and offered him the job, Harrison said, he accepted _ describing his coming to Baltimore as a "calling."
Since his arrival in Baltimore a month ago, Harrison has attended town hall meetings in each of the city's nine police districts. By the time he reached a vote Wednesday by the council's executive appointments committee, he had built enough support for his nomination for it to be approved on a 5-0 vote.
City Councilman Brandon Scott, chairman of the public safety committee and the only council member to explain his vote Monday, said Harrison "understands that crime fighting and reforms go hand in hand."
Pugh said in a statement that she was "delighted" the council shared her view that Harrison is "the right person, at the right time and in the right place to remake the Baltimore Police Department and restore community trust."
"We have much work yet to accomplish, but have in Commissioner Harrison a seasoned partner who regards this work as both an opportunity and a privilege," she said. "I ask all of Baltimore to work with us in creating the safer city we desire and deserve."
Harrison will be sworn in Tuesday at City Hall, Pugh's office said.
