The commander of the Baltimore City Police Department?s Northern District has been relieved of his duties, apparently over rising crime in his district.
According to police department spokesman Troy Harris, Maj. Stephen Lukasik was reassigned to the property division at police department headquarters “at the commissioner?s discretion.” Harris would not comment on the reasons for the reassignment.
The move upset a key community leader in the area and City Council Member Kenneth Harris, D-District 4, whose district includes the Northern Police Command. Both said Lukasik was unfairly blamed for rising crime in the area.
“I think he?s been scapegoated,” said William Miller, chief executive officer of Greater Homewood Community Corporation and a resident of the area.
“We?re 55 officers short in our district, and he worked day and night, and was responsive as he possibly could be,” he said.
Harris said Lukasik was doing a good job. “He busted his butt to do the best job he could do with the limited resources he had,” he said.
Harris said Lukasik did not have the staffing to adequately fight crime and cited the recent reassignment of patrol officers from the Northern District to other areas.
“The fact is, we?re short officers, so whoever is replacing him is going to be dealing with the same challenges with limited tools and resources,” Harris said.
Harris, who recently proposed disbanding specialized units and reassigning officers to regular patrol duty, is worried that Lukasik?s dismissal does not bode well for summer. “We?re 10 murders ahead of last year, and it?s just getting warm,” he said.
Miller worries that the underlying problem ? a chronic shortage of officers ? is not being addressed.
