Three hundred murders per year used to be the norm. It?s not anymore. Murders are down, way down ? on pace to be about 200 this year. Violent crime is also down, and the city?s ranking on the FBI?s list of most dangerous large cities dropped one notch to third place.
These results bring relief, if not a reason to celebrate. And they are solid reasons Baltimore City Council members should extend Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld?s one-year tenure for another six. The Executive Appointments Committee can start the process by voting for his return today when it meets, and by sending his reappointment to a vote of the full council on July 21.
Aside from presiding over a drop in murders and violent crime, Bealefeld restored a sense of direction to a department rudderless from frequent turnover at the top.
As Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein said, this year?s decline in violent crime is “tremendous,” and he credits Bealefeld?s strategy of targeting and removing from the streets the most dangerous criminals.
Statistics tell only part of the story. Community members are behind him, too. As Melissa Techentin, president of the Southeastern District Police Community Relations Council, wrote on his behalf: “The Commissioner will be the first one to tell people that he does not have all of the answers; he does not have the magic ?Silver Bullet? that will take away all of our problems. But what he does have is a deep dedication to the people of our city and to the members of his department.”
Bealefeld is not without flaws. He, like his predecessors, wildly underestimates the force?s overtime costs ? and how much actual law enforcement taxpayers get for our money. He should encourage more officers and top brass to live ? and pay taxes ? in the city. And Baltimore is far from safe, as the two murders in Federal Hill over the weekend show.
Despite this, under Bealefeld the trend appears to be toward greater safety overall.
This is not criticism of Kevin Clark, the commissioner fired illegallyin 2004. But a city judge was right to rule his reinstatement would bring “chaos.”
The last thing the department needs is to switch leaders yet again just as policies start to prove their worth in a city where the cancer of public corruption is just now being turned up into the light. Council members, show Commissioner Bealefeld we appreciate his work, and provide continuity Baltimore needs in law enforcement. Reappoint him for the next six-year term.
