Former Baltimore City Police Commissioner Ed Norris wants a presidential pardon. He also wants his job back.
“I was born to be a cop,” he told The Examiner. “I?d go back tomorrow morning if I was able to.”
He pleaded guilty in 2004 to stealing between $10,000 to $30,000 of city taxpayer funds with his chief of staff and to lying on tax returns to hide the money. He used the funds to finance affairs with multiple women, purchasing gifts from Victoria?s Secret and paying for hotels and meals.
A judge sentenced him to six months in prison, three years of supervised release and 500 hours of community service. He needs a pardon to be able to work as an officer again.
What he did was wrong. But he could wear a halo compared to some other recipients of presidential pardons, including Marc Rich, pardoned by President Clinton in 2001. Rich fled to Switzerland in 1983 after a federal indictment for evading $48 million in taxes and running illegal oil deals with Iran during the hostage crisis.
And there is no doubt a zealous, politically motivated prosecutor who wanted to make Norris an example. The U.S. Justice Department reprimanded Norris? prosecutor, Maryland U.S. Attorney Thomas DiBiagio, for caring more about making “front-page” political indictments than enforcing the law.
Norris was the best top cop this city had in years. During his tenure, all major crime dropped.
The rank and file respected him. How couldn?t they? He made his own arrests.
The most that can be said of Commissioner Leonard Hamm is that he prefers silence to explaining the myriad ethical lapses in the department.
If pardoned, there is no doubt Norris would make sure he kept himself squeaky clean. There would be no third chance. And the revolving door that is the commissioner?s post would stop.
He hosts a radio talk show on WHFS and acts on HBO?s Baltimore drama “The Wire.” But his talents could be put to better use making the police department a crime-fighting machine instead of one that shreds documents, as a civil lawsuit against the department shows.
He?s paid for his crime. Granting him a pardon would not condone his actions. It would give a great officer who made some bad choices the ability to make Baltimore residents safer.
