City Council Unanimously Confirms Harrison As Police Commissioner

The Baltimore City Council on Monday unanimously confirmed Michael Harrison as police commissioner.

Harrison, the former New Orleans superintendent, has been acting commissioner since February. City police have been without a permanent leader for nearly a year, when Darryl De Sousa resigned amid federal tax charges. That was several months after Mayor Catherine Pugh fired his predecessor, Kevin Davis

JUST IN: Baltimore City Council unanimously approved Michael Harrison as @BaltimorePolice Commissioner. #WBAL pic.twitter.com/eWqbSSZdjK — Vanessa Herring (@VanessaWBAL) March 11, 2019

Harrison will be sworn in at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Pugh announced Harrison as the nominee in January, a day after her previous choice, Fort Worth, Texas Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald, withdrew from consideration.

"We commit our full support to him as he now officially takes up his responsibility, knowing of his own strong commitment to new levels of accountability and transparency," Pugh said in a statement after Monday's vote. "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. I ask all of Baltimore to work with us in creating the safer City we desire and deserve."

I am delighted that our City Council members have come to share my view that Michael Harrison is indeed, the right person, at the right time and in the right place to remake the Baltimore Police Department and restore community trust as our new Police Commissioner. pic.twitter.com/zsBYHYf0ia — Mayor Catherine Pugh (@MayorPugh50) March 11, 2019

Last Thursday, the council's Executive Appointments Committee voted in Harrison's favor. Harrison then testified before City Council members Wednesday, answering questions at his confirmation hearing. In the past few weeks, Harrison attended nine nightly community meetings in all nine city police districts.

Harrison spent 28 years rising through the ranks in New Orleans police before coming to Baltimore.

Harrison is tasked with reforming a force that remains under a federal consent decree agreed to in 2017. That followed a report conducted following Freddie Gray's death in 2015 that found routine constitutional violations by officers. The department is still dealing with the fallout from the actions of rogue officers linked to the since-disbanded Gun Trace Task Force. Nine former officers are in federal prison. A former sergeant was indicted last week in relation to the task force's actions. He allegedly had a BB gun planted at the scene of an arrest.

Harrison is in line to get the most lucrative contract ever offered by the city. The contract for Harrison would pay him $275,000 in his first year. Baltimore's Board of Estimates approved the contract in February without objection or comment.

Monday night, Harrison issued the following statement on the Baltimore Police Department's Facebook page:

"I am very excited and grateful to have been confirmed and want to thank each of the City Council members for their vote. 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."

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