Police Commissioner

A former Baltimore police commissioner has lost another round in his five-year legal battle challenging his firing. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Va., upheld Wednesday a lower court's dismissal of Kevin Clark's federal lawsuit. Clark also has unsuccessfully sought reinstatement in Maryland's state courts. Clark and two high-ranking deputies were fired in 2004 by then-Mayor Martin O'Malley. The officers alleged in their federal lawsuit that the mayor and other officials had violated their constitutional rights by having police seize their badges and other equipment and escort them from the building.

A group of children play ball in the courtyard after dark as Anthony W. Batts walks through a high-crime West Baltimore public housing project wrapped around the Edgar Allan Poe House. It's quiet here, with an officer permanently stationed on-site, but the new police commissioner's department is dealing with problems across the city - two people will be killed in shootings by the end of the night. As Batts travels through Baltimore to learn on the job about his new town, he'll also get a close look at the uneven relationship between police and the community.

Baltimore City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young met briefly Wednesday morning with Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's pick for police commissioner and pledged to support him. Young had backed an internal candidate for the post, and he declined comment Monday when word of the pick became public. But Young met privately with Anthony W. Batts, the former chief of the Long Beach and Oakland police departments in California, and said he came away impressed. Young said he was struck by Batts' stated commitment to community policing, as well as his candor.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has selected former Oakland, Calif., Police Chief Anthony Batts as Baltimore's next police commissioner, bringing in a leader who has been hailed as an innovator but who struggled to push his agenda at his last job. Batts, 52, spent nearly 30 years with the Long Beach, Calif., Police Department - including seven as chief - before taking over the Oakland force in 2009. He resigned in October 2011 after butting heads with the mayor and City Council. He did not return a phone message seeking comment.

Just as we're trying to figure out the sudden departure Police CommissionerFrederick H. Bealefeld IIIcomes the stark reminder that we're still not quite done with a city chief fired more than seven years ago. Kevin P. Clark, fired back when Martin O'Malley was mayor, in 2004, still has a claim pending before the state's highest court. He wants money, and according to his attorney, wouldn't mind getting his old job back. This is the guy who the mayor sent armed SWAT members to remove from the police headquarters building on East Fayette Street.

Thomas C. Frazier, deputy chief of operations for the San Jose, Calif., Police Department, was named today to be Baltimore's police commissioner.Mr. Frazier, 48, a 27-year veteran of the San Jose department, will assume his duties Jan. 30, subject to confirmation by the City Council.Introducing Mr. Frazier at a news conference today, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke praised his choice as a "outstanding administrator, leader and crime fighter."Mr. Schmoke described Mr. Frazier as a "person who understands policing and community concerns, someone who can talk effectively with people whether on the streets or in the suites."

City Councilman Lawrence A. Bell did the right thing by calling for the resignation of Police Commissioner Edward V. Woods if Baltimore's crime rate does not decrease over the next six months.It is time to get some accountability from the municipal government. If such accountability cannot be forced by means other than threats of firing, then so be it.As chairman of the City Council's subcommittee on public safety, Mr. Bell is within his rights of both demanding action and a change of leadership, if corrective action is not forthcoming.

Donald D. Pomerleau, the retired Marine colonel who reigned as Baltimore's most controversial -- and many say best -- police commissioner during an era of turbulent social and political change, died yesterday at his home in Northern Virginia. He was 76.Services for Mr. Pomerleau will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Wicomico Episcopal Church in Wicomico Church, Va. Burial will be at 1 p.m. Friday with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.Mr. Pomerleau came to Baltimore in 1966 to straighten out a creaky, out-of-date, mismanaged, disorganized and demoralized police department.

The Board of Estimates approved yesterday a 5.9 percent pay raise for Baltimore Police Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm, increasing his salary to $162,000 a year. Hamm was named acting police commissioner in November 2004, after Mayor Martin O'Malley fired Kevin P. Clark. Hamm's salary was set at $153,000 a year and had remained unchanged until now. "Mayor Dixon has faith and confidence in Commissioner Hamm," said Anthony McCarthy, a spokesman for the mayor. "She demands a lot from him; he's responsive to her."