Stephen Janis, The Examiner
2007-10-06 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

BALTIMORE -

Hope, high expectations and some reservations marked the reactions of community leaders and city politicians to the permanent appointment of Frederick Bealefeld as Baltimore’s police commissioner on Thursday.

“I’ve known Fred Bealefeld as someone who lives his life dedicated to law enforcement and to the protection of this City. Frankly, we could not ask for a better appointment,” said City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

The city’s top prosecutor, Patricia Jessamy, said through a spokeswoman that she was prepared to start a new phase in what has been an sometimes contentious relationship with the department over an arrest policy that prosecutors said overburdened the courts.

“She is committed to working with him. We’ve got to move forward, we have to all work together,” said Jessamy spokeswoman Margaret Burns.

Community leaders also seemed optimistic.

“I think he’s going to do a really good job,” said Reverend Kinji Scott, president of the Washington Hill Community association in east Baltimore.

“I hope that the focus would be on arresting criminals, without the being fear of intimidation.”

A recent dispute between residents of his community with police over an alleged incident of officer brutality was dealt with effectively, Scott said.

“We’ve actually scheduled a softball game between the community and the police department,” he said.

But Marvin “Doc” Cheatham president of the local chapter of the NAACP, expressed concerns about diversity in the command staff that currently has only 13 black officers in top postings out of 55 total commander positions, the rest of whom are almost exclusively white.

“In a city with 65-70 percent African-Americans, I think it’s clear we have a long way to go,” he said.

“I look forward to working with him, but we have more work to do, not only to recruit more African American officers, but to keep them,” he said.

Sterling Clifford, spokesman for the police department, said efforts were being made to increase the diversity of the department

“I don’t think anyone denies that it’s on the radar of command staff; the question is how do we go about it,” he said. “But there is no doubt commanders do want to encourage diversity.”

sjanis@baltimoreexaminer.com