Baltimore police commissioner departing after 4 years; led department through court-ordered reforms

By LEA SKENE
Associated Press
BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore’s police commissioner is stepping down after four years in the role. Commissioner Michael S. Harrison’s departure was announced Thursday morning at a news conference held on short notice at City Hall. Harrison was appointed commissioner in 2019 and granted a five-year contract, which would have ended in March 2024. He moved to Baltimore from New Orleans, where he led that city’s police department through a reform process similar to the court-ordered changes being implemented in Baltimore. The Baltimore Police Department was placed under a federal consent decree in 2017 after Department of Justice investigators found a pattern of unconstitutional policing. Harrison was chosen to lead the department through that period of reform.