Baltimore police leader fired after record year in homicides

Deputy police commissioner Darryl DeSousa, who has steadily risen through the ranks during a 30-year career with Baltimore’s police department, will take the helm of the force in a city struggling with a feverish pace of killings.

Following a record year in per-capita homicides, Baltimore’s mayor on Friday fired the city’s police commissioner after two and a half years on the job and named DeSousa to the top post, saying a change in leadership was needed immediately.

“I am impatient. We need violence reduction. We need the numbers to go down faster,” Mayor Catherine Pugh said at a news conference at City Hall after announcing DeSousa’s promotion.

While violent crime rates in Baltimore have been high for decades, Baltimore ended 2017 with 343 killings, bringing the annual homicide rate to its highest ever: roughly 56 killings per 100,000 people. Baltimore, which has shrunk over decades, currently has about 615,000 inhabitants.

In contrast, New York City had 290 homicides last year, its fewest on record in the modern era for the city of 8.5 million people. Los Angeles, with about four million residents, saw 305 homicides last year.

The challenges facing DeSousa are numerous: the pervasive mistrust of many citizens due to a history of corruption and discriminatory police practices; a federal corruption investigation into a group of indicted officers; and the unsolved slaying of a detective that has produced rumours but no arrests.

DeSousa, a 53-year-old city resident who joined the department in 1988, said he’s looking forward to the challenges. He said he’ll approach his role as a strategic thinker who knows the ins and outs of the department’s operations as well as law enforcement approaches that have had success in other U.S. cities.

“Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a chess player, and I don’t like to be outwitted,” he told reporters.

The head of Baltimore’s police union, Gene Ryan, said the leadership shakeup is already improving morale, and “will bring about … positive changes.”

DeSousa on Friday pledged to reduce crime by putting more uniformed officers on the streets and saturating “hot spots,” an effort he said is already underway.