Baltimore mayor replaces police chief

Faced with a rising murder rate, Baltimore's interim mayor announced Thursday that she was replacing the head of the city's police department.

Commissioner Leonard Hamm, who had moved up in the ranks after joining the department in 1974, was the fourth police chief in as many years when he took the job in March 2005. He resigned this week at Mayor Sheila Dixon's request.

Deputy Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld III will run the 3,000-member department on an interim basis, although a replacement could be named before the mayoral primary in September, said mayor's spokesman Anthony McCarthy said. He said more changes will be made in the next few days.

Dixon didn't take questions about the timing of her move.

"I don't do things for form and fashion, I don't do things because it's politically correct," she said.

Dixon took office when former Mayor Martin O'Malley was elected governor. She faces a host of challengers in the Democratic primary, including City Councilman Keiffer Mitchell, who questioned the timing of Hamm's ouster. Mitchell said he had called for Hamm's resignation weeks ago.

Paul Blair, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 3, said police morale was suffering because of low pay and the department's management by City Hall. The department has also faced community criticism because of O'Malley's zero-tolerance strategy that critics complained led to nuisance arrests being made for political gain.

Bealefeld, a 26-year veteran, said he is dedicated to Dixon's community-oriented crime fighting strategy.

There have been 176 murders in Baltimore so far this year, putting the city on pace to top 300 murders for the first time in seven years.