'Accountability' Top Priority For New Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Baltimore City's new police commissioner is settling in. Wednesday marked Michael Harrison's second day as permanent police commissioner.
Harrison takes over a department that is grappling with trying to solve a high violent crime rate within the city and high profile corruption.
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"Yes we are conducting walking beat assignments now, but I think while walking, we really need to be more proactive in engaging and introducing ourselves to the community," Harrison said.
Harrison wears the badge that three previous men have worn in the past 14 months.
"We need to make sure we have strong consequences for gun violations," he said. "The decision point for using the gun and pulling the trigger is not made when you pull the trigger. The decision is made when a person decides to carry the gun from wherever they got it from."
Baltimore's newest police commissioner intends to stay all five years of his contract.
Harrison had many of the same concerns of past commissioners: regaining trust from the community and going after repeated violent offenders.
"It's about building systems of accountability that inform us," Harrison said. "About good behaviors and bad behaviors. About good supervision and bad supervision. About good management and bad management."
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Harrison also said that he wants to address juvenile crime, the department's homicide clearance rate and the drug trade in his time as commissioner.
Watch more on the raw interview with Harrison below:
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