Watch: Harrison Completes Top Leadership With Heads Of Operations, Public Integrity (Video)

By Staff Reporter
Posted on 05/21/19 | News Source: WBAL

Baltimore police Commissioner Michael Harrison rounded out his top command staff on Tuesday.

Michael Sullivan will become the new deputy commissioner of operations, while Michelle Wilson will leave Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh's office to become deputy commissioner of public integrity.

The bureaus were created under restructuring that Harrison put in place last month. Both appointments are effective June 10.

Wilson became assistant attorney general after a decade as assistant state's attorney in Baltimore. Harrison said the choice of an attorney over a sworn officer followed a national trend.

"Having a civilian attorney heading up the police department internal affairs unit has become the national best practice and this is the right time for this best practice to come to Baltimore," Harrison said.

Two other deputy commissioners are also civilians.

However, Wilson may have an awkward relationship with State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby. In a March Facebook post highlighted in a Baltimore Sun op-ed by former Anne Arundel County attorney David A. Plymyer, Wilson accused Mosby of lying under oath.

In a statement, Mosby spokeswoman Melba E. Saunders said that "in a time of unprecedented challenge and the need for seamless  government transition, we remain steadfast in our commitment" of working with City Hall and law enforcement "to fight crime and root out police corruption and misconduct."

Sullivan is currently deputy chief of the Louisville Metro Police Department in Kentucky. He has been with that department since 1994. He currently serves as the department's chief of staff, overseeing administration, support, patrol, special investigations and media and public relations.

"I have been deeply impressed by his knowledge and experience as well as his community-oriented approach to reducing crime and his direct involvement in a number of youth engagement programs in his department," Harrison said.

Harrison said he consulted Mayor Bernard C. "Jack" Young on the appointments. Young wasn't present at the Tuesday press conference, but City Council President Brandon M. Scott was.

"I look forward to working with these individuals to make sure that Baltimore has a functioning police department and that we're functioning at a very high level," Scott said.