Nov 21, 2018

Have Gun Will Travel


Allentown's former police chief, Joel Fitzgerald,  has landed yet another position.  Pawlowski had chosen him after a national search.  While here, his son got a job with the county jail,  and was then arrested for pointing a gun at county detectives.  With the help of high powered Philly lawyer Jack McMahon he was acquitted, and now has sued the county for false arrest.

Papa Fitzgerald was hired, apparently with no public vetting, from Fort Worth, as the new police commissioner of Baltimore.  A former officer in Fort Worth said that Baltimore couldn't have hired a more unqualified person.

Papa now claims that he will try and bring healing to Baltimore.  Hope that he is more successful with that than he was here or in Texas.

9 comments:

  1. It would seem that Political College now teaches that one most hire police chiefs from the outside.Hopefully Baltimore will be okay.Its had for me to comprehend why anyone would want to be the chief in that fine city

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  2. Someone could refresh my memory. I recall the chief BEFORE Chief Fitzgerald causing all kinds of controversy, but I don't recall any significant issues* with Chief Fitzgerald's tenure.
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    * I know about his son's incident, but that did not involve APD at all, nor his father.

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  3. Taking the Baltimore job just gets him closer to DC where he will be auditioning for a job in the next liberal administration. His career is perfect for the Obama-ites.

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  4. I'm sure he's going to 'heal' this:

    New crime statistics released by the FBI place Baltimore’s homicide rate last year well above that of any other large American metropolis, making it an anomaly in the national crime landscape for U.S. cities with populations over 500,000 people.

    The 342 homicides notched last year in Maryland’s biggest city yielded a punishing homicide rate of 56 per 100,000 people, according to the FBI’s annual Crime in the United States report


    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/09/25/baltimore-homicide-murder-rate-fbi-statistics-death-crime-killings/1426739002/

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  5. ron@10:40 wrote, I know about his son's incident, but that did not involve APD at all, nor his father. ron, I disagree. Fitzgerald was hired after a national search which was not color blind. Pawlowski certainly gave him extra points for the diversity.

    his son tried to sue the county for racial profiling, but that portion was dismissed by the judge. i believe that the father participated in recommending McMahon for the defense, and approved the suit against the county. i realize that the city and county are separate entities, but feel that this trial harmed the racial harmony of the area, while the father was hired to improve it.

    baltimore is joel fitzgerald's third job in 5 years. you can research his record in fort worth. the quote about being unqualified is from the former president of the black officers association.

    i believe that once again his skin color is very much in play with a new job. HOWEVER, the mayor of baltimore seems to be a very studious woman, and perhaps she senses that fitzgerald and her city will be a good match. i hope so

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  6. And had not former DOJ ATTY. GENERAL Jeff Sessions, in his parting shot on the day he left, had not gutted the police reforms guidelines that both police unions & mayors recommended, Fitzgerald might have had a chance at healing some of the ruptures between the citizenry and police in major cities. By removing most of the teeth that would have allowed oversight and prosecution of bad apples, the perception and reality of bad officers getting away with abuses continues unabated.

    Police unions are already complaining about how the abuses of ICE and Immigration agents in targeting and arresting people in schools, churches and courthouses are making it almost impossible to get folks to report and inform on criminals in the community.

    Classic example of the nonsensical GOP "tough on crime" bullshit: inmates in California are conscripted as fire fighters now in the terrible situation there (they receive $1.00 a day toward their Commissary allowance), but, upon their release, cannot get hired as firemen because of their conviction.

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  7. I see you deleted VC's comments (as well as you should). In my opinion this guy is a drifter who has taken financial advantage of every city he's worked. We have many fine officers who should have been promoted within. Cops who know this city better then he ever could having been patrolling the streets for years no matter their ethnic background.. It pisses me off when someone narrowed minded like VC tries to play the race card against you or anyone else.

    We have some pretty damn good cops who deserve the job more then some drifter going from town to town throughout their career. Same goes with many of the school officials and others who land lucrative jobs here from time to time.

    We are a city of over 121,000 people with 30 four year colleges within 40 miles. There's no reason why we need to look beyond those to fill our needs.

    Although we often disagree on this issue I agree with you Michael. As far as VC-- she/he/it is about bigoted a person who've I ever seen on these local blogs. Makes me wonder who she/he/it is really. Maybe some past antagonist using another name?

    Addressing Trent Hall
    As much as I agree most times with you partisan politics this has nothing to do with this post. It's a stretch to say the least.

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  8. It seems to have been a problem between the Lehigh County DA and Chief Fitzgerald from the beginning. It took the sloppy work of County Detectives to roll up on his son (I thought they were after major drug dealers). Total nonsense - harrassing move made to embarass Chief Fitzgerald. I'm glad he moved on to better opportunities.

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  9. bartee@11:24, i heard that excuse/rumor before. here are the facts as admitted by the defendant.

    1. he brake checked the car behind him
    2. he displayed a gun when the detective attempted to pull up next to him.

    nobody has elaborated on this supposed "bad blood" between fitzgerald and jim martin. the idea that martin would be miffed that he was appointed by a Democratic mayor is absurd.

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