1-8-13: Bealefeld Sets Out on New Career

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Bealefeld-0108.mp3

Former Baltimore City Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld spent 31 years policing Baltimore City's streets, 24 days hiking the Appalachian Trail, and on Tuesday he begins the next leg of his journey as Distinguished Professional in Criminal Justice at Stevenson University.

Bealefeld said the Center could assist not only Stevenson's criminal justice students, but also law enforcement professionals.

"The vision we have is that Stevenson can and will become a place where state and local police officers can come and use the University as a resource to get information and education on current issues that are going to help them do their job better," Bealefeld said. 

Street smarts

Bealefeld retired in the summer of 2012 and brings with him a career full of lessons to impart to students-and of his top priorities-for students to realize the role of police officers.

"Whether [their job is] working in forensics, or in a courtoom, or pushing a radio car, their job is to find the best way to make people safe," Bealefeld said.

Bealefeld made it clear that public safety and law enforcement officials should serve their communities, not cause unnecessary friction within them.

"The police should not be at war with the community that they serve."  

One of the ways to reduce tension among police officers and residents, Bealfeld said, is for police officers to hit the pavement and communicate with people.

"If you want to be an effective community policing officer, get out of a car and walk foot, most people in Universities don't know a bloody thing about foot patrol, but talk to cops who grew up doing that and they understand that there is a difference between being angry at everyone and hassling everyone or targeting the small number of people who are disruptive and pose a danger in neighborhoods. You go up to that guy or gal and you say 'stop being a jerk or I'm going to deal with you' and they either get the message and stop being a jerk or you have to deal with them," Bealefeld said.

That no-nonsense language helped to define Bealefeld's policing style, but also fueled criticism. In a May 2012 Bealefeld told ABC2 News that "there was a lot of consternation about my colorful language," Bealefeld said. "I had judges on the bench panning me about calling people names." 

Bealefeld told Maryland Morning host Sheilah Kast that some criticism painted his buzz words as more racist than 'colorful.'

"I got a lot of heat for calling criminals 'knuckleheads' and 'maniacs' and people were accusing that some of the terms were closet terms for disparaging people racially," Bealefeld said.

Bealefeld said that the name-calling was just a form of advocating for the victims and their families.

"Somebody ought to stand up and say 'this is an outrage and I'm really angry' and I felt like that was part of my job," Bealefeld said.

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Commissioner Bealefeld on the Applachian Trail and the loss of two special people in his life.mp3

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