"I
don't breathe fire. I love my mom," said Kevin Davis, breaking the ice
as he introduced himself to a group of Anne Arundel officers in
Pasadena.
It was the Eastern District's 3 p.m. roll call Thursday,
one of many rounds he's been making in his new role since he left his
job as assistant police chief in Prince George's County to take over the
troubled Anne Arundel department barely a week ago.
His
priorities include getting out to listen to what Anne Arundel County
police officers and district commanders have to say, getting the lay of
the land from his staff and evaluating everything from the people to the
facilities where they work. There will also be meetings with county
neighborhood groups and organizations.
It's all in an effort to rebuild trust, he said.
"There's
a cloud over the government and a cloud over you, all that you did not
cause. And that overshadows your good work," he told the officers.
Minutes
earlier, speaking with the district's commander, Frank Tewey, Davis
acknowledged that he'd gotten lost the previous day in the department's
headquarters in Millersvllle. The good part was that he landed amid
evidence technicians, where he learned that they love their schedule,
which keeps them on shifts with the officers and dispatchers they
regularly deal with. "I'm learning too," he said.
Davis'
priorities include improving the atmosphere in a department in which
frustrated workers have taken to venting allegations in anonymous
letters to politicians and news media. He said he wants to stress
community policing strategies, improve community relations and make sure
public safety issues are professionally addressed.
The department
is also struggling with aging facilities, including a police academy in
need of replacement, and old police cars that require constant repair.
Davis
said officers and resources — the department is authorized for 679
officers and 240 civilian employees, though some positions are vacant —
must be used to make a difference. The focus should not be on the number
of traffic tickets, he said, but rather are tickets being written in
areas where there are a lot of crashes?
"Quality trumps quantity every day of the week," he said. "I'm not a crime accountant."
County
Executive Laura Neuman called Davis the "perfect candidate," someone
who can tackle the job of restoring "faith and integrity to the
department."
Davis said how people feel about safety and their
police department is crucial: Working with residents routinely helps
police "put some goodwill in the bank" when crises arise. A key way of
building relationships will be getting officers out to meet residents
more often, and he said police should include other county agencies in
dealing with neighborhood issues.
Davis' interest in working with
residents was spurred when he was a district commander in Prince
George's from 2005 to 2009. One success in building community relations,
he said, was devising a "graffiti wagon" and going out on weekends with
residents to clean up graffiti in his district.
He said he sees
Anne Arundel's four district commanders as chiefs of their districts,
deciding what works best for their neighborhoods in a diverse county of
about 540,000 residents.
Anne
Arundel's department has had a tumultuous few years. An investigation
of County Executive John R. Leopold culminated in his conviction five
months ago for offenses that included misusing his executive protection
officers for personal and political tasks.
Davis is the fourth
police chief within 12 months for a force that became embroiled in the
scandal that led to Leopold's conviction and resignation. James Teare
Sr. retired last summer before Leopold's trial, ending a state
investigation into his role in the misconduct case involving his boss.
Teare was not charged with any offense. His replacement, Larry W.
Tolliver, a former state police superintendent, left after 10 months,
admitting that he used an anti-gay slur and saying that constant
questioning of his leadership was taking a toll. Deputy Police Chief
Pamela Davis — no relation — has been serving as acting chief since late
May, while Neuman appointed an outside task force to evaluate the
department.
The tumult aside, the new chief said he jumped
at the opportunity to lead his hometown police force after 21 years in
Prince George's County, where he had worked his way up from beat cop to
assistant chief.
Davis has lived in Crofton since 1995 and said he
knows many Anne Arundel officers from working in an adjacent county. He
coaches youth football in Crofton. His children swim with County
Councilman Jamie Benoit's kids, and he went to DeMatha High School in
the 1980s with O'Brien Atkinson, president of the union that represents
rank-and-file police officers.
Davis
"dealt with scandals of his own in Prince George's County," Benoit
said, adding that he is "very, very comfortable with both his experience
and his character" and thinks he can right the Anne Arundel department.
Atkinson
said Davis was the only candidate during the previous search for a
chief to contact him about his ideas for the department. "I think that
speaks volumes for what kind of chief he would be," Atkinson said.
Davis
"dealt with scandals of his own in Prince George's County," Benoit
said, adding that he is "very, very comfortable with both his experience
and his character" and thinks he can right the Anne Arundel department.
Atkinson
said Davis was the only candidate during the previous search for a
chief to contact him about his ideas for the department. "I think that
speaks volumes for what kind of chief he would be," Atkinson said.
"He
said he thought a chief should be more involved with the County Council
and other elected officials," Atkinson recalled. "He described a more
collaborative style and said he'd like to involve the rank and file in
decision-making."
Davis said Prince George's and Anne Arundel have
similar policing challenges: They are large, suburban counties adjacent
to big cities.
Yet along with success, Davis' record in Prince
George's also includes two lawsuits in which he was a defendant. He was
cleared of wrongdoing by his department in both incidents.
In
1993, a young man alleged that Davis threw him to the ground and
handcuffed him without explanation. He won a $12,500 jury award against
Davis, according to court records.
In 2002, a federal jury awarded
about $90,000 to a teenager who said he was taken from his home without
a warrant in 1999 by undercover officers, then interrogated for hours
about the whereabouts of his girlfriend, the niece of the agency's
deputy chief. According to published reports at the time, a jury found
the constitutional rights of the 19-year-old were violated but rejected
his claims of excessive force. Soon after the lawsuit was filed, the
deputy chief, who gave the officers their assignment, retired.
Davis
said that assignment was given under "false pretenses," as the girl
willingly left her home and a missing-person report did not classify her
as critically missing, though officers were led to believe she was in
danger.
"The fact that a deputy chief gave it to me, I had no
reason to doubt its veracity," he said this week recalling the case. But
it was "quite a lesson for me as a young sergeant."
Davis said the incident stuck with him. "It made me a better cop. It made me a better leader. It made me a better person."
"You
will never see Kevin Davis make that mistake," said David Mitchell, a
former Prince George's police chief and Maryland State Police
superintendent. Mitchell said he's known Davis since he was child, because Davis' father, Robert, was a Prince George's officer.
Most
recently, Mitchell was Davis' professor in a class at the Johns Hopkins
University when Davis was working toward a master's degree in public
safety leadership. He said Davis has learned from everything, including
his and others' mistakes.
"He will not betray his department," Mitchell said.
Prince George's County Police Chief Mark Magaw said he was disappointed to lose his right-hand man to Anne Arundel.
Magaw
praised Davis' experience, particularly his efforts in community
outreach. He noted that Prince George's has seen several years of
reduced violent crime and said "a lot of that is because of Kevin
Davis."
Davis
dealt with training, use of force issues and other concerns as the
Prince George's department emerged from Justice Department oversight
several years ago, which stemmed from police shootings and other
incidents. According to Prince George's police spokesman Lt. Bill
Alexander, Davis was among those credited with addressing community and
federal concerns.
Cpl. Vince Canales, president of the Fraternal
Order of Police in Prince George's County, said Davis is a "policeman's
policeman" who is a smart pick for Anne Arundel.
"He's come up through the ranks; he's worked the streets of Prince George's County," he said. "He's a hands-on type of manager."
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-07-19/news/bs-md-ar-new-chief-20130719_1_police-department-police-academy-anne-arundel-county/2
