Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Former deputy chief will lead D.C. police Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 15:23:03 EST Message-ID: \SE A \HD Former deputy chief will lead D.C. police \BY Brian Reilly and Vincent McCraw \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES The vice president of the Metropolitan Police Boys and Girls Clubs was tapped last night to head the city's Police Department, returning as chief to the agency he left seven years ago. Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly said Fred Thomas could "achieve a quiet revolution" and pull together a Metropolitan Police Department "that has been divided so long." If the appointment is approved by the D.C. Council - and the chairman last night promised to speed his approval - he would succeed retired Chief Isaac Fulwood Jr. Mrs. Kelly also announced last night that Deputy Houston Police Chief Hiram A. Contreras, the only Hispanic among seven finalists for Chief Fulwood's job, is expected to join the D.C. department and focus on community policing. It was unclear what title he will hold and when he will assume the post, because of uncertainties about his Houston pension. Mrs. Kelly, flanked by Mr. Thomas and several members of a community advisory council that helped select and interview the seven finalists, said her chief-designee was the consensus choice. "We wanted someone who could achieve a quiet revolution. Someone who would pull the department together because we have a department that has been divided so long," she said. "He came to the table with a six-month plan, a 12-month plan, an 18-month plan and a five-year plan, and that's the kind of planning we need to make community empowerment work." Mr. Thomas last night would not detail his plans to turn back the city's homicide rate, negotiate the first police raise in more than three years or handle a record number of criminal charges against police officers this year. He did pledge continuing support for community policing and said he will implement programs that let officers to work with the city's youth at the earliest possible age. "Unfortunately, a lot of the crime and violence has been driven by our youth - and for the last seven years I've been very much in touch with the youth," he said. Mount Vernon College President Lucy Ann Geiselman, the co-chairman of the advisory panel, said Mr. Thomas "sends a very important message to our youth of the city. It says, 'We're concerned about their health and well-being.' " Officer Andre Lewis, chairman of the Fraternal Order of Police Labor Committee, said Mr. Thomas is "the best of both worlds." "He has past police experience in the department and can bring back valuable experience from his dealings with the business community and public sector," he said. But one officer said he was expressing the general feeling of the rank and file when he called the choice of chief an insult to those candidates now in the department. Three of the seven finalists were from other cities and three - Deputy Chief Richard Pennington, Deputy Chief Roland Perry and Assistant Chief Melvin High - are current members of the department. "That is the ultimate slap in the face, if you were a deputy chief working your butt off in hopes of someday becoming chief and she goes to a retired person, that is an absolute slap in the face," he said. Mr. Thomas said he does not expect any transitional problems, saying "most of the officials there now I've worked with for years as deputy chiefs and inspectors." D.C. Council Chairman John Wilson said last night he expects the council to speed action on Mr. Thomas' confirmation and have the new chief on the job by the end of the year. Until then, Assistant Chief Addison Davis will remain as interim chief of police. Mr. Thomas will take over a 4,500-member police force in a city billed as the "murder capital of the world." He inherits a department short on reliable equipment and criticized by Congress for its seeming inability to control the city's violent crimes. When he retired from the department in 1985 after 20 years on the force, Mr. Thomas was a deputy chief and commander of the 6th District, which covers much of Northeast east of the Anacostia River. Since then, Mr. Thomas, 48, has organized the daily operations of the Boys and Girls Clubs, an independent charitable organization with the United Way that has a $1.8 million annual budget. He has been instrumental in moving it from an athletics orientation to targeting youth with drug prevention, anti-violence and teen pregnancy programs, said Solvin Gordon, the president of the clubs. "He will make a terrific chief and you will find that he will be able to step into that role immediately," said Mr. Gordon. In addition to overseeing the 6th District, Mr. Thomas was commander of the Police Department's youth and training divisions, ran the court liaison office and was commander of the robbery branch. Mr. Thomas, a Bowie resident who plans to move in the District before year's end, entered the force after three years in the Army and received a master's degree in justice and a bachelor's in criminal justice from American University while employed by the department. The appointment of Chief Contreras comes as many officials fear possible unrest following a verdict in the trial of an Hispanic man shot by a police officer in Mount Pleasant in 1991. The selection was immediately hailed by the city's Latino community. "Having Contreras as part of the force sends the signal that finally the District has realized that Latino needs must be represented," said Luis Vasquez-Ajmac, spokesman for the D.C. Latino Task Force on Civil Rights. "But the trial of Daniel Enrique Gomez shows how much farther the city has to go." Mrs. Kelly said Mr. Contreras has been offered and accepted a job here, but learned last week when he returned to Houston that he would lose about $9,000 of his pension unless he remains another year. * Margaret Rankin contributed to this report. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. 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