It has been more than five months since Baltimore City has had a permanent Police Commissioner, but Mayor Pugh says that is about to change.
Pugh says she launched a nationwide search for the position and will announce who will be taking over by the end of the month. The search started at the beginning of the year after she fired Kevin Davis.
A few months later in May, his replacement, Darryl De Sousa, resigned over failing to file his tax returns. Since then,Gary Tuggle has been serving as the interim Police Commissioner. Tuggle has expressed interest in taking the job permanently, and Pugh says he is being considered, but nothing has been decided.
Baltimore has seen about 20 murders within the last week. Pugh says some of the challenges the police department faces has to do with not enough police officers on the streets, getting those officers the proper training, and the number of illegal guns on the streets.
"Just about every crime that is committed with a gun, it's with an illegal gun in the city and we have to do better than this. So we're asking for help. I know that the commissioner has inked a letter to the state for specific help to get maybe additional patrol folks at the state level to help patrol the city," explained Pugh.
Pugh has not spoken on any possible candidates for the position at this time.
