Promotions Fill Void in Police Command Staff

One month after nearly one-third of the commanders of the Baltimore County Police Department took early retirement, the chief of police has announced the promotion or reassignment of six remaining executive officers.

The assignments and promotions appear to fill the void in command staff left by the recent departures.

Baltimore County Police Chief Jim Johnson announced the restructuring moves during an internal meeting Tuesday morning.

Armacost said, three captains were promoted to major, including:

• Capt. Karen Johnson, a 22-year veteran currently serving as commander of the Technology Management Section. She has served as the commander of the Training Academy, Precinct 6 Towson, and the Personnel Section. 
• Capt. Daniel Kaliszak, a 21-year veteran currently serving as commander of the Intelligence Unit.  He was previously assigned to the Criminal Investigative Division as a lieutenant.
• Capt. Alexander Jones, a 16-year veteran currently serving as commander of Precinct 6 Towson. He was previously assigned to Precinct 1 Wilkens as a lieutenant. 

In addition to the promotions, three others were reassigned, including two who are now acting colonels: 

• Maj. Joseph Burris, a 27-year veteran, will be appointed acting colonel of the Administrative and Technical Services Bureau. He has previously served as the commander of the Management Services Division, and executive officer of the Administrative and Technical Services Bureau.   
• Maj. Peter Evans, a 26-year veteran, will be appointed acting colonel of the Operations Bureau. He previously served as commander of the Internal Affairs Division, the executive officer of the Operations Bureau, and Western Patrol Division commander.
• Maj. Evan Cohen, a 29-year veteran, will take over command of the Western Patrol Division.  He has previously served as the executive officer for the Operations Bureau, and as the commander of the Western Patrol Division.

Elise Armacost, a police department spokeswoman, said the moves represent the bulk of the immediate restructuring that will be done.

"There won't be any sweeping changes for now," said Armacost. "The system as it is works well. What changes will be made in the future remains to be seen."

Last month, the department lost nearly Some of the commanders retired to take advantage of an early retirement program and the deferred reitrement option program that has paid out more than since June.

Under the terms of the early retirement program, the department agrees to eliminate the position of the retiree or another similar one.

Armacost said that even with the promotions and reassignments there will be a "net loss of 10 positions within the executive corps."

Johnson said in October, days before commanders officially filed for retirement, that he was "studying the possibility of restructuring the department."

One of those changes was rumored to be the possibility of merging the police and fire departments into a Department of Public Safety.

Both departments are currently housed together in a building in the 700 block of Joppa Road.

This story was updated to add attribution for information related to the officers who were promoted.