Ronald L. Daniel (born 1948 or 1949) is an American police officer who served as commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department from January to March 2000. He resigned after 88 days in office, making him the shortest-serving commissioner in the department's history.

Early life

Daniel was born in 1948 or 1949 and grew up in

West Baltimore This list of Baltimore neighborhoods includes the neighborhoods of Baltimore, Maryland, divided into nine geographical regions: North, Northeast, East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West, Northwest, and Central. Each district is patrolled by a re ...

. He graduated from

Baltimore City College Baltimore City College, known colloquially as City, City College, and B.C.C., is a college preparatory school with a classical liberal arts focus and selective admissions criteria located in Baltimore, Maryland. Opened in October 1839, B.C.C ...

in 1967, received a degree in

business development Business development entails tasks and processes to develop and implement growth opportunities within and between business organizations. It is a subset of the fields of business, commerce and organizational theory. Business development is the cre ...

from

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

, and was a

pre-medical Pre-medical (often referred to as pre-med) is an educational track that undergraduate students mostly in the United States pursue prior to becoming medical students. It involves activities that prepare a student for medical school, such as pre-med ...

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Morgan State University Morgan State University (Morgan State or MSU) is a Public university, public historically black colleges and universities, historically black research university in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland. It is the largest of Maryland's historically bla ...

Career

Daniel was recruited to the

Baltimore Police Department The Baltimore Police Department (BPD) is the municipal police department of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. Dating back to 1784, the BPD, consisting of 2,935 employees in 2020, is organized into nine districts covering of land and of waterw ...

in 1973, attending the

FBI National Academy The FBI National Academy is a program of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Academy for active U.S. law enforcement personnel and also for international law enforcement personnel who seek to enhance their credentials in their field and to ...

after joining the department. He received a bronze star from the department in 1977 for apprehending two armed robbery suspects. According to ''

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local, regional, national, and international news. Founded in 1837, the newspaper was owned by Tribune Publi ...

'', he held "more than a dozen posts", ultimately being promoted from

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

in 1994 by commissioner Thomas C. Frazier, becoming head of the criminal investigation division later the same year. He became chief of the field operations bureau, the second-in-command at the department, in 1996, serving alongside future acting commissioner John E. Gavrilis. Frazier suspended Daniel in 1997 following a comment at a

Vanguard Justice Society The Baltimore Police Department (BPD) is the municipal police department of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. Dating back to 1784, the BPD, consisting of 2,935 employees in 2020, is organized into nine districts covering of land and of waterw ...

meeting implying that Frazier should be fired if he did not address "internal racism" in the department, accusing him of "insubordination" and that his comments amounted to advocating "an overthrow of the government". This caused a revolt by 13 high-ranking members of the Vanguard Justice Society and calls for Frazier's resignation. Frazier's supporters described the revolt as an attempted

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

. Mayor

Kurt Schmoke Kurt Lidell Schmoke (born December 1, 1949) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 47th mayor of Baltimore, Maryland, from 1987 to 1999, the first African American to be elected to the post. He is a former dean of the Howard University ...

intervened to restore Daniel, the first time the mayor publicly reversed a major decision by a commissioner. Daniel became commissioner on January 3, 2000. While commissioner, Daniel and O'Malley argued over how to fight crime, with the latter twice stating his impatience with Daniel over being slow to fight crime and disagreeing with advisors appointed by O'Malley. The advisors suggested 87 reforms, half of which Daniel declined. Daniel resigned on March 30, 2000, having served 88 days in office. According to ''

'', his resignation surprised his top aides.

Personal life

, Daniel was married with two sons, living in

Anne Arundel County Anne Arundel County (; ), also notated as AA or A.A. County, is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 588,261, an increase of just under 10% since 2010. Its county seat is Annapolis, wh ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daniel, Ronald L. Living people Commissioners of the Baltimore Police Department Date of birth uncertain 1940s births