Thomas Leone Becomes Interim Chief of UMBPD
Interim Chief Thomas Leone laughs from behind his desk, strewn with loose papers, family photos, and a pair of purple nitrile gloves. His eyes crinkle as he leans back in his chair for a few precious moments sandwiched between meetings, phone calls, emails, and countless text messages.
In his 4陆 years with the 网红爆料, Baltimore Police Department (UMBPD), Leone has been known for his upbeat, go-with-the-flow attitude. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 stop the waves, but you can learn how to surf,鈥� he鈥檚 been known to say. As Chief Alice K. Cary, MS, transitions to her new role as executive director of public safety and chief of police at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Leone is excited to step up to the plate.
鈥淲e want our core values to be woven into the fabric of this organization,鈥� Leone says. 鈥淲e want to be a good community partner. We want to be involved. We want to help. We want to do the right thing.鈥�
Those values are ingrained in Leone, who spent 20 years with the Frederick County (Md.) Sheriff鈥檚 Office. 鈥淭here was an expectation that we uphold the core values in the Sheriff鈥檚 Office,鈥� Leone says. 鈥淲e policed each other. If you saw someone step out of line, as a co-worker, the expectation was that you wouldn鈥檛 let it go without saying something.鈥�
From a young age, Leone considered himself a caretaker, someone who looked after others who couldn鈥檛 look after themselves. He grew up in a small western Pennsylvania town, 40 minutes outside of Pittsburgh. His mother died when he was 12 years old, and he was left to help raise his younger brother, who is deaf, while his father worked long hours for the county government.
In 1993, Leone and his wife, Kelli, decided to leave Pennsylvania, where job opportunities were scarce. In October 1995, he was hired by Jim Hagy at the Frederick County Sheriff鈥檚 Office. With no education and little more than the clothes on his back, Leone says Hagy took a chance on him.
鈥淗agy鈥檚 vision 25 years ago is what we鈥檙e talking about making police reform into today,鈥� Leone says. 鈥淐ommunity relationships. Fair and impartial treatment of everyone. Honesty, integrity, respect. If you do those things, you don鈥檛 have anything to worry about. Hagy always said, 鈥榊ou always have to look yourself in the mirror, so do the right thing when nobody鈥檚 looking and you never have to doubt who you鈥檙e looking at.鈥� That鈥檚 stuck with me, and that鈥檚 how I鈥檝e carried myself all these years.鈥�
As tensions rise across the country between citizens and law enforcement agencies, Leone feels confident in UMBPD鈥檚 ability to be a model for police reform in municipalities nationwide. The department鈥檚 Community Outreach and Support Team (COAST) engages with neighbors in West Baltimore and provides resources to the community. UMBPD鈥檚 homeless outreach liaison works with the Baltimore Police Department in one of the nation鈥檚 first Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) programs, which diverts individuals with unmet behavioral health needs 鈥� such as addiction, mental illness, homelessness, and poverty 鈥� and provides resources for community-based harm-reduction intervention rather than arrest.
鈥淟EAD really gives folks a hand up when they need it,鈥� Leone says. 鈥淲hen your life is unstable and things are in chaos, small wins make a world of difference and give you a foundation to grow on.鈥�
UMBPD hasn鈥檛 always been the progressive, community-oriented police department it is today. When Leone joined the department in 2016, he could see issues right away.
鈥淎t the time, our officers were not ambassadors for the University. They were just sentries standing at the gate, so to speak,鈥� Leone says. When Cary joined the department in 2018, she developed the department鈥檚 robust community relationships and fostered a more progressive, 21st-century policing philosophy.
Now, UMBPD is on its fourth chief in four years. Leone hopes to provide some much-needed stability within the department.
鈥淭he reforms people are looking for are what we already do. We鈥檙e what people want to emulate,鈥� Leone says. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 change the wrongs of hundreds of years of policing, but we can do it right moving forward, and we鈥檙e on that path.鈥�
Leone also has taken on a journey of personal growth over the past 25 years. After joining the Frederick County Sheriff鈥檚 Office, he started earning his associate鈥檚 degree on nights and weekends.
鈥淚 was a cop with three small kids working rotating shifts,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat associate鈥檚 degree took forever!鈥�
After that, Leone says, the bachelor鈥檚 degree came a little easier. He鈥檚 now earning a Master of Science in Homeland Security and Crisis Management Law from the 网红爆料 Francis King Carey School of Law. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to keep learning, to keep growing, getting better,鈥� he says.
Leone鈥檚 nearly 26 years in law enforcement have showcased a consistent commitment to professionalism, integrity, and civility. As he reflects on his career, Leone recalled a defining moment when his team at the Frederick County Sheriff鈥檚 Office served a warrant on a home as part of a drug investigation. Inside the home, Leone found a padlocked closet. Inside the closet were two children, about 7 and 4 years old.
鈥淚t was despicable,鈥� says Leone. He sent an officer to get McDonald's for the children, who were hungry. 鈥淚t was the best $10 I ever spent.鈥� He sat on the porch and talked with the children until their grandmother came for them.
Several years later, Leone was volunteering in his community coaching football. 鈥淭his kid comes up to me and says, 鈥楬ey, you saved my life.鈥� I didn鈥檛 recognize him at first 鈥� he looked completely different 鈥� but when he started telling the story, I said, 鈥極h yeah, I remember you.鈥� That鈥檚 why we do this 鈥� to save that one person.鈥�
When you see Leone around campus, be sure to say hello; the new interim chief loves to chat and he wants to hear from the community.
鈥淚 want to be known as the person who did it the right way,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 always have to agree, but we can listen and have a discussion about why we do what we do.鈥�
