Gil Kerlikowske

Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (since May 2009)

(Seattle Police Department)

Why He Matters

For eight years, Richard "Gil" Kerlikowske led the Seattle police department, and saw crime rates dip to historic lows. He has served as police chief in major cities like Buffalo, N.Y., and small ones like Fort Pierce, Fla. In each one, he has brought with him a strong belief in the need to involve the community in policing efforts, and he has consistently seen crime decrease.

Now, President Barack Obama has tapped Kerlikowske to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy, a cabinet-level position that is usually referred to as "drug czar." He is serving his second stint in Washington, but it will be his first time directing drug policy. In fact, Kerlikowske has rarely spoken out about controversial drug issues such as medical marijuana and needle exchange. But supporters of a more liberal drug enforcement policy are encouraged by the work he did in Seattle where he backed a drug court that focused on treatment rather than jail time and placed minimal emphasis on marijuana possession.

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Corrections?

Background

At a Glance

Career History: Police chief for the city of Seattle (since 2000); Deputy Director of the Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (1998 to 2000); Police Chief for the city of Buffalo (1994 to 1998); Police chief of Fort Pierce, Fla. (N/A to 1994)
Hometown: Florida
Alma Mater: University of South Florida, B.A., 1975; M.A. (criminal justice), 1978

Spouse: Anna Laszlo
Web site

Path to Power

Kerlikowske was raised in Florida and worked as a crime-scene photographer on the weekends during high school. He was drafted into the Army in 1970 and his job was to salute President Richard Nixon as he boarded Marine One.

Kerlikowske started his police enforcement career in 1972 in St. Petersburg, Fla. He was an 18-year-old cadet at the time. He spent 15 years in the department, working as the commander of the Criminal Investigations Division for the last two of them. While in the force, he earned both a B.A. (1975) and an M.A. (1978) in criminal justice from the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla., and he graduated from the National Executive Institute at the FBI academy in Quantico, Va.

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He took over the Port St. Lucie Police Department in 1987 and saw the department double in size during the three years he was there - from 42 officers to more than 80. Then, he became the police chief of Fort Pierce, Fla. In 1994, Kerlikowske went from heading up the city of Fort Pierce, with a population of 38,000, to being the police chief of Buffalo, the second-largest city in New York at 330,000 people.

He was the first Buffalo police chief in three decades to come from outside of the department, and he immediately shook up the way the department was run by implementing random drug testing for officers to installing computers in police cruisers. Kerlikowske spent four years in Buffalo, and saw crime drop dramatically (violent crime fell 38 percent during his four years there).

U.S. Department of Justice

But in 1998, he left upstate New York to take a job in the Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. He served as deputy director of community policing for two years. When in Buffalo, Kerlikowske used $7 million in federal grants to help modernize the department and make it more efficient. "He almost single-handedly took this department from using typewriters and carbon paper into the latest and greatest computer technology," said James P. Giammaresi, who served as Kerlikowske's captain of administrative planning in Buffalo.

In Washington, Kerlikowske oversaw the other end of community policing: He monitored compliance with federal grants and ran a response center that helped communities learn about money available to them. Kerlikowske called his Justice Department job, where he dealt with grant compliance instead of murders, "a wonderful change for me." But eventually, he felt a need to get back to police work.

Seattle Police Chief

In 2000, Seattle Mayor Paul Schell (D) tapped Kerlikowske to replace Police Chief Norm Stamper, who resigned amid scrutiny of his department's handling of the 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle. In Seattle, Kerlikowske oversaw a group of 1,800 police officers who worked in the city of nearly 600,000. He became the president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association and was an adjunct professor for Seattle University.

Shortly after Barack Obama was elected president, Kerlikowske told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer he was likely under consideration for a high-level administration post but would not be specific. "There are a lot of positions where you're the deputy assistant director of something. At my age, at this point in my career, I'd want something where you feel like you could make a real impact," he told the Seattle Post Intelligencer in December 2008.

In February 2009, the buzz around Kerlikowske grew as newspapers began reporting he was leaving Seattle to take a job in the Obama administration as the head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, colloquially known as "drug czar."He was confirmed on May 7, 2009.

The Issues

A strong gun-control advocate, Kerlikowske urged both the Washington legislature and the U.S. Congress to pass an assault-weapons ban and has worked to close the loophole that doesn't require background checks at gun shows. In Seattle, where a series of high-profile shootings had plagued the police force before Kerlikowske became chief, he encouraged the use of Tasers and other non-lethal weapons as alternatives to deadly force (the use of Tasers later led to complaints against officers for excessive use of force).

Medical Marijuana and other Drug Issues

Medical marijuana advocates supported Kerlikowske for admitting in 2003 that busting people for personal marijuana possession was not a top priority of the police department.

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But that stance should not be interpreted as Kerlikowske being generally supportive of drug use; that comment came during debate over a medical marijuana law that he opposed. But Kerlikowske opposed the bill because he thought citizens picking and choosing which laws should be enforced set a bad precedent, and he did not delve into the larger debate. In fact, he has rarely voiced opinions on some of the most controversial drug issues, even as the debates were raging around him.

But there are some signs that Kerlikowske is interested in alternative approaches to the standard punishments for drug users. As Seattle police chief, he assigned an officer full-time to the drug court, which commuted sentences of drug users who complete medical treatment in lieu of going to jail. He worked in a city that experimented with needle exchange methadone vans. "He is sort of a logical choice because he's someone who has been a police chief in a very progressive city, and he has seen how these approaches worked, and he's allowed them to mature," said Seattle City Councilman Nick Licata, a former chairman of the Public Safety Committee.

Kerlikowske's nomination by Obama was reportedly delayed because of the arrest of his son from a previous marraige, Jeffery Kerlikowske, for violating his parole. The son has been arrested on charges of marijuana possession and distribution and was released from prison in March 2008. At the ceremony announcing his nomination, Kerlikowske was expected to address the issue. "Our nation's drug problem is one of human suffering," Kerlikowske was expected to say. "As a police officer, but also in my own family, I have experienced first-hand the devastating effects that drugs can have on our youth, our families and our communities."

Community Policing

Some were surprised that Kerlikowske was being considered for a drug enforcement position precisely because he hasn't been outspoken on drug issues. But he has been known as an innovator for his work in community policing. Perhaps the biggest feather in Kerlikowske's cap is that wherever he has gone, crime has decreased significantly. In Fort Pierce, Fla., murders fell from a record 28 in 1988 to 11 in 1993, when he left. In Buffalo, violent crime fell 38 percent during his time as police chief, and Seattle saw crime drop to a 40-year low while he was in office.

Kerlikowske would credit his belief in community policing for the drop in crime. Everywhere he went, he brought with him a philosophy of community policing that focused on getting citizens involved. He believes officers should get to know the citizens in their neighborhoods so the residents feel safe talking to the police. Advocates for community policing hope that residents will have a vested interest in keeping their communities safe and will be inclined to report crimes if they know the officers who patrol their neighborhoods. "Law enforcement does not have all the answers," Kerlikowske said. "Even though we may have better equipment and more people, we may not do a better job. People must take responsibility."

When he took the job as Buffalo's police chief, Kerlikowske promised to integrate his 900-plus officers into their neighborhoods - so they would get to know the residents. He hired secretaries so the police officers who were previously stuck in desk jobs could instead walk the streets.

Race Relations and Other Controversies

When he was sworn in as Seattle's police chief, Kerlikowske pledged to reach out to the African-American community. But he struggled at times dealing with excessive force allegations against his officers, and in 2007, the NAACP called for his resignation surrounding a specific case.

Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes was arrested in 2005 for obstruction of justice while he was leaving a club in Seattle. He was beaten and later sued the city for violating his civil rights. The city's Office of Professional Accountability, which overseas police investigations and is run by a civilian, recommended discipline for all three officers involved in the arrest, but Kerlikowske did not punish any of them.

Kerlikowske also drew heat after Mardi Gras riots in Seattle in 2001. He had deployed hundreds of police officers to monitor a chaotic area for Mardi Gras, but when riots broke out, the police waited until the crowd dispersed before moving in to stop the violence. The riots left one person dead and another person seriously injured and caused thousands of dollars in damage. "I think we moved in at the proper time given the size of that crowd, the mob mentality that existed and what I saw," Kerlikowske said. "And I take responsibility, and I stand by that decision. Every police decision, especially in this particular situation, is that we are damned if we do and damned if we don't."

The Network

Kerlikowske is said to be close to Attorney General Eric Holder, who was deputy attorney general under President Bill Clinton while Kerlikowske was deputy director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

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