{{Infobox police officer |name = Leonard Hamm |image = Leonard Hamm (2007) (1).jpg |caption = |birth_date = |badge_number = |birth_place = |nickname = |department = [[Baltimore Police Department]] |service = United States |service_years = 1974-2007 |rank = [[List of Commissioners of the Baltimore Police Department|Commissioner]] |awards = |relatives = |other_work = }}
'''Leonard Hamm''' is a former [[commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department]] who served as the head of the department from 2004 to 2007.<ref>{{cite news| title=Bealefeld urges more effort to fight violent crime| url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/crime/bal-md.ci.bealefeld19nov19,0,6027326.story| newspaper=The Baltimore Sun}}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
==Biography== Hamm grew up in [[Baltimore]]'s [[Cherry Hill, Baltimore|Cherry Hill]] neighborhood, attended [[Baltimore City College]] and joined the department in 1974.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web | title=Brass Tacks: An Interview With Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm | url=http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=13595 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100221084358/http://citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=13595 | archivedate=2010-02-21 }}</ref> He would eventually rise to the rank of Lieutenant and then Major under former commissioner Thomas Frazier, becoming the Baltimore Police Department's first [[African American]] officer to command the Central District.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> With a rising homicide rate, departmental personnel problems and a mayoral election approaching, Hamm was asked to resign by Mayor [[Sheila Dixon]] in the summer of 2007.<ref>{{cite web | title=Mayor To Announce Hamm's Resignation | url=http://www.wbaltv.com/news/13707552/detail.html | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716094800/http://www.wbaltv.com/news/13707552/detail.html | archivedate=2011-07-16 }}</ref> Hamm was succeeded by Deputy Commissioner for Operations [[Frederick H. Bealefeld III]], a 26-year veteran of the force.<ref>{{cite web | title=The Police Commissioner | url=http://www.baltimorepolice.org/about-us/officers/police-commissioner | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626200926/http://www.baltimorepolice.org/about-us/officers/police-commissioner | archivedate=2008-06-26 }}</ref> Hamm worked as the Chief of Campus Police at [[Coppin State University]] in Baltimore until June 2021.
In 2015 Hamm's memoirs were published, ''The Hamm Rules on Relationships, Leadership, Love and Community''. http://www.hammrules.com/
==Family== In June 2008, it was discovered that Hamm's 39-year-old stepdaughter Nicole Sesker was found murdered in Northwest Baltimore.<ref>{{cite web | title=Wounds show that Sesker was strangled | url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-md.briefs290jun29,0,6875851.story?track=rss }}{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Leonard Hamm's Stepdaughter Murdered | url=http://www.abc2news.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=098a880b-e9de-4fcf-ae74-1fe9617e6460&rss=702 }}{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> At the time of her death, she struggled with addiction and had also traded sex for housing, food, drugs and money. Sesker was a former volunteer and employee of [[Power Inside]], a local women's group that assists women on the streets. Sesker used her experiences to inspire and educate others through media advocacy and public speaking. In 2004 she wrote, "I left prison with a made-up mind that I wouldn't be one of the ones that said something needs to be changed. I would help the changes be made. I would be, and am, a voice the public can't ignore.".<ref>[http://www.powerinside.org Power Inside<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
One of Hamm's grandsons, [[Malik Hamm]] is a linebacker for the [[Baltimore Ravens]].
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
{{s-start}} {{s-civ|pol}} {{succession box|before=[[Kevin P. Clark]]|title=[[Baltimore Police Department Commissioner]]|years=2004-2007 |after=[[Frederick H. Bealefeld III]]}} {{s-end}} {{Baltimore Police Department}} {{Commissioners of the Baltimore Police Department|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamm, Leonard}} [[Category:African-American police officers]] [[Category:21st-century American police officers]] [[Category:Commissioners of the Baltimore Police Department|H]] [[Category:Baltimore City College alumni]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]] [[Category:21st-century African-American people]]