ShareThisIn the late 1980s, the population of Port St. Lucie, a sleepy Florida city, was exploding. And so was its crime rate.
For the city's police chief at the time, Gil Kerlikowske, the issue was clear: How to strike the right balance between combating the climbing crime rate with the limited resources of a public agency.
Kerlikowske's solution: Admit he didn't have all the answers, and ask the community for input.
A fuller picture of Kerlikowske's history of alternative-policing methods has emerged, as the 36-year law-enforcement veteran is poised to become President Obama's drug czar.
On Wednesday, Kerlikowske, 59, currently Seattle's police chief, is scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing, one of three nominees for different posts to be considered in a single afternoon. The packed schedule indicates little controversy has stirred about him, likely making his hearing an uncontested formality.
With a record of alternative-policing strategies and youth intervention programs, Kerlikowske has drawn insignificant opposition.
"He is a top-flight police executive who understands the complexity of the drug problem and its impact on our cities," said Tom Cochran, executive director of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
As Kerlikowske sails toward confirmation, new financial-disclosure documents reveal him to be rich. He has a net worth just under $2 million.
Documents released ahead of the hearing show that Kerlikowske reported his net worth to be $1.95 million, including $62,000 cash on hand. His annual salary as Seattle police chief is $216,515, and he receives a $900-a-month pension from St. Petersburg, Fla., where he worked as an officer, detective, sergeant and lieutenant from 1972 to 1987.
In all, Kerlikowske has some $2.5 million in assets, including $723,000 in real estate and $1.2 million in cars and other personal property, according to his financial statement. His only financial liability is a $602,000 mortgage.
Kerlikowske's police career began in St. Petersburg in 1972. From there, he left to become police chief in Port St. Lucie, where he served until 1990.
While Port St. Lucie chief, Kerlikowske struggled with the area's booming growth. The city's population increased from 14,000 in 1980 to 54,000 in 1989. Trying to address the "explosion of growth," as Kerlikowske put it in a 1989 article in the Florida Police Chief that he co-authored, he reached out to community members.
Kerlikowske has also been a forceful advocate for child-care programs, writing editorials and letters to the editor in support of programs that provide care for at-risk children. He often references academic studies, arguing that spending on early-childhood programs keeps children from committing acts of crime when they get older.
Kerlikowske, chairman of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a national advocacy group, said in 2007 that he became interested in prevention programs as police chief in Fort Pierce, Fla., after a 19-year-old shot and killed a cop. The teen had had a history of problems, tracing back to age 8.
(Isaac Wolf is a reporter for Scripps Howard News Service. E-mail him at wolfi(at)shns.com)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
