Frank Battaglia is a former Baltimore Police Department officer who was

commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

of the Department between 1981 and 1984.

Biography

Battaglia was the only

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...

police commissioner of Baltimore, controlling a police department previously dominated by

Irish-American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

police officers during a time period nicknamed the "Holy Roman Empire." Battaglia would lose the post for a consultant position in 1984 to Bishop L. Robinson as Mayor Donald Schaefer shifted control of the department to the city's majority

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

community. It was under Battaglia that former BPD officer

Gary D'Addario Gary D'Addario is an American retired police commander, television technical advisor and actor from Baltimore, Maryland. D'Addario joined the Baltimore police department in 1967. An Italian-American, D'Addario advanced in the department easily ...

was elevated to the rank of lieutenant. D'Addario is best known as the shift commander featured in

David Simon David Judah Simon (born February 9, 1960) is an American author, journalist, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work on ''The Wire'' (2002–08). He worked for ''The Baltimore Sun'' City Desk for twelve years (1982–95), wrote '' Hom ...

's Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets book and was the inspiration for the character of

Al Giardello Alphonse Michael 'Gee' Giardello Sr. is a fictional character from the television drama '' Homicide: Life on the Street''. The character was played by Yaphet Kotto. He is based on Baltimore Police Department Shift Lieutenant Gary D'Addario, a membe ...

seen on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

's Homicide: Life on the Street. During the

Baltimore riot of 1968 The Baltimore riot of 1968 was a period of civil unrest that lasted from April 6 to April 14, 1968, in Baltimore. The uprising included crowds filling the streets, burning and looting local businesses, and confronting the police and national gua ...

, Battaglia was ranked as a Lieutenant Colonel and was the Department's official Field Force Commander."EVER ON THE WATCH" THE HISTORY OF THE BALTIMORE POLICE DEPARTMENT by W.M.Hackley

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Battaglia, Frank American people of Italian descent Commissioners of the Baltimore Police Department Living people Year of birth missing (living people)