“I love this police department and I love this city,” Capt. J. Eric Kowalczyk told The Brew after announcing that tomorrow will be his last day as chief of media relations. He will leave the force in the near future.

His departure comes a week after his boss, Anthony W. Batts, was fired as police commissioner because his leadership was deemed a “distraction” to fighting a spike in homicides by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

Along with Batts and the new interim police commissioner, Kevin Davis, Kowalczyk was the voice and face of the department during the Freddie Gray protest marches, April 27 riot, citywide curfew, arrival of National Guard troops and indictment of six police officers in connection with Gray’s death.

Today he put aside those traumatic days – and, more recently, criticism of his tenure by the Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police – to speak about his enjoyment of the job.

“I loved speaking for the 3,000 men and women of the force, who are across-the-board overwhelmingly committed to their jobs, and creating new ways to tell what the department is doing in the community.”

He said he will remain a resident of Baltimore and get involved in a company that will “help to shape communications strategies for law enforcement agencies across the nation.”

On Foot in the Hood

Kowalczyk, 37, joined the BPD in 2002. His first assignment was foot patrol in East Baltimore. He said he learned some important lessons about how to keep a step ahead of criminals with residents’ help.

Homeowners, he recalled, would sometimes whisper through their rowhouse windows to alert him to “individuals bringing destruction and harm” to the community.

“It taught me that, whatever the neighborhood, there were good people wanting to do the right thing,” he said.

From Eastern, he moved to the Southeastern and Southern districts, doing midnight patrols in Pigtown and working in a detail that closed down 300 houses, mostly in Brooklyn and Curtis Bay, that were used by drug dealers.

Promoted to sergeant, he helped organize security operations for the 2011 Grand Prix and put together the “largest unified command center” for the Star-Spangled Sailabration ceremonies that attracted one million visitors to the Inner Harbor in 2012.

“A Serious Error”

He was assigned to media relations after Batts became commissioner in 2012. Last January, he was promoted to captain.

As the chief police spokesman, Kowalczyk said he was proud to have established a unified email address to handle media inquiries and to expand the department’s presence on Twitter and Facebook.

Through social media he tried to alert the public to services that officers were performing in their districts, such as athletic coaches, reading mentors and youth ministers in churches.

Hours before the April 27 riot, his office issued a statement saying there was a credible threat by gangs to “take out” law enforcement personnel. The FOP’s After Action Review of the riot, issued last week, charged that the media office “committed a serious error” by issuing such an unconfirmed report.

Kowalczyk earlier defended the statement, saying his office “acted out of an abundance of caution rather than see an officer injured or killed and would do so again.”

Today he said he saw no need to comment on the FOP review except to say that he hoped that any future reports about the riot would “build stronger bridges” between the police and the community.