ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Baltimore Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm has resigned as his department fights a jump in the murder rate, an official with direct knowledge of the decision said Wednesday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Hamm’s departure had not been announced, declined to discuss further details.

There have been 176 murders in Baltimore so far this year, putting the city on pace to top 300 murders for the first time in seven years.

Hamm joined the department in 1974 and became its first black district commander. He was named commissioner in November 2004, becoming the city’s fourth police chief in as many years.

His direct telephone number was not immediately known.

Anthony McCarthy, a spokesman for Mayor Sheila Dixon, declined to comment.

Dixon, who is campaigning to keep the seat she took when then-Mayor Martin O’Malley was elected governor, scheduled a news conference for Thursday morning.

City Council member Keiffer Mitchell, who is also running for mayor, released a statement Wednesday in which he criticizes Dixon’s handling of Hamm and says he called for the commissioner’s resignation weeks ago.

“Decisions of this magnitude should be made with our citizens’ well being in mind, not poll results,” the statement said.

Dixon appeared Wednesday night at a pastors’ conference at a Baltimore church, but did not speak about Hamm or talk to reporters.

Associated Press writers Ben Greene and Wiley Hall in Baltimore contributed to this story.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)