With five homicides in the first four months of this year - a record pace, albeit a drop in the bucket in Baltimore terms - and growing concern about other crime, people are clamoring for change now. And Chief Pristoop, 42, said it's coming.

"Very soon we're going to see some pretty good stuff," he told me. "There is a sense of urgency (among residents). We're going to make sure there is a sense of urgency and focus (in the city Police Department), and the officers are going to buy into our strategy."

Chief Pristoop said he already has experience with community policing as well as the kind of stark disparities he'll face in Annapolis. In his last posting in Baltimore, he commanded the Northern District, which includes wealthy enclaves like Roland Park as well as public housing projects and poor neighborhoods.

Mayor Ellen Moyer deserves credit for picking a young chief to bring new ideas. She could have made a safer move, promoting an interim chief from within. But the choice of an outside person suggests that the mayor, who didn't respond to my requests for comment, sees the need for change - an attitude that hasn't always been evident.

It's fair to ask why Ms. Moyer waited to make a change like this until near the end of her administration. A new mayor will be sworn in 19 months from now, and it's likely Ms. Moyer would have kept Chief Joseph Johnson until the end of her term had he not retired because of medical concerns.

Chief Johnson wasn't, by most measures, a bad leader. He's widely credited with running a clean and professional department for 14 years. But as in any institution, time can be the enemy of new ideas, and those are what city police need now.

Chief Pristoop said using new technology, an area where Annapolis is lacking, will be one of his primary goals. In Baltimore, he used the CitiStat program, modeled on the nationally known Compstat program in New York, which includes crime mapping and other elements.

Chief Pristoop said he's also interested in surveillance cameras, which have been used in Baltimore. New technology, he said, will "give us the tools we need so the front-line officers and supervisors can respond."

The chief hopes his interim job becomes a full-time one, and the mayor has said she'd like to keep him. A national search continues, but Alderman Dave Cordle, one of the search committee chairmen, said it's unclear what the mayor will do with the result.

Mr. Cordle praised Chief Pristoop, saying people he knows have called him "a cop's cop," but expressed some understandable frustration with Ms. Moyer for asking him to lead a search committee but then picking her own outside candidate.

Chief Pristoop said he knows the job isn't just technology. Though he only started Monday, he's already driven through many neighborhoods. Having spent most of his career as a street cop, he wants to be visible and make sure the rank and file know he's with them.

"The officers who do the work who are out there on the streets every day are going to get a renewed sense of focus and mission," he said. "I plan to get out there."

While working full time, Chief Pristoop completed law school in four years at the University of Baltimore. After retiring as a major last year, he spent seven months as chief of police with the Department of General Services, the agency that protects the State House and other government buildings.

That meant he was involved from the start with the 2-month-old Capital City Safe Streets program, a cooperative effort between state and local agencies. That's what brought him to Ms. Moyer's attention.

Chief Pristoop, a married father of two who lives in Baltimore County, said he and his wife come to Annapolis often, drawn like most out-of-towners by the downtown shops and restaurants. (Already showing a diplomatic touch that should serve him well, he declined to name any favorites for fear of offending those he left out. He did allow: "I don't discriminate against any food.") He said he will consider moving to Annapolis.

Other people joining the new chief also offer reason for hope. Beth Hart, who has worked on regional drug trafficking cases in Baltimore, will coordinate the new Capital City Safe Streets program, which brings together state and local resources.

Former New York police commissioner Howard Safir, who now lives in downtown Annapolis and runs a corporate security consulting firm, will volunteer as an adviser to the police department.

New York saw a huge crime drop during Mr. Safir's term under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, though there's debate as to how much of the credit he deserves. He said he'll spend as much time advising as the mayor and chief want.

Among his suggestions: "force multipliers" like so-called intelligent video and shot spotters that can detect gunshots and notify police immediately, increasing their chances of catching shooters.

Mr. Safir praised the selection of a confident, energetic young chief. And he said that with the mayor and governor working together, he's hopeful things will improve - if cautiously so.

"Ask me in six months," he said.