Baltimore Police Department

Baltimore Police Department
Abbreviation	BPD
Patch of the Baltimore Police Department
Agency overview
Formed	1845
Employees	4,000
Legal personality	Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction*	City of Baltimore in the state of Maryland, United States
Size	238.5 km²
Population	650,000
General nature	Law enforcement Local civilian police
Operational structure
Headquarters	Baltimore, Maryland
Officers	3,100
Unsworn members	900
Agency executive	Frederick H. Bealefeld III, Commissioner
Facilities
Districts	9
Website
Baltimore Police Website
Footnotes
* Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction.

The Baltimore Police Department (BPD) provides police services to the city of Baltimore, Maryland and was officially established by the Maryland Legislature on March 16, 1853. It is organized into ten districts, nine based on geographical areas and the Public Housing Section, and is responsible for policing 78.3 square miles (203 km²) of land and 7.7 square miles (20 km²) of waterways.

Contents 1 History 1.1 African Americans in the department 1.2 Mergers 2 Staffing 3 Rank structure and insignia 4 Police Commissioners 5 Operations Bureau 5.1 Patrol Division 5.2 Criminal Investigation Division (CID) 5.3 Violent Crime Impact Division (VCID) 5.4 Homeland Security Division 6 Equipment 6.1 Fleet 6.2 Weapons 7 Controversy 7.1 Criticism 7.1.1 Arrests for minor offenses 7.2 Notable incidents 7.2.1 Ed Norris 7.2.2 Flex Squad scandal 7.2.3 Arrest quotas controversy 7.2.4 Detectives Murray and King 7.2.5 Gerard Mungo 7.2.6 Salvatore Rivieri 8 In popular culture 8.1 Controversy 9 See also 10 References

History

The first attempt to establish a police department in Baltimore occurred in 1784, nearly 60 years after the founding of the original town, when a guard force of constables were authorized to enforce town laws and arrest those in violation. In 1845 the current Baltimore Police Department was founded by the state legislature “to provide for a better security for life and property in the City of Baltimore". In 1861, during the U.S. Civil War, the police department was taken over by the federal government and run by the U.S. Military until it was turned back over to the legislature in 1862.

BPD has evolved its crime fighting technology and techniques over the years beginning with the introduction of call boxes in 1885. Other major technological upgrades include the introduction of the Bertillion system in 1896, police radio communications in 1933, a police laboratory in 1950, computerized booking procedures and 911 emergency systems in 1985, the first ever 311 non emergency system and CCTV cameras (like those in the United Kingdom) in 1996, and the CitiStat system in 2000. ^[1]

In July 1974 officers joined other striking municipal workers for five days during the Baltimore police strike.

As of a 2000 survey published by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2003, BPD is the 8th largest municipal police department in the United States with a total of 3,034 police officers. Comparatively as of the 2000 U.S. census Baltimore ranked as the 17th largest city in the United States with a population of 651,154.

The first BPD officer to die in the line of duty occurred when Sergeant William Jourdan was shot and killed by an unknown gunman during the first city council elections on October 14, 1857. Night Watchman George Workner was the first law enforcement officer to be killed in the city when he was stabbed during an escape attempt by nine inmates in the Baltimore Jail on March 14, 1808, but his death predates the founding of the department. As of 2006 there have been 118 police officers killed in the line of duty, which is by far the largest total in Maryland. The next largest total belongs to the Maryland State Police, with 39 troopers killed in the line of duty as of 2005.

African Americans in the department

A historically Irish American dominated police department,^[2] African Americans were not hired as police officers until 1937 when Violet Hill Whyte became the BPD's first African American officer.^[3] The first African American male officers Walter T. Eubanks Jr., Harry S. Scott, Milton Gardner, and J. Hiram Butler Jr. were hired in 1938, all of whom were assigned to plainclothes. ^[4] In 1943, African American officers were finally allowed to wear police uniforms, and by 1950, there were 50 African American officers in the department.^[4] Patrolman Henry Smith Jr. became the first African American officer to die in the line of duty in 1962, when he was shot to death breaking up a dice game on North Milton Avenue in East Baltimore.^[5] The department itself had not fully integrated until 1966.^[6]

Prior to 1966, African American officers were limited to foot patrols as they were barred from the use of squad cars. These officers were quarantined in rank, barred from patrolling in White neighborhoods, and would often only be given specialty assignments in positions in the Narcotics division or as undercover plainclothes officers.^[6] Further, African American officers were the target of racial harassment from their Caucasian coworkers and African American citizens in the communities they patrolled. During this time African American officers were subject to racial slurs from white co-workers during roll call,^[7] and encountered degrading racial graffiti in the very districts/units they were assigned. During this time period, two future police commissioners of Baltimore, Bishop L. Robinson and Edward J. Tilghman were amongst Baltimore's African American police officers.^[6]

During the civil rights movement, trust between the department and the largely African American city were strained. Racial riots due to police brutality were occurring all over America, and the racial mistreatment at the hands of several White officers labeled Baltimore as a trouble spot for violence. The police force at the time was also under study of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) as the department was severely troubled at the time. The IACP report showed the BPD to be the most corrupt and antiquated in the nation with an almost non-existent relationship with Baltimore's African American community. This lack of relationship resulted in African American citizens being subject to both excessive force from police officers, and retaliation from community members for interacting with city police officers.^[6] The changes demanded in the report occurred almost overnight with the hiring of new police commissioner Donald Pomerleau. Pomerleau himself was a prior-service Marine who authored the IACP report committed to changing the department and improving relations with Baltimore's African American community.^[6]

Since Pomerleau's hiring, the department made reforms to improve the relations with Baltimore's growing African American community ending the segregationist practices within the department. In 1968, racial rioting in response to the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. broke out across Baltimore's African American neighborhoods. As few African American officers held rank within the department during the riot^[8] the white dominated police department found itself at odds against the African American community. In 1971, the Vanguard Justice Society was founded, an organization representing the rights and interests of the department's African American officers.^[9] Throughout the 1970s, more African Americans advanced in the department^[9] such as Eastern District Captain Bishop L. Robinson in 1972^[10] and Western District Major James Watkins in 1973.^[11] Both officers were commanders in two districts located in the heart of many of East and West Baltimore's historical African American communities. In 1984, in a political move by Mayor Donald Schaefer to give the majority African American population more power in the city, Bishop L. Robinson was named as Baltimore's Police Commissioner.^[12] Robinson was the first African American police officer to command the department which was previously controlled by Irish American and Italian American police officers.^[13][14] The department also redefined several of its racial policies in direct response to riots in Los Angeles and Miami as a means of avoiding similar racial tension in a city with a larger percentage of African American citizens.

Currently, the department is administered by Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III and Deputy Commissioner of Administration Deborah A. Owens, both of whom are white and Deputy Commissioner of Operations Anthony E. Barksdale who is African American. ^[15]

During Martin O'Malley's administration as mayor, the department had become 43% African American.^[16] While progress has been made to improve the department's relationship with Baltimore's now majority African American community, improvements are still being made to the department which for several years has been subject to criticism for its treatment of African American citizens. Police community relations have remained strained with the war on drugs that has plagued several African American neighborhoods in East and West Baltimore and coincidentally enough, many of the most despised officers in several of Baltimore's African American neighborhoods are also African American. ^[17]

Mergers

In the early 1960s the Baltimore City Park Police were absorbed into the Baltimore Police Department. In 2005, the Housing Authority of Baltimore City Police were disbanded and operations taken over by the Baltimore Police Department. Housing Authority officers, if they desired, had to apply for jobs with the city police losing their time and seniority they had from previous employment with the Housing Authority of Baltimore City. There is current talk of merging the Baltimore Schools Police into the department as well though it is unclear if those officers would have to reapply for positions within the Baltimore Police Department and what if any job benefits such as seniority and pension they might be able to bring with them in the new position.

Staffing

The Baltimore Police Department is staffed by nearly 4000 civilian and sworn personnel. These include dispatchers, crime lab technicians, chaplains and unarmed auxiliary police officers.

Rank structure and insignia

The Baltimore Police Department uses these sworn personnel ranks:

Title	Insignia
Police Commissioner
Deputy Police Commissioner
Chief
Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel
Major
Captain
Lieutenant
Sergeant
Detective
Police Officer

Police Commissioners

• Charles Howard, 1850-61
• Nicholas L.Wood, 1862-64
• Samuel Hindes, 1864-66
• James Young, 1866-67
• LeFevre Jarrett, 1867-70
• John W. Davis, 1870-71
• William H.B. Fusselbaugh, 1871-81
• George Colton, 1881-87
• Edson M. Schryver, 1887-97
• Daniel C. Heddinger, 1897-1900
• George M. Upsher, 1900-04
• George R. Willis, 1904-08
• Sherlock Swann, 1908-10
• John B.A. Wheltle, 1910-12
• Morris A. Soper, 1912-13
• James McEvoy, 1913-14
• Daniel C. Ammidon, 1914-16
• Lawrason Riggs, 1916-20
• Charles D. Gaither, 1920-37
• William Lawson, 1937-38
• Robert F. Stanton, 1938-43
• Hamilton R. Atkinson, 1943-49
• Beverly Ober, 1949-55
• James M. Hepbron, 1955-61
• Bernard Schmidt, 1961-66
• Donald D. Pomerleau, 1966-81
• Frank J. Battaglia, 1981-84
• Bishop L. Robinson, 1984-87 (first African American commissioner)^[12]
• Edward J. Tilghman, 1987-89
• Edward V. Woods, 1989-93
• Thomas C. Frazier, 1994-99
• Ronald L.Daniel, 2000
• Edward T. Norris, 2000-02
• Kevin P. Clark, 2003-04
• Leonard D. Hamm, 2004-2007
• Frederick H. Bealefeld III, 2007-Present

Source: Baltimore Sun^[18]

Operations Bureau

The Operations Bureau is Headed by the Deputy Commissioner of Operations and is divided into the following divisions:

Patrol Division

Chief of Patrol

Eastern Area

• Southeastern District
• Eastern District
• Northeastern District
• Northern District

Western Area

• Central District
• Northwestern District
• Western District
• Southwestern District
• Southern District

Public Housing Section

Community Mediation

Adult & Juvenile Booking

Criminal Investigation Division (CID)

Chief of CID (Referred to as the "Chief of Detectives")

District Investigation Section (DIS)

• Central District Detective Unit (DDU)
• Southeast District DDU
• Eastern District DDU
• Northeast District DDU
• Northern District DDU
• Northwest District DDU
• Western District DDU
• Southwest District DDU
• Southern District DDU

Special Investigation Section (SIS)

• Arson Unit
• Missing Persons Unit
• Sex Offense Unit
• Child Abuse Unit
• Pawn Shop Unit
• Check and Fraud Unit
• State's Attorney's Office Unit

Escape and Apprehension Section

• Warrant Apprehension Task Force (WATF)

Homicide Section

• Homicide Investigation Unit
• Homicide Cold Case Unit
• Homicide Operations Unit

Citywide Robbery Unit

Laboratory Section

Sex Offender Registry Unit

Violent Crime Impact Division (VCID)

Chief of VCID

• Narcotics Unit
• Vice Unit
• Gun Task Force
• Western Module
• Eastern Module
• Northwest Module

Homeland Security Division

Chief of Homeland Security

Special Ops Section

• SWAT
• K9 Unit
• Traffic Unit
• Marine/Emergency Service Units
• Aviation Unit
• Special Events
• Administrative

Intelligence Section

• Gang Unit
• Cyber Crimes Unit
• Computer Crimes/Invesitgations/Executive Protection
• Watch Center/HQ Building Security
• Technical Assistance Response Unit (TARU)
• Closed Circuit TV (CCTV)

Equipment

Fleet

The Baltimore Police Department fleet consists of primarily the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor and Chevrolet Impala. Some older Chevrolet Caprices may be seen as some are still in service. Motorcycles are Harley Davidson. Vehicles are white with blue and silver striping. A replica of an officer's badge is on the driver's and front passenger door. Unmarked Dodge Chargers and assorted Kias are used by some command staff and specialized units.

Weapons

The primary service weapon is the Glock 22 .40 caliber pistol. Officers are also issued a Monadnock expandable straight baton, Taser X26 and OC pepper spray. Remington 870 shotguns are available as well as a less lethal model of the 870. In heavy situations, officers may employ the use of the G36, which fires the 5.56 NATO round.

The espantoon is a type of wooden police baton that is distinct to the city of Baltimore and has been in use for generations. It is equipped with a leather strap with which it can be twirled. Between 1994 and 2000, the espantoon was banned in favor of the koga stick due to police commissioner Thomas Frazier's perception that its twirling intimated the citizenry. In 2000, Edward T. Norris assumed the office of police commissioner and lifted the ban on the espantoon, although he did not mandate its use. The move was made as part of a general effort to boost morale and instill a more aggressive approach to policing in Baltimore. Norris stated, "When I found out what they meant to the rank and file, I said, 'Bring them back.' ... It is a tremendous part of the history of this Police Department." While the move did not make the espantoon an issued item by the department as it once was, it remains to this day an optional piece of carry equipment.

^[19][20]

Controversy

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (November 2008)

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008)

BPD has experienced negative publicity in recent years due to several high profile corruption and brutality allegations, including the 2005 arrest of Officers William A. King and Antonio L. Murray by the FBI for federal drug conspiracy charges.^[21]

Criticism

During the past generation, the Baltimore Police Department has faced criticism from local media, elected officials, and citizen advocacy groups. The criticism has pertained to the high crime rate in the city of Baltimore, which in some years has been ranked among the highest in the nation. Accusations include numerous arrests of innocent minority citizens for seemingly minor offenses, and the failure to sufficiently assist minority victims of crime.

Arrests for minor offenses

In the mid-2000s, local media in the Baltimore area exposed numerous cases of the Baltimore City Police arresting people for seemingly minor offenses, detaining them at Central Booking for several hours. Many were released without charges. Some were reportedly detained at Central Booking for several days before seeing a court commissioner. All arrestees in Maryland are required to have an initial appearance before a court commissioner within 24 hours of their arrest.

It should also be noted that correctional officers at Central Booking were rumored to be on a work slowdown during this time. Corrections personnel are prohibited from striking.

The exposure of these cases led to judicial and legislative action. In 2005, the Maryland Court of Appeals ordered all arrestees not charged within 24 hours to be released.

On May 16, 2006, a Baltimore city police officer, Nancy Preston, arrested a Virginian couple for asking for directions to a major highway. The couple, released after seven hours in city jail, were not charged with any crime. They were initially taken into custody for trespassing on a public street. Their vehicle was impounded at the city lot, with windows down and doors unlocked, resulting in theft of several personal items.^[22]

In 2007, the state of Maryland passed a law requiring the automatic expungement of the record of one who is arrested, but then released without being charged, thereby eliminating the dilemma many such victims faced that would prevent them from passing a criminal background check if the record remained, but would not allow for a wrongful arrest lawsuit if the record were expunged.^[23]

Notable incidents

Ed Norris

Former Commissioner Ed Norris was indicted on three charges by US Attorney Thomas DiBiagio. Two of the counts charged Norris had made illegal personal expenditures from the Baltimore Police Department’s supplemental account. The third count alleged that he had lied on a mortgage application, stating that approximately $9,000 he received from his father was not a gift—as was stated in the loan papers—but a loan. As part of a plea bargain in May 2004, Norris pleaded guilty to the first two counts and was sentenced to six months in federal prison, six months of home detention, and 500 hours of community service, which Judge Dick Bennett said must be served in Baltimore. The plea bargain avoided a possible 30-year sentence on the mortgage fraud charge.

Flex Squad scandal

A rash of high profile corruption and brutality allegations have surfaced in late 2005 and early 2006, including the suspensions and arrests of Southwestern District flex squad officers for the alleged rape of a 22 year old woman they had taken into custody for illegal possession of narcotics. All criminal charges against the accused officers have since been dropped. ^[24]

Stories surfaced about flex squad officers planting evidence on citizens. Murder charges were dropped by the city when it was revealed that a gunman was dropped off in rival gang territory after a police interrogation in a squad car. The man was beaten badly and exacted his revenge the next day. The squad's role in the shooting prompted State's Attorney Patricia Jessamy to drop the charges.

Arrest quotas controversy

Amid all this, intense criticism has surfaced regarding so-called "stop-and-frisk" arrest procedures and their alleged misuse by the BPD. The president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, Lieutenant Paul Blair, has stated that there are arrest quotas at work in the police department which lead to Baltimore's astronomical arrest rate, and to roughly 1/3 of the charges being dismissed by the State's Attorney's office.

Many of these arrests were for "quality of life" violations such as drinking in public, loitering and public urination. Criminal citations have generally been used for these types of offences however, BPD General Orders and State law forbid these being issued to persons not possessing a valid state issued identification. In cases where a defendant does not have the required identification, the officer may make an arrest.

Detectives Murray and King

William A. King and Antonio L. Murray are two former Baltimore Police Department officers sentenced to a total of 454 years in prison after an FBI investigation in 2005. The conviction of King and Murray came about due to the work of the Baltimore-based Stop Snitchin' campaign, in which the two officers were identified on video as being involved in drug dealing.

Gerard Mungo

On March 17, 2007, police arrested 7-year-old Gerard Mungo while sitting in front of his house on a dirtbike. Though he was seated on the dirtbike at the time of the arrest, officers reported they saw him riding it earlier. Baltimore City local law prohibits the operation of vehicles with an engine capacity of less than 50cc inside the city limits. However, Police Ordances passed by City Council, Article 19 Section 40-6 states that any and all unregistered motor bikes, dirt bikes, scooters, or anything similar in nature is illegal in Baltimore City. Officers stated they were "following procedure" in making a physical arrest. The boy's mother soon was arrested for disorderly conduct a few weeks later in an unrelated incident when she tried to bar plain clothes officers from entering her sister's apartment in pursuit of a felony drug suspect.^[25]

Salvatore Rivieri

Salvatore Rivieri was suspended and placed under investigation following the release of a video on YouTube of mistreatment of a 14-year-old for using a skateboard at the Inner Harbor tourist area, where skateboards are prohibited. In the video the officer was seen berating and manhandling the teenager. The story received national news coverage.

In popular culture

• The BPD was portrayed in the NBC television series Homicide: Life on the Street produced by David Simon. The show ran for seven seasons and spawned a TV movie. The series was based on the book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. At times, there has also been crossover in stories and characters from Law & Order and Homicide: Life on the Street.
• The HBO original series The Wire features the department, portraying it as a dysfunctional organization whose effectiveness is often impaired by office politics.
• Of Dolls and Murder, a documentary film, follows members of the Baltimore Homicide Department as they try and solve cold cases. It also looks at The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, a series of tiny crime scene dioramas that the Baltimore police famously use for training in forensics.^[26] These training dioramas provided inspiration for The Miniature Killer, a recurring character in the television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
• The TV series Rescue 911, which aired 1989-1996, often showed a Baltimore police car in the introduction to many stories.

Controversy

The portrayals of Baltimore City in The Wire and Homicide: Life on the Street have received negative criticism from Baltimore politicians such as former mayor Martin O'Malley and current mayor Sheila Dixon. The politicians have argued that the shows glorify the levels of violence within the city and give Baltimore a negative image.^{[citation needed]}, In contrast, the police department has been relatively supportive of the shows, stating that the crime within the city has been accurately portrayed.^[27] Several current and former members of the police force have served as technical advisors for the Baltimore based shows and some, such as former Major Gary D'Addario, have been dismissed from the department for assisting the shows' producers and directors.^[28]

See also

• List of law enforcement agencies in Maryland

References

This article's citation style may be unclear. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking. (September 2009)

• A collection of Baltimore Sun articles about Baltimore's troubled jail facilities
• Baltimore Police website
• Baltimore Police history
• CitiStat website
• William and King article from the Baltimore Sun
• Local Police Departments 2000 survey from the U.S. Department of Justice
• Top 50 U.S. cities by population from Infoplease.com
• List of Baltimore Police Officers killed in the line of duty from the Officer Down Memorial Page.
• FOP Lodge 3 site
• Folsom, de Francias. Our Police: A History of the Baltimore Force from the First Watchman to the Latest Appointee (1888). Provides a detailed (532 pages + roster of officers) contemporary account of the police force in nineteenth-century Baltimore.
• Melton, Tracy Matthew. Hanging Henry Gambrill: The Violent Career of Baltimore's Plug Uglies, 1854-1860 (2005). Describes how the response to deadly gang violence led to the development of a professional police force in Baltimore during the 1850s.

v • d • e City of Baltimore Government Mayor (Sheila Dixon) • City Council • City Hall • Delegates • Senators • Courts Public Service Police • Schools (CEO), Transportation (Subway • Light Rail • Buses) City Life Neighborhoods • People • Culture • Skyscrapers • Museums Professional Sports Orioles • Ravens • Blast • Mariners • Preakness