BALTIMORE (AP) - The union representing Baltimore police officers released a blistering report Tuesday that attributed the violence in the community to the department’s mismanagement and renewed its criticism of a crime-fighting plan unveiled this summer by the city’s top cop.
The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 4 argues in the document that the Baltimore Police Department does not have an accurate accounting of employees, is short more than 850 officers, unable to effectively use those among its ranks and lacks effective leadership, with some commanders “confused and conflicted” about federal consent decree reforms.
“In order for any leader to implement improvements and bring about fundamental change, that leader must rely on the men and women who make up the foundation of the organization,” the union wrote. “For the Baltimore Police Department, this foundation consists of sworn law enforcement personnel, along with professional staff. For far too long the BPD ignored their foundation and have allowed its ranks to dwindle, resulting in catastrophic consequences.”
The report comes less than three months after Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison unveiled a plan designed to lower the city’s chronically high rates of violent crime but also transform a police department that is distrusted by many citizens because of past misconduct by officers. It includes immediate efforts to fight crime as well as goals for the next five years addressing a variety of issues, including recruitment, accountability and community engagement.
The blueprint set the goal of a 10-minute response time to calls, with top priority given to those in which life or property is in immediate danger. Under the plan, officers are expected to spend a third of their day - when not responding to calls - in community-engagement efforts.
But the report, which includes recommendations and highlights many of the department’s deficiencies Harrison mentioned in his plan, argues the commissioner’s proposal is full of “politically correct prose” and lacks specifics needed to hold him accountable. The 28-page document argues Harrison is not being truthful when he says the department is short roughly 200 officers and took aim at the consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice.
“(Police commanders), more often than not, impart conflicting direction to their subordinates which creates confusion for the officers who, in turn, have nowhere to go for clarification or explanation,” according to the report. “And, more importantly, they have nowhere to report a commander who, either intentionally or not, orders a subordinate to violate a policy.”
The union also said there’s “widespread fear” among members of making errors and the repercussions they might face, including prosecution.
Harrison fired back during a news conference announcing four arrests in a human trafficking scheme. When asked about the report, he said the union “regurgitated everything” that’s in his plan and turned it into a complaint about what hasn’t been done.
The city had more than 300 homicides in 2018 for the fourth year in a row.
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