Overview

• Baltimore Police Officers are 100% committed to the City of Baltimore and its safety.
• Their calling is to protect and serve the City of Baltimore.
• This vocation comes with a certain sacrifice which each officer willingly accepts.
• However, the officers believe morale is at an all-time low due, in part, to mixed messages, unclear direction, and changing priorities.
• The officers present at the City Council President’s meeting delivered concrete and practical solutions to the rising crime problems in Baltimore.

Leadership

Lack of effective leadership due to poor communication and unclear direction.

• Officers expressed the desire for changes among command staff to restore morale and trust in leadership.
• Officers need better training and mentorship from superiors.
• Officers receiving mixed messages from City Hall and command staff.

Management

Daily tasks do not accomplish mission of department.

• Officers want better organization of foot patrols including neighborhood intelligence briefings, and strategic placement of patrols.
• Command Staff should be allowed to manage, not forced to patrol.
• Detective division should be given time and resources to make prosecutable cases, not just focus on increasing clearance to make numbers look better.
• Juvenile booking procedures should be streamlined to decrease hours of paperwork.

Internal structure of department is counterproductive.

• Districts and sectors should reflect crime patterns, not just service calls (Planning and Research).
• Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest districts should be broken into four sectors.
• Some specialized units are unnecessary. They should be streamlined based on purpose and need.
• In-service classes should be led by experienced sergeants and other leaders.

Current focus of department is misguided.

• Officers want sufficient time and resources for rooting out organized gang activity, and dismantling the organizations beyond the immediate murder of the day.
• Crime numbers need to be reported accurately, not just to satisfy political pressures.
• Officers need reliable equipment, including batteries, radios, and vehicles.

Coordination

• Other players do not coordinate adequately with police.
• Officers want improved relationship with BCPSS and School Police.
• Reinstitution of “Officer Friendly” program.
• Names of chronic truants should be available to officers.
• Drug treatment, mental health and social services should be available for officers to refer calls to in order to prevent arrests.
• Greater cooperation is needed from Parole and Probation, Office of State’s Attorney, and the Judicial system to focus on repeat offenders.
• Federal partners need to play a greater role in gun and gang cases.

Human Resources

• BPD is used as a training ground for other police forces statewide.
• Officers want greater recruitment efforts to fully staff each district (5.8 officers per post)
• Officers want comparable salaries and benefits to counterparts in County.
• Officers want a 3-district trial of 10-hour work days (4 on, 3 off) to determine feasibility beginning August 1.
• However, the discrepancy between hours worked and vacation time needs to be addressed before such a change becomes permanent.
• Officers want DROP to remain as is.