Out-Front

Baltimore City PD: DO I STILL WORK HERE?
By: Joel E. Gordon

Thought you heard it all? The Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police took the concept of a “Vote of No Confidence” in the Baltimore City Police Command a step further in releasing a 28-page report entitled "The Mismanagement of the Baltimore Police Department and its Impact on Public Safety," in which the union describes a department in ruins.

Baltimore City FOP Lodge President Mike Mancuso begins the report by writing “They say that change is gradual, and that trying to accomplish too many things at once is what leads to frustration and failure; however, the City is suffering, and people are dying. To that end, I present you with the 2019 Baltimore City Lodge #3, Fraternal Order of Police report on The Mismanagement of the Baltimore Police Department and Its Impact on Public Safety. This report details some of the current deficiencies preventing the Baltimore Police Department from having an effective crime reduction strategy.”

The report goes on to point out that Baltimore City Police Commissioner Michael Harrison's plan has zero specifics or promises on how to fix the problems, but instead focuses on political correctness. A major concern the union raises in the report is the mishandling of staffing and personnel. The FOP says the department's human resources section uses two databases to track employees, and that each one has differing information and is inconsistent with the other.

In its research, the union says it found several examples of how the databases can be misleading on what staffing resources are actually available to the department. According to the union, one of the databases shows two convicted former officers are still active and employed with the agency. The database also says 70 other officers who have left are still there, and 200 who are employed aren't even recorded in the database, including Harrison himself. Meanwhile former commissioners Darryl DeSousa and Kevin Davis are still listed as active acting commissioners. According to the FOP, the larger problem is lack of communication, real time data entry and information sharing, all of which Harrison pledged to improve.

This all led to a flurry of Facebook comments on the department’s apparent inability to know who’s working there by former Baltimore police personnel:

• The more things change, the more they stay the same. SNAFU.

• So they can manipulate the numbers like they always do! This shows that they look pretty whole for officers instead of proving that they are truly under staffed

• If I’m still listed as active, does that bump my pension up? Asking for a friend

• Corporate mismanagement of IT services.

• I got notified that one of my guys had a urine test, but he had been retired for over 6 months. Also I had access to email for close to a year after I retired.

• This points out the fact that there hasn’t been consistent leadership and management in the police department for many years. This is an issue that is critical for so many reasons a few of which are in jail now.

• When I retired tried to turn in my cell phone...they didn't want it??? I was curious so I charged it and guess what? It still works and I can still make calls with it...WTF!!!

• I want back Pay

• Can someone check and see if I'm still working? :)

• 10-18 (Report to the station to which you are assigned)

• Not surprised...I’m probably still active...hell for that matter u too... lol

• ALWAYS PLAYED WITH THE NUMBERS AND NEVER TOLD THE FULL TRUTH.

This is no laughing matter. In the report, the FOP says practices like this have caused patrol to be severely understaffed. The FOP says it found that 20 percent of officers hired since 2018 have left the agency, while 15 percent hired in 2019 have already gone. In those cases, the department has been unable to keep up and replace those officers, which will mark the second straight year that the department has lost more officers than it has hired.

Union officials say 1,100 officers are needed in patrol, and they're currently 450 short of that number, forcing officers to work exorbitant amounts of overtime. The union thinks the problem can be fixed with different allocation of sworn and civilian staff members. The FOP says out of all the new civilian hires, they know of none that resulted in any administrative officers being placed back into the patrol division. Twenty two percent of the civilians have been reportedly placed on Harrison's executive team instead of where they are truly needed.

All of this while the city is averaging one murder per day with homicides up 23 percent while non-fatal shootings increased 24 percent, and with gun crime overall up 23 percent.

The time has come for someone to right this ship. It is sinking fast.

The full report is available @ https://fop3.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Mismanagement-Report-October-2019-Web.pdf

Joel E. Gordon is a former Baltimore City Police Officer and was Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has served as vice-chair of a regional narcotics task force and is a 2020 candidate for Preston County West Virginia Sheriff. An award-winning journalist, he is the author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. stillseekingjustice.com