Two Baltimore police officers described as being "in the game" in the infamous Stop Snitching DVD were charged by federal authorities yesterday with robbing criminals, selling confiscated drugs and pocketing the profits.
The arrests served as the latest fallout from the street-level distribution of a homegrown video that unabashedly promoted the city's drug trade and threatened those who would dare testify against its purveyors.
Officers William A. King and Antonio L. Murray were mentioned by name in Stop Snitching, said city Police Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm. At a news conference yesterday, Hamm said: "I think the people who were on that video, if you've seen that video, were so brazen in all of their actions, why not" mention the officers' names?
King, 35, of Baltimore, and Murray, 34, of Abingdon, each joined the city Police Department in 1992 and last worked in its public housing crime unit. Last night, both were in federal custody.
"These corrupt police officers betrayed their shields, their fellow officers and the citizens they were sworn to protect," interim Maryland U.S. Attorney Allen F. Loucks said. "In bringing this indictment, we will ensure that these defendants will be brought to justice, and that the unlawful conduct of these rogue cops will not tarnish the reputation of their honorable fellow officers."
Stop Snitching started modestly on the streets of Baltimore, selling for as little as $10.
But when discovered by authorities late last year, the amateur production quickly became a powerful symbol of loudmouthed lawlessness in the city.
It tarnished the reputation of a Baltimore-bred professional basketball player who made an appearance in the video. Yesterday, NBA star Carmelo Anthony apologized, saying he would appear in a government-sanctioned video to counter the impact of Stop Snitching.
Stop Snitching also served as a rallying cry in Annapolis this year in the successful effort to strengthen the state's law on protecting witnesses from intimidation. Its ripple effects also buffeted the Police Department. Just this week, officials issued the Keep Talking DVD, their own response to Stop Snitching in the hopes of reassuring a wary public that drug dealing and witness intimidation could be put in check.
Four people who appeared in Stop Snitching have also been charged. The latest, Van A. Sneed, 29, was picked up April 30. In the video, he appears to smoke marijuana, and calls snitches "cowards."
