Baltimore police will no longer release the names of officers who kill or injure people, changing a long-standing practice that the department believes put officers at risk.
The decision is prompting criticism from several Baltimore leaders, who said withholding officers' names will only endanger an already tenuous relationship between the police and the community. Baltimore police shot 21 people last year, 13 of them fatally - the same number killed by police in 2007, when 31 people were shot. Those numbers are up from 2006, when 15 were shot and five killed.
"If we're ever going to get to a point where the community trusts the police, we need to have some transparency and full disclosure about what's happening," said state Sen. Lisa A. Gladden, a West Baltimore Democrat who is a public defender.
The Police Department is asking residents to become more engaged in their neighborhoods and to work with police to solve crimes and overcome a "Stop Snitching" culture. Marvin L. "Doc" Cheatham Sr., president of the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP, said he wouldn't want police to give out information that endangers officers, but he said the new policy "doesn't help" improve community relations.
"We've got to find more and better ways to bring the community and police together," he said. "This may not sit too well with many of us."
Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III declined to comment on the change, saying he left the decision to new department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. The new policy mirrors those of some other departments and is designed to protect officers from retaliation, Guglielmi said.
A spokesman for Mayor Sheila Dixon said she will not interfere with the department's decision.
Regionally and across the country, police agencies differ in their disclosure of police-involved shootings; some release the names within hours and others withhold the information altogether.
The police union applauded the policy change. Robert F. Cherry, president of the Baltimore police union and a former homicide detective, said the department vigorously investigates shootings that involve officers.
"If anything, the investigation is more intensive than for the average citizen," Cherry said. "The only thing the department is doing differently is choosing not to release their name. ... I'm surprised we haven't gone to this earlier."
