On Oct. 20, a city police officer shot and wounded a man near an elementary school after chasing him to a breezeway, where he was found crouched with his hands under a black jacket. He threw the jacket at the officer, who shot him in the leg.
If this shooting happened the way police said it did, it will probably be ruled justified by department investigators.
Perhaps it already has been found "within policy." Chances are, you and I will never know much more about the case.
The department's new public affairs director, Anthony Guglielmi, has decided that identities of officers who shoot people will no longer be made public, at least until after all reviews are completed and then only if the officers' actions are deemed unjustified.
Trust us, the police say.
The problem is that many city residents don't trust the cops. In fact, it's the cops who complain that mistrust runs so deep that jurors don't believe them when they testify in court.
Residents in high-crime areas think the cops are out to get them and cover for their own, and this new policy will only reinforce those opinions.
Residents in more affluent parts of town think the cops are purposely not reporting crime to make the city appear safer than it is, and hiding even more information will only reinforce those opinions.
Guglielmi points out that some other jurisdictions have policies like the one he is adopting. But Baltimore police and the mayor should do what is right for this city, and this city needs to build trust, not blue walls. Since 2004, Baltimore police officers have shot 89 people, killing 31. Last year alone, city officers shot 21 people, killing 13. One officer was indicted on manslaughter charges in the shooting of an unarmed man during a scuffle.
We have a new police commissioner, a new director of public information, a new strategy to combat crime and less information than we've had before about how the department is run and about the officers hired to protect our lives and enforce the law.
Access to the Baltimore Police Department - by the news media and, by extension, the public - is dwindling, not increasing, which runs counter to the mayor's pledge to partner with the community and be accountable.
Requests to spend time with officers have been repeatedly denied, and attempts to obtain data for a crime map and a schedule of public disciplinary hearings have been futile, to name just a few frustrations. Police have stopped releasing personnel orders that record discipline, firings, hirings and transfers.
