City Police

I read the article "City police shuffle ranks, seek national accreditation" (Dec. 31) with a vested interest as a retired Baltimore City police officer. The awarding of "accreditation" for police agencies is not a new concept and existed well before my own retirement, some 16 years ago. The process of being certified as an accredited agency is exhaustive and covers literally every function within the department. To prepare the agency for this certification is a labor- and time-intensive undertaking, involving participation at all levels.

City police have identified two men fatally shot over the weekend. Police said 23-year-old Lawrence Edwards was the victim found shot Friday night in the 2200 block of Elsinore Ave. Officers had been called to the scene at about 7:50 p.m. for a report of a shooting, but did not find a victim. At about 9:10 p.m., someone reported a body in the street, and Edwards was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, police said. On Saturday, at about 10 p.m., police said Jeffrey Smith , 32, was walking out of a 7-Eleven in the 4400 block of Belair Road when a masked gunman approached and shot him. He was later found in the 4200 block of Nicholas Ave., just around the corner, and taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Police have identified the man fatally shot by police after officers responsded to a domestic disturbance in Medfield on Tuesday afternoon.  Jonathan Blankenship, 40, was shot at least once and pronounced dead at the scene, according to police. Anthony Guglielmi, the police department's chief spokesman, said an officer responding to a domestic call in the 1400 block of N. Weldon Pl. got into a struggle with Blankenship, and officers who came to his aid fired at least once.  Blankenship has a prior record including a second-degree assault conviction in Harford County for shoving his then-wife's sister, and he initially received 10 years in prison with five years suspended in District Court.

A Baltimore police officer who said in an interview that he had received no counseling after he shot and killed two people nine months apart in 2006 and 2007 has been suspended from the force, and stripped of his gun and badge. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the eight-year veteran, Andrew W. Gotwols Jr., made comments that concerned commanders about his fitness to serve. He described the 36-year-old as being "medically suspended. " Gotwols told The Baltimore Sun that he has nightmares that "guys are trying to shoot and kill me, and that I'm trying to shoot and kill them.

Baltimore's police union is calling for an overhaul of the department, describing the agency's management strategy as "outdated, ineffective and reactive" and proposing changes that it said would boost officer morale and reduce crime across the city. Though the study has been in the works for several months, it comes as the city seeks a replacement for Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III, who oversaw steep declines in gun crime after taking over in mid-2007. Robert F. Cherry, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said the union wants the report to serve as a blueprint for improvements by the department's next management team.

John Ellis "Bo" Blackwell, one of the first African-Americans to be appointed to the Baltimore Police Department, who overcame racism and enjoyed a 30-year career with the department, died Oct. 30 of respiratory failure at Sinai Hospital. The Ellicott City resident was 83. "John was a pioneering African-American officer and he kept us focused. We stand on his shoulders," said Edward V. Woods, who served as police commissioner from 1989 to 1993. "Thank God for people like John who always gave his all. We are a better community for it and the department is now a healthy and representative mixture of people," said Mr. Woods.

Baltimore police were investigating two deaths preliminarily considered "questionable," in South and Northwest Baltimore, officials said. The first occurred at about 1 a.m., when officers on patrol outside the Paradox nightclub south of M&T Bank Stadium saw a 25-year-old woman lying on the sidewalk unresponsive as security personnel from the club performed CPR. She was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center where she was pronounced dead at about...

However Baltimore's plain-spoken police commissioner is remembered, when he departs on the first day of August, he will leave his successor a challenging target. The number 200. That is the standard by which Frederick H. Bealefeld III's successor will be measured. Under his watch, Baltimore recorded 196 homicides in 2011, breaking a symbolic barrier that eluded nine previous chiefs, all the way back to 1977. Fairly or unfairly, the mayor and commissioner — along with the city as a whole — have been judged and have judged themselves on the annual body count.