Internal Affairs

Baltimore police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts announced Friday the creation of a new unit to oversee internal affairs, audits and the writing of police procedures, a move he hopes will strengthen public confidence in his agency. Jeronimo "Jerry" Rodriguez, a 26-year Los Angeles Police Department veteran, was named deputy commissioner in charge of the new Bureau of Professional Standards. Rodriguez will report directly to Batts and joins Deputy Commissioner John Skinner at the top level of Batts' staff.

An attorney for a teenager who said his jaw was broken in an encounter with Baltimore police dismissed the city's civilian review board as a "proxy" for police after nearly three years have passed without a ruling on the case. In July 2010, Yardell Henderson, then 16, filed a complaint with internal affairs in which he said he was beaten by police in Northwest Baltimore during an incident that did not result in his arrest or criminal charges. He also contacted the civilian review board, a volunteer panel formed to great fanfare in the late 1990s, to provide a check on police.

The Baltimore Police Department's announcement that Maj. Nathan Warfield has been removed from his post as commander of the internal affairs division doesn't quite add up. The department issued a news release about the move last night, after The Sun's Justin Fenton had asked questions about photos on Mr. Warfield's Facebook page showing him at a party and at a basketball tournament with Officer Daniel G. Redd, who is under indictment on drug...

A Baltimore County police captain who was recently reassigned from the Woodlawn Precinct this month is being investigated by the department's internal affairs section, a spokeswoman confirmed. Capt. Andre K. Davis, who was reassigned to the Community Resources Section, is the subject of the investigation, police spokeswoman Elise Armacost said. "I can't comment on or offer the details of that complaint because it is a personnel matter," she said Tuesday in an email. Davis, reached by phone, denied any wrongdoing and would not comment further about the allegations.

Baltimore Police Maj. Nathan Warfield, the former commander of the internal affairs section who was reassigned last year after pictures surfaced of him socializing with two men accused of drug dealing, is retiring, officials confirmed.  Warfield joined the department in 1990, and was the commander of the Northwest District until 2009, when Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III appointed him him to lead internal affairs.  Last year,...

A Baltimore County police captain who was recently reassigned from the Woodlawn Precinct this month is being investigated by the department's internal affairs section, a spokeswoman confirmed. Capt. Andre K. Davis, who was reassigned to the Community Resources Section, is the subject of the investigation, police spokeswoman Elise Armacost said. "I can't comment on or offer the details of that complaint because it is a personnel matter," she said Tuesday in an email. Davis, reached by phone, denied any wrongdoing and would not comment further about the allegations.

The Baltimore Police Department has hired a former DEA official and presidential appointee to head internal investigations, a move that the signals the agency's desire to get tougher on police misconduct. Grayling Williams starts today in his new position, officials said. He spent 22 years with the Drug Enforcement Administration, including a stint as a supervisory special agent in Baltimore. In 2009, he was appointed by President Obama  to serve as the Director of the Office of Counternarcotics Enforcement at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

A Baltimore police sergeant testified in court yesterday that fellow officer Joseph P. Comma Jr. confessed to breaking into a secret internal affairs office in December, a break-in investigators allege was motivated by Comma's desire to get even with his bosses because of a transfer. Sgt. Kelvin Sewell told Baltimore County Circuit Judge Robert N. Dugan that Comma told him on Jan. 1: "`I don't want you to go down for what I did. I did the break-in.'" Comma was a nine-year veteran of the city Police Department last spring when he was charged with burglary, theft and malicious destruction of property in the December break-in of the internal affairs office on the grounds of the Back River Sewage Treatment Plant in Baltimore County.

Six Baltimore police officers were suspended yesterday as part of an internal affairs investigation into possible "irregularities" with their overtime pay, a department spokesman said. The officers - two sergeants and four detectives - worked in criminal investigations in the department's Eastern District when they filed for overtime that is now being reviewed by internal affairs investigators, police said. One of the sergeants was recently transferred to the Northeastern District, police said.

A Baltimore judge yesterday acquitted a veteran city police officer of perjury and misconduct charges stemming from her arrest of an innocent bystander and her contention that he had hidden drugs and cash behind a bush one evening in March. The items had actually been planted by internal affairs detectives conducting a random integrity sting designed to catch officers pocketing the drugs or money. After Circuit Judge Lynn K. Stewart read her verdict, Agent Jacqueline Folio was swarmed by friends, family members and fellow officers who offered her hugs and slaps on the back.

The Baltimore Police Department tapped one of its lawyers as the new head of internal affairs, saying Rodney Hill's experience as an officer and his recent turn as a prosecutor of police misconduct cases give him the credibility to lead a group charged with restoring public trust. Hill, 50, replaces Grayling Williams, who left in March to accept a position with the Pennsylvania attorney general's office. Since April 2012, Hill has been assigned to the Police Department through the city's Law Department, providing legal advice to internal investigators, prosecuting police officers at internal disciplinary hearing boards and representing the department in court.

Baltimore police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts announced Friday the creation of a new unit to oversee internal affairs, audits and the writing of police procedures, a move he hopes will strengthen public confidence in his agency. Jeronimo "Jerry" Rodriguez, a 26-year Los Angeles Police Department veteran, was named deputy commissioner in charge of the new Bureau of Professional Standards. Rodriguez will report directly to Batts and joins Deputy Commissioner John Skinner at the top level of Batts' staff.

Sen. Ben Cardin is Maryland's joke on the USA. Instead of working for the interests of his state he finds it necessary to meddle into the internal affairs of Russia, which I certain is quaking in its boots over Mr. Cardin's human rights measure ("Senate approves Cardin human rights bill," Dec. 6). Get serious, Mr. Cardin, and put some effort into the huge problems facing the country. F. Cordell, Lutherville Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

When Anne Arundel County Police closed her complaint, the commander of internal affairs sent Karla Hamner a three-sentence letter. The investigation, he wrote, has been conducted. The case has been closed. The matter would “be handled in accordance with internal policy and procedures of the Anne Arundel County Police Department.” Hamner had accused an officer of lying in an affidavit after depositions by other officers contradicted the first. She says she wondered: How did it turn out?

As the world struggles to deal with its two largest foreign-affairs dilemmas, Syria and Iran, resolutely standing in the way are the BRICs. That's the acronym foreign-policy wonks use for the block of nations that routinely refuses to join the multilateral world of diplomacy, dominated by the United States and the West. They seem to glory in being contrary. The nations are Brazil, Russia, India and China. Russia and China, of course, routinely veto any United Nations Security Council resolution criticizing Syria, as they did for the third time last week.

Cuban accusations against American Alan Gross and recent Egyptian allegations against four Americans who were promoting democracy on Egyptian soil have some eerie similarities. Alan Gross, who has been confined in Cuba since 2009, and the four Americans in Egypt who recently had bail posted for them by the Government of Qatar, have been using United States taxpayers' money to promote openness and democracy in two countries that have no interest in the United States interfering in their internal affairs.

A Baltimore police officer kicked out of Internal Affairs after a domestic incident was arrested yesterday and charged in the December break-in at the department's secret anti-corruption office. Officer Joseph P. Comma Jr., 33, a nine-year veteran who has been on stress-related leave for at least the past month, was taken into custody about noon at a 7-Eleven convenience store in Northeast Baltimore. Police officials said they believe the break-in was the work of a disgruntled worker trying to get even with bosses for transferring him out of the Internal Affairs' Integrity Unit because of domestic troubles.

Baltimore Police Maj. Nathan Warfield, the former commander of the internal affairs section who was reassigned last year after pictures surfaced of him socializing with two men accused of drug dealing, is retiring, officials confirmed.  Warfield joined the department in 1990, and was the commander of the Northwest District until 2009, when Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III appointed him him to lead internal affairs.  Last year,...