Law Enforcement

Almost a year after a federal witness was gunned down in an East Baltimore bar, prosecutors charged two men in his killing as part of a sweeping investigation into a violent drug organization, according to court documents unsealed yesterday. A federal grand jury accused Melvin Gilbert, 33, and Darron Goods, 23, both of Baltimore, with fatally shooting John P. Dowery Jr. last Thanksgiving to prevent Dowery's cooperation in the federal investigation of "Special," a Baltimore drug gang. Dowery, 38, had been shot earlier - but survived - for his assistance to state prosecutors on a related case, authorities have said.

County staff and local law enforcement representatives presented to the Carroll commissioners a proposed code amendment to impose local regulations on pawnbrokers and secondhand dealers. The amendment would: define terms; set forth defined hours of operation and other operating requirements; prohibit transactions with minors; specify certain record keeping requirements; specify holding periods; order the release of stolen property to law enforcement; grant law enforcement the right to enter and inspect; and provide for notices of violations and penalties.

The Maryland Senate unanimously approved a bill yesterday that would expunge the police records of people who are arrested but not charged with a crime. Supporters said the measure, championed by Baltimore Del. Keith E. Haynes, will help thousands of citizens clear their names and by extension their paths to securing mortgages, jobs and other financial assistance, matters that could have been impeded by a criminal history. "I think the bill is important because at the end of the day, it provides justice for individuals who have gotten caught up in the arrest system," Haynes, a Democrat, said.

During an ordinary Orioles game, 40 Baltimore police officers patrol Camden Yards. The detail is tripled for that most dangerous of stadium events: a visit from the Yankees.But Monday's game with the Cuban national team -- while only an exhibition -- is quickly shaping up as the World Series of security. After several weeks of work, local and federal law enforcement officials are finalizing plans to assign a level of personnel commensurate with a visit from a president or a pope -- perhaps more than Baltimoreans have ever seen at a baseball game.

In a society where compromise is a pillar of government, it feels almost un-American to acknowledge that some issues defy any middle ground. It feels even worse when there are only two alternatives, and both offer unpleasant consequences.This is the reality of encryption, the scrambling of data to keep it away from prying eyes. Yet at a time when it's essential to hold an honest debate about a difficult decision, encryption policy drifts in a Twilight Zone, where both sides tend to avoid acknowledging some hard truths.

Ask Wallace P. Mitchell how long he has been in law enforcement and he will answer, "I started when I was a baby."He was 21 when he entered Laurel Police Department, but he has spent more than half his life in the profession. After 37 years -- the past 11 of which were spent leading Sykesville Police Department, he is called "chief" by nearly everyone who knows him."As a kid, I saw a lot of things going on that needed improving," he said. "I thought I could make a difference, improve things.

After 39 years in law enforcement, Thomas Constantine announced yesterday that he would step down as the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration.Constantine, 60, said his decision was not motivated by political considerations. He said he wants to return to New York and spend more time with his family. But he has disagreed, sometimes forcefully, with the Clinton administration's portrayal of Mexico as a full ally in fighting the flow of drugs into the United States.In February, Constantine asserted that Mexican drug trafficking organizations posed the worst criminal threat to the nation that he had seen in nearly 40 years in law enforcement.

The state of Maryland is creating the nation's first center to judge the flood of high-technology equipment that is sweeping law enforcement agencies into a brave new cyberworld.Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend made the announcement yesterday at Camden Yards to top-ranking law enforcement officials from around the state.The lack of coordination among law enforcement groups nationwide has left states and local departments with an awkward mix of incompatible, sometimes expensive, sometimes inefficient communications and computer systems, law enforcement officials say. When computer systems cannot share information, officers in different departments cannot easily compare such things as crime patterns, suspect descriptions and information on illegal weapons.

Baltimore police officers carrying torches will run through city streets Thursday to raise money and awareness for the Maryland Special Olympic games, which are scheduled to open Friday at the University of Maryland, College Park.The run will commence at 9 a.m. at Belair Road and Northern Parkway in Northeast Baltimore. Runners will head south to North Avenue and then west to Monroe Street. From there, they will run south to Washington Boulevard, ending up in Southwest Baltimore.It is part of a nationwide series of "torch runs" by law enforcement officers, who traditionally have promoted the Special Olympic games.

LOS ANGELES -- California Attorney General Bill Lockyer released statewide statistics yesterday on 1998 hate crimes before announcing the creation of an advisory commission and a new strategy to combat the problem.Lockyer was flanked by politicians, law enforcement and civil rights leaders as he spoke at a news conference at the city's Museum of Tolerance."Whether hatemongers use gun violence, arson or other illegal means to spread their poison, we in law enforcement and communities throughout California must respond swiftly and make it clear that such behavior will not be tolerated," Lockyer said.

Leaders in the House of Delegates pledged Tuesday to re-examine Maryland's anti-gang statute to address concerns of prosecutors who complained at a legislative briefing that the current law is nearly unusable. Although the Gang Prosecution Act took effect two years ago, prosecutors have employed it only a handful of times, gaining one conviction. The law allows judges to add prison time if a person convicted of certain crimes was part of a gang at the time. Prosecutors and police want state lawmakers to define "gang," expand the base of crimes that trigger the anti-gang statute and require judges to impose the added prison time consecutively to other sentences.

In times of widespread economic strife and uncertainty, professions such as law enforcement are viewed as more stable and seem to attract larger numbers than in times of prosperity. This year's class of recruits to the Howard County Police Department is a prime example. According to Lt. Bob Wagner, who has been commander of the department's education and training programs for the past 10 years, there were 1,800 applicants to this year's academy, a significant increase from the "400 to 500" applicants the county received two years ago when the economy was not in a recession.

When people pack assault rifles at presidential forums and town-hall meetings dissolve into shouting matches, it's easy to imagine such anger spilling over into the nation's simmering stew of racial prejudice. A day after a self-proclaimed white supremacist was arrested in Baltimore for attempted murder in an assault on a 76-year-old black man, law enforcement officials and politicians expressed concern Wednesday that the tenor of current politics could prompt an increase in hate crimes.

City officials retreated Thursday from criticizing federal agencies for their role in a joint investigation of feuding drug rings, emphasizing instead the collaborative nature of the process and the many times the feds have come to Baltimore's aid. Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III issued a statement saying the department's "strong partnership" with federal law enforcement is a "critical piece of [its] crime fighting strategy." And Mayor Sheila Dixon's spokesman said the U.S. attorney's office "has done a good job - a wonderful job, actually - in their work in Baltimore City."

When Ava Cooper-Davis took over the Washington division of the Drug Enforcement Administration in March, she became the fourth woman in the region to head a federal law enforcement agency's field office, alongside the "special agents in charge" at the FBI, ATF and the Secret Service. While most of the SACs, as they're known, said it was simply happenstance that the best people qualified for the jobs happen to be female, others see significance in the coincidence. Or, at the very least, they think it's "cool."

The Howard County Police Department will take public comment Monday about the agency's performance as part of the process to gain accreditation. The session is part of an assessment of the department by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies Inc. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the James N. Robey Public Service Training Center, 2200 Scott Wheeler Drive. A team of assessors consisting of law enforcement officers from around the country will be visiting the department throughout April.

Immigration act aids communities The Baltimore Sun's editorial "No way to police immigration" (March 20) was factually incorrect. As one of the co-authors of the legislation that created Section 287(g), I know that it was created to let state and local law enforcement officials help enforce all federal immigration laws and remove illegal immigrants from the streets. It was not our intent that the program would only be used to address "serious crime," as the editorial suggests. And it works.

Police believe they have identified the killer of Chandra Levy, eight years after the disappearance of the Washington intern transfixed much of the nation and ended the political career of a prominent California lawmaker, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation. The Washington Metropolitan Police Department has submitted evidence to prosecutors that it believes proves that a Salvadoran immigrant already in prison for attacks against two other women killed Levy in a remote part of Rock Creek Park in Northwest Washington in 2001, the law enforcement official said.

There is a board in the homicide unit at Baltimore police headquarters that lists the year's murder victims. The names of victims written in black indicate closed cases; those in red remain unsolved. Right now, red is the predominant color, because the unit's clearance rate is less than 50 percent at a time when the still-unsolved slaying of former City Councilman Kenneth N. Harris Sr. has focused the attention of council members on the unit. But the difficulty the unit is having closing the Harris case is only a symptom of larger problems the department faces in its efforts to arrest suspected killers.

Funeral processions for law enforcement officers are an outpouring of respect, but can be a traffic nightmare for other drivers. And while the state police do their best to alert motorists with highway message boards and the like, there should be some other way to ensure both a respectful escort for an officer or firefighter killed in the line of duty and safe and speedy passage for highway travelers. Part of the problem, as evidenced by recent complaints to Baltimore Sun columnist Michael Dresser, is that police escorts aren't limited to funerals of law enforcement officers.