Officer Smith

A state correctional officer has been charged with assault for allegedly threatening to shoot a man over a $40 drug deal that went awry, police said.Jason Angelo Smith, 35, of the 1700 block of Wadsworth Way in Northeast Baltimore was arrested Thursday night and charged with assault and handgun and narcotics violations, police said.Officer Smith was being held yesterday at the Northeastern District lockup, awaiting a bail hearing, police said.Leonard A. Sipes Jr., a spokesman for the Division of Correction, said yesterday that Officer Smith, a 12-year veteran, is a transportation officer at the Reception, Diagnostic and Classification Center in Baltimore.

Amid the deluge of be-on-the-lookouts and other information dumped on Southern District officers during afternoon roll call Friday, there are three names that stick out to Officer Andre Smith Jr. They are the light rail robbery suspect, the suspected Westport drug dealer, and the Juvie. At only 25 years of age, Smith, a product of Baltimore's east side, already has seven years on, after joining the force as a cadet upon graduation. He's young, talks fast, cares about the people on his post, and is eager to impress.

A Baltimore police officer who paid a drug dealer for a gram of cocaine with a personal check was fired from the force yesterday, the police said.Officer Carl V. Smith, 35, who had been assigned to the Youth Section in the department's Community Service Division, was ordered off the force by Police Commissioner Edward V. Woods.A departmental trial board had found Officer Smith guilty Nov. 12 of purchasing cocaine from a known drug dealer on 10 occasions while under surveillance by the department's Internal Investigation Division.

It may have been that the getaway car was running out of gas, that its tailpipe was dragging or that the driver's hearing aid was not working that afternoon.But for some reason, John Thomas Neal and Carl Henry Jacobs Jr. decided to pull into a service station a few minutes after robbing a bank in Glen Burnie last August, prosecutors say.Jacobs, 64, pleaded guilty yesterday in Anne Arundel Circuit Court to the Aug. 14 robbery of the Carrollton Bank in the 400 block of Crain Highway.The arresting officer, Edward F. Smith, said the defendants' mistakes made the arrest relatively easy.

The Baltimore police officer who shot her ex-boyfriend Wednesday was defending herself in a struggle during which the man briefly took her gun and threatened her, authorities said yesterday.Officer Lenora Smith, 24, retrieved her department-issued 9 mm semi-automatic handgun and shot Julius Edward Hutchinson, 24, nTC in the left side and thigh, police said. He was in serious condition yesterday at Johns Hopkins Hospital.Police said they have not been able to question Mr. Hutchinson, who has no fixed address.

Officer Brian D. Smith is no Dirty Harry. In fact, when confronted last spring by a violent teen-ager, he reached not for his gun, but for his guitar.The 15-year-old boy, upset by the not-guilty verdict in the Los Angeles beating of Rodney King, had smashed up his parents' home with a guitar when police arrived.The officers tried to calm him, but "he wouldn't even acknowledge that we were there," recalled Officer Smith, recently named Police Officer of the Year for the Eastern District, which includes Pasadena.

A Baltimore police officer was being questioned by homicide detectives last night after she was alleged to have shot her boyfriend during a quarrel, police said.Witnesses reported hearing three shots about 4:30 p.m. in the home of Officer Lenora Smith, 24, in the 2800 block of Jefferson St. in East Baltimore.Her boyfriend, Julius Edward Hutchinson, 24, of no fixed address was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was in serious, stable condition with gunshot wounds to his left side and thigh, police said.

"Community policing" is the buzz word of today's law enforcement. Countless consultants are working overtime, advising local police departments how they could become more responsive to broader societal concerns rather than just responding to 911 calls and arresting people. That's what many foot patrolmen used to do in the old days, when life was slower and simpler.Community policing -- whether it is a declared policy or an informal goal -- is only as good as officers on the beat, however.

A teen-aged armed robbery suspect was shot to death in a quiet Randallstown housing complex last night after he and a companion allegedly attempted to rob an off-duty Baltimore City police officer, authorities said.The young suspect, whose name was not immediately divulged, was pronounced dead at the scene of the 7:40 p.m. incident in the first block of Western Winds Circle, off Church Lane, Baltimore County police said.The off-duty officer, who is assigned to the Drug Enforcement Unit at the Baltimore department's Southwestern District, was unhurt in the incident.

A 25-year-old East Baltimore man who was reportedly threatening his estranged wife with a gun was shot to death yesterday in an exchange of shots with a city police officer, authorities said.It was the second incident over the weekend in which a city police officer was fired on before shooting a suspect. In the other incident, a fleeing suspect was arrested Saturday night after suffering only a minor wound.Yesterday afternoon, Nathaniel Anthony Hayes died from a bullet wound to the chest in the doorway of his wife's home in the 800 block of North Washington Street.

The Baltimore police officer who shot her ex-boyfriend Wednesday was defending herself in a struggle during which the man briefly took her gun and threatened her, authorities said yesterday.Officer Lenora Smith, 24, retrieved her department-issued 9 mm semi-automatic handgun and shot Julius Edward Hutchinson, 24, nTC in the left side and thigh, police said. He was in serious condition yesterday at Johns Hopkins Hospital.Police said they have not been able to question Mr. Hutchinson, who has no fixed address.

A Baltimore police officer was being questioned by homicide detectives last night after she was alleged to have shot her boyfriend during a quarrel, police said.Witnesses reported hearing three shots about 4:30 p.m. in the home of Officer Lenora Smith, 24, in the 2800 block of Jefferson St. in East Baltimore.Her boyfriend, Julius Edward Hutchinson, 24, of no fixed address was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was in serious, stable condition with gunshot wounds to his left side and thigh, police said.

A state correctional officer has been charged with assault for allegedly threatening to shoot a man over a $40 drug deal that went awry, police said.Jason Angelo Smith, 35, of the 1700 block of Wadsworth Way in Northeast Baltimore was arrested Thursday night and charged with assault and handgun and narcotics violations, police said.Officer Smith was being held yesterday at the Northeastern District lockup, awaiting a bail hearing, police said.Leonard A. Sipes Jr., a spokesman for the Division of Correction, said yesterday that Officer Smith, a 12-year veteran, is a transportation officer at the Reception, Diagnostic and Classification Center in Baltimore.

"Community policing" is the buzz word of today's law enforcement. Countless consultants are working overtime, advising local police departments how they could become more responsive to broader societal concerns rather than just responding to 911 calls and arresting people. That's what many foot patrolmen used to do in the old days, when life was slower and simpler.Community policing -- whether it is a declared policy or an informal goal -- is only as good as officers on the beat, however.

Officer Brian D. Smith is no Dirty Harry. In fact, when confronted last spring by a violent teen-ager, he reached not for his gun, but for his guitar.The 15-year-old boy, upset by the not-guilty verdict in the Los Angeles beating of Rodney King, had smashed up his parents' home with a guitar when police arrived.The officers tried to calm him, but "he wouldn't even acknowledge that we were there," recalled Officer Smith, recently named Police Officer of the Year for the Eastern District, which includes Pasadena.

A teen-aged armed robbery suspect was shot to death in a quiet Randallstown housing complex last night after he and a companion allegedly attempted to rob an off-duty Baltimore City police officer, authorities said.The young suspect, whose name was not immediately divulged, was pronounced dead at the scene of the 7:40 p.m. incident in the first block of Western Winds Circle, off Church Lane, Baltimore County police said.The off-duty officer, who is assigned to the Drug Enforcement Unit at the Baltimore department's Southwestern District, was unhurt in the incident.

It may have been that the getaway car was running out of gas, that its tailpipe was dragging or that the driver's hearing aid was not working that afternoon.But for some reason, John Thomas Neal and Carl Henry Jacobs Jr. decided to pull into a service station a few minutes after robbing a bank in Glen Burnie last August, prosecutors say.Jacobs, 64, pleaded guilty yesterday in Anne Arundel Circuit Court to the Aug. 14 robbery of the Carrollton Bank in the 400 block of Crain Highway.The arresting officer, Edward F. Smith, said the defendants' mistakes made the arrest relatively easy.

A Southwestern District police officer killed a suspected drug dealer last night after the suspect pointed a gun at two officers during a chase, Baltimore police said.Police spokesman Dennis S. Hill said the suspect is from New Jersey but would not identify him last night because his relatives had not been notified.Mr. Hill gave this account of the shooting:Five plainclothes officers from the Southwestern District Drug Enforcement Unit were monitoring drug transactions at the corner of Winchester and Poplar Grove streets yesterday evening.

A pair of uniformed Baltimore police officers keeping tabs on a convicted drug dealer released from prison in December arrested the man yesterday and recovered about 1,500 single-serving packages of suspected heroin.A loaded 9mm Ruger handgun was also confiscated during the arrest.Western District Officers Kevin Turner, 24, and Warren Smith, 25, made the bust about 9:45 a.m. yesterday in the 1600 block of West Fayette St., a neighborhood, police said, where drug traffic is blatant and the dealers armed and arrogant.

A Southwestern District police officer killed a suspected drug dealer last night after the suspect pointed a gun at two officers during a chase, Baltimore police said.Police spokesman Dennis S. Hill said the suspect is from New Jersey but would not identify him last night because his relatives had not been notified.Mr. Hill gave this account of the shooting:Five plainclothes officers from the Southwestern District Drug Enforcement Unit were monitoring drug transactions at the corner of Winchester and Poplar Grove streets yesterday evening.