Officers

Baltimore police moved Monday to increase foot patrols over the next month and conduct street sweeps of violent fugitives after a weekend that saw six people killed and continued a violent start to 2013. Baltimore has recorded 35 homicides this year, a 40 percent increase over the same period in 2012. The spike made for the deadliest January and February in the city in four years. The increase has been particularly alarming to residents of West Baltimore, which has been the scene of 11 killings since Jan. 1. Two men were killed within five blocks of each other there Saturday and Sunday.

It took Chris Brown months to return to work after the death of her 17-year-old son. She has left her old home and is still hesitant to look at pictures of the teen. On Monday, a little more than a year after Christopher Brown died, the Baltimore County police officer accused of killing him is set to be tried for manslaughter. And Chris Brown will have to relive her loss through agonizing courtroom testimony. "Now I am faced with all those feelings again," said Brown, who plans to watch as prosecutors try to convict Officer James D. Laboard.

R&B singer Mario, the Baltimore-born performer whose struggle with his heroin-addicted mother formed the basis of an MTV documentary, was arrested early Friday after she told police that he struck her and destroyed their Fells Point apartment. The 24-year-old, whose full name is Mario Dewar Barrett, was charged with one count of second-degree assault and released after posting $50,000 bond. An attorney representing the singer called the arrest "an unfortunate incident between a loving son and a mother who continues to struggle with a devastating addiction.

The property manager of a Reisterstown housing development was killed in the rental office Friday morning, breaking the early morning peace at the tidy suburban complex. Police identified the woman Saturday as 29-year-old Melinda Schaefer. An autopsy was still being completed Saturday afternoon, but she appeared to have suffered multiple stab wounds, according to officer Shawn Vinson, a spokesman for Baltimore County Police. No arrests have been made. Police cordoned off several houses in the Townes at Harvest View community Friday Morning, and officers moved in and out of the rental office while two men sat and watched from a balcony on the next home.

Baltimore Police identified two suspects on Friday that were involved in a shootout with officers in West Baltimore earlier in the week that left one person dead. Ricky Dixon, 21, was charged with attempted murder and several weapons charges, police said. The other suspect identified, 23-year-old Larry Hooker, was killed in the shootout. The incident took place at about 10 p.m. Monday after two officers on foot patrol in the 2700 block of Edmondson Ave. saw gunfire coming out of a bronze sedan, police said.

Police officers convicted of a crime in Maryland and sentenced to state prison are typically housed in segregated areas for their safety, far from most other inmates. But those prosecuted in U.S. District Court and sent to federal prison - like the 15 Baltimore officers recently convicted in a kickback scheme - will, for the most part, be thrown in with the rest of the convicts. "Whether [inmates are] high profile, law enforcement, whatever the case may be, we aim to treat them like anybody else," said Chris Burke, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

A 26-year-old inmate at a state prison in Jessup died Friday after he was found with severe head injuries on Thursday night, Maryland State Police said. Javaughn A. Young was found lying on a walkway in a wing of the Maryland Correctional Institution about 7 p.m., after another inmate alerted correctional officers that an inmate needed assistance, police said. More than 60 inmates are housed in the wing. The officers found Young with severe head trauma and called for medical assistance, police said.

Anne Arundel County's beleaguered police force will be commanded by a former Maryland State Police superintendent and political survivor who has led the county department once before. Larry W. Tolliver will take over as chief on Tuesday, more than a dozen years after he last supervised Anne Arundel police and three weeks after current Chief James Teare Sr. decided to retire amid a criminal investigation. Tolliver, 66, ascended to several top positions from a job as former Gov. William Donald Schaefer's security officer.

Two Baltimore police officers arrived at a fellow officer's home to investigate a reported domestic assault. They heard a woman inside calling for help, and when nobody answered the door, they kicked the door in and brought Kendra Diggs out. James Smith, 49, ran upstairs as an officer implored him to come and talk. The other officer stood on the sidewalk next to Diggs, her face bleeding from a small wound. A shot rang out from a second-story window, authorities say. Diggs, shot in the head, hit the ground, and Smith and his fellow officers commenced a six-hour standoff.

Annapolis Police disclosed Saturday that they encountered a city alderman last week while raiding a an apartment where confidential sources had told police that PCP was being sold, an experience the elected official called “harrowing.” According to a statement sent out by police, a confidential informant gave police information about drug activity in an apartment building in the 1200 block of Madison St., and police obtained “no-knock” search...

Making good on a promise by Baltimore police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts after the severe beating of a gay East Baltimore man, the city Police Department announced Friday a special advisory council to help improve its relations with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. The panel of activists, civil rights advocates and attorneys also plans to work to improve the atmosphere for gay and transgendered officers within the Police Department as it increases efforts to recruit from that community.

Lawyers for a veteran Baltimore police officer charged with killing his fiancee and then engaging in an hours-long standoff with fellow officers said Thursday that they want to explore whether he suffered from combat-related stress. The comments came after a brief hearing in which Officer James W. Smith, 49, pleaded not guilty, surrounded by a larger-than-normal complement of security staff in the courtroom of Judge Steven Sfekas. Smith was visibly upset, with defense attorney Linda Ramirez comforting him as the charges of first-degree murder and a handgun violation were read aloud.

The New Jersey law enforcement officer charged with killing a Lansdowne man in a road-rage incident in Anne Arundel County was released from jail Wednesday after a $1 million bond was posted. Joseph Lamont Walker, a detective in the Hudson County, N.J., prosecutor's office, is facing a second-degree murder charge in the fatal shooting Saturday evening of Joseph Dale Harvey Jr., a truck driver who friends said recently bought a home in Lansdowne. Police said Wednesday that Walker's agency-issued gun was used and that an autopsy showed that Harvey suffered three gunshot wounds.

An appeals court has chosen January to hear the challenge by former Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold to his convictions for criminal misconduct in office. The 70-year-old Pasadena Republican was found guilty in January of having public employees do his political and personal tasks, including draining a urinary catheter bag he used after back surgery in 2010, and he resigned from office. His sentence included a month in jail, a month of home detention and 400 hours of community service.

The second trial for a Baltimore City police officer accused of illegally taping a conversation with a judge has been postponed until August. Prosecutors say Sgt. Carlos M. Vila, 46, violated Maryland's wiretap laws when he recorded a conversation between himself and District Court Judge Joan B. Gordon as they sparred over the urgency of a warrant application in a shooting investigation. But Vila's attorney, Catherine Flynn, argued that he only intended to record himself and captured the judge's voice by accident.

The New Jersey police officer accused of killing a man during an alleged weekend road rage incident was defending his family, his lawyer said Monday. Patrick McAndrew, attorney for Joseph Lamont Walker, 40, said his client had faced an "attack" on the on-ramp to Interstate 97 in Anne Arundel County. Maryland State Police say Walker shot and killed Joseph Harvey Jr., 36, after an altercation on the road. "The second version, the true version, will come out," McAndrew told Annapolis District Court Judge Thomas Pryal at a bail review hearing.

The Harford County Chamber of Commerce recently elected its officers for 2011-12. Steven L. Wiseman, a certified public accountant and vice president of Wiseman Associates, is chairman; Robin Sommer, owner of Images of Sommer, is chair-elect; Brenda Morrison, vice president for marketing, development and community relations at Harford Community College is vice chair of administration; and Paul Balsamo, a certified public accountant and president of...

Four Baltimore police officers have been suspended as part of an investigation stemming from the conviction of an officer for conspiring with a drug informant to orchestrate arrests, according to sources with knowledge of the case. Anthony Guglielmi, the agency's chief spokesman, confirmed that the four officers were suspended from the Northwest District, where Richburg had worked in a special plainclothes unit. He declined to identify the officers or say why they were suspended.

The Governor William Paca Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, recently met at Tudor Hall to announce its new officers for the next two years. Jill Redding, who is also a Tudor Hall docent, gave a short tour and arranged a delicious meal. The program was a film about the Battle of Brooklyn on Aug. 27, 1776, when 400 Maryland soldiers fought and died in the largest and bloodiest battle until Yorktown and from which originated Maryland's nickname "Old Line State. " DAR is a patriotic lineage society that strongly supports the veterans, the Constitution and National Defense.

Police officers, both sworn and retired, from the Harford County Sheriff's Office, Maryland State Police and Aberdeen Police and Aberdeen Proving Ground police departments carried the Flame of Hope on an 18-mile journey through Harford County last week to benefit Maryland Special Olympics. Officers carried the Flame of Hope ceremonial torch through Havre de Grace, Aberdeen, Edgewood and Joppa to raise awareness and money in support of Maryland's Special Olympics. Approximately 25 runners took part in the event.