Police Corps

Against the backdrop of the Los Angeles riots, voices have been raised again urging Congress to pass a police corps bill. As presently written, the police corps legislation is the wrong response to the rioting. It would provide federal funds for unrestricted college scholarships to students who agree to serve in a law enforcement agency for four years. The legislation says the police corps graduates should be used in areas of "greatest need" and where they can be used "most effectively."That sounds like the big city -- L.A., Baltimore -- but the legislation also calls for state agencies to develop the plans for using graduates and for state and local governments to pay 40 percent of scholarship costs and all hiring costs.

Every week for nearly a year, Sonnie Jones visited the Baltimore Police Academy to help put on a demonstration about how officers could better interact with residents in the city's crime-ridden neighborhoods. Though the demonstrations could become heated, officers often ended up thanking him for his perspective. But while his participation in the in-service training was always on a volunteer basis, he now wonders whether the city took advantage of his good will, in light of reports that guest speakers and non-law enforcement consultants were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to participate in other police training.

Fifteen years after it was first envisioned, a unique program to encourage people with college degrees to join the ranks of law enforcement graduated its first class yesterday in a ceremony in Baltimore.Touted as the future leaders of policing in America, 44 young men and women -- from 10 states, 28 colleges and universities and representing 18 disciplines -- swore an oath and were handed a gun and badge.Twenty-eight will join the Baltimore force; 16 will become officers in Charleston, S.C. The two cities are the first in the nation to reimburse recent graduates for their college education in exchange for a four-year commitment to the cities as part of the Police Corps program.

FALLUJAH, Iraq - Heavily armed guerrillas shouting "God is great" launched a brazen assault on Iraqi security compounds yesterday, outgunning Iraqi police, freeing dozens of prisoners and leaving at least 23 dead. Some of the bloodiest street fighting in Iraq during the 10-month occupation claimed the lives of 17 police officers, four attackers and two civilians. The battle spilled into the dense alleys and markets in the heart of this volatile city west of Baghdad and left another 35 people wounded.

CRIME STATISTICS from around the country are bringing the good news of a drop in serious crimes in many cities. But recent incidents in which officers have resorted to deadly force or, as in a notorious New York City case, are facing charges of abusing prisoners raise fears about the misuse of police power. Policing is difficult and stressful work, but the public trust placed in officers demands well-trained people who can handle that pressure with cool heads and steady hands -- officers who not only command the respect of the community but who also treat all citizens with respect.

The U.S. Justice Department will fund training for 120 students in Baltimore under a federal Police Corps program similar to ROTC, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend said yesterday."

Graduates stood on an auditorium stage, representing 10 majors from 23 colleges, and pledged to put their education to use as police officers on Baltimore streets.Part of an initiative to put better-educated protectors on city streets, the group yesterday became the second to graduate from the Maryland Police Corps, which pays recruits' college tuition in exchange for a four-year commitment to the police force."You are part of the next generation of American law enforcement," Vice President Al Gore told the graduates of the training center at the Maritime Institute in Linthicum.

NOW THE TRUE education begins. The 44 men and women who went through the first 16-week Police Corps training period have been assigned to their respective departments and within weeks will be on the street. Twenty-eight will remain in Baltimore, 16 are headed to Charleston, S.C. Whatever they learned in the classroom will be nothing like the real thing.Some will cut it; some won't. That would be expected of any class of rookie cops. Expectations for this group are higher, however. Each has a college education.

Four Baltimore police officers who were among the first graduates of the Maryland Police Corps will travel to Worcester, Mass., to participate in a press conference today at which President Clinton will announce the expansion of the police-training program.The Corps program offers students up to $30,000 to attend any four-year college in the nation in exchange for serving four years as a police officer. Five states, including Massachusetts, and one territory will be added to the Police Corps program, up from 17.Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who developed the police training program, will not be able to attend because of other obligations, said Alan H. Fleischmann, her chief of staff.

Six months of pre-dawn push-ups, evening lectures and 16-hour days came to an end Friday for seven new Howard County police officers, who became the department's first graduates of a federally funded program designed to encourage college students to become police officers. The officers are among 16 graduates of the fourth class of the Police Corps program in Maryland. They received their badges and guns at graduation ceremonies yesterday and will spend five weeks in the county's police academy before going into the field.

Powder-blue Howard County police uniforms dominated the sixth Maryland Police Corps graduation ceremony yesterday in Linthicum. The Howard County Police Department has attracted 22 of the 138 graduates since the program began in 1997, making it the second-most popular destination for Police Corps graduates. Eighty of the graduates wear Baltimore uniforms. Yesterday's swearing-in of Howard officers sounded like a full choir. When other cadets took their oaths, they had to go solo or in a quartet or quintet.

Six months of pre-dawn push-ups, evening lectures and 16-hour days came to an end Friday for seven new Howard County police officers, who became the department's first graduates of a federally funded program designed to encourage college students to become police officers. The officers are among 16 graduates of the fourth class of the Police Corps program in Maryland. They received their badges and guns at graduation ceremonies yesterday and will spend five weeks in the county's police academy before going into the field.

An innovative program to encourage college students to become police officers in cities and towns across the nation is struggling to survive in Maryland, the state where it began three years ago. Only 16 students are scheduled to take the oath and be handed guns and badges at today's Maryland Police Corps graduation, with four of the new officers headed to Baltimore, three to Hagerstown, seven to Howard County and two to Prince George's County. The next class waiting to be trained has only 10 members, and the number destined for Baltimore - the state's largest police department - has dwindled to two. The class is so small that the Maryland program had to get permission from the Justice Department to proceed with less than the 15-student minimum.

Baltimore County is pulling out of a highly regarded statewide police training program, saying it is too costly -- even though the officer training is financed mainly with federal money. Since the county joined the Maryland Police Corps in 1997, only two recruits have come from the program to the local police department. This year, county police officials hoped to hire 10 recruits from the Corps' June graduating class, but could find only one candidate who met county standards. "They had trouble with recruiting.

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia -- When the subject was murder, Tom Pellegrini thought he had seen it all in Baltimore, from domestics to drugs, revenge to contract killings and, of course, the little girl from Reservoir Hill. Then the former Baltimore homicide detective came to Kosovo, the land of the ethnic hate hit. "In Baltimore, there was usually a reason why people were killed, involving victims having done something to cause their demise," Pellegrini says. "But here, a person may be killed just because of their ethnic background.

Baltimore police officer Justin Reynolds rolls up to a blighted block in Pigtown on a sticky summer morning. An agitated woman in a housedress talks to two officers in a patrol car idling by the curb. A man with arms folded stands a few feet away, flanked by two young boys with truculent expressions. As Reynolds steps out of his cruiser, the woman marches into her rowhouse and slams the door. Here on Ramsay Street, everybody is angry. "This isn't right," Reynolds says under his breath.

An innovative program to encourage college students to become police officers in cities and towns across the nation is struggling to survive in Maryland, the state where it began three years ago. Only 16 students are scheduled to take the oath and be handed guns and badges at today's Maryland Police Corps graduation, with four of the new officers headed to Baltimore, three to Hagerstown, seven to Howard County and two to Prince George's County. The next class waiting to be trained has only 10 members, and the number destined for Baltimore - the state's largest police department - has dwindled to two. The class is so small that the Maryland program had to get permission from the Justice Department to proceed with less than the 15-student minimum.

THE KICK-OFF this week of the Maryland Police Corps is a victory for Maryland and Baltimore City -- but most of all for the idea that young Americans can still be inspired to give something back to their country. Three decades ago, Peace Corps volunteers ventured forth to help poor people in developing countries. In the 1990s, there are daunting challenges at home. Beginning this week, recent college graduates are being invited to apply for a four-year commitment to police work in Baltimore.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton expressed alarm yesterday about recent allegations of police brutality and called for increased funding for programs designed to improve community policing, train officers in ethics and restore public trust in law enforcement. "I have been deeply disturbed by recent allegations of serious police misconduct and continued reports of racial profiling that have shaken some communities' faith in the police," Clinton said in his weekly radio address, which was recorded in Washington before he left for a weekend trip to Arkansas.

Graduates stood on an auditorium stage, representing 10 majors from 23 colleges, and pledged to put their education to use as police officers on Baltimore streets.Part of an initiative to put better-educated protectors on city streets, the group yesterday became the second to graduate from the Maryland Police Corps, which pays recruits' college tuition in exchange for a four-year commitment to the police force."You are part of the next generation of American law enforcement," Vice President Al Gore told the graduates of the training center at the Maritime Institute in Linthicum.