Police Union

It's no secret that Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld IIIis a frequent diner at Miss Shirley's, a breakfast, brunch and lunch spot with locations in Roland Park and at the Inner Harbor. He's partial to the omelet margharita. So it should be no surprise that the soon-to-be retiring chief headed for the Pratt Street bistro Wednesday morning to catch a quick breakfast. There, according to a police source, he stumbled on two city officers drinking alcohol. They had just come off the midnight shift and were off duty, but were either dressed in partial uniform or had their guns and badges displayed, said the police source and another person affiliated with law enforcement who is familiar with the incident.

It's no secret that Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld IIIis a frequent diner at Miss Shirley's, a breakfast, brunch and lunch spot with locations in Roland Park and at the Inner Harbor. He's partial to the omelet margharita. So it should be no surprise that the soon-to-be retiring chief headed for the Pratt Street bistro Wednesday morning to catch a quick breakfast. There, according to a police source, he stumbled on two city officers drinking alcohol. They had just come off the midnight shift and were off duty, but were either dressed in partial uniform or had their guns and badges displayed, said the police source and another person affiliated with law enforcement who is familiar with the incident.

[This post has been updated. The original version remains intact below] A 22-year-old woman was killed and her infant daughter injured Monday night after a man eluding city police ran a red light and plowed into her vehicle in West Baltimore, authorities said. The accident occurred two weeks before Jordasha Rollins was to celebrate her daughter's first birthday, and, in a twist of fate, she knew the driver of the vehicle that took her life. But as family and friends hung balloons and flowers Tuesday at the site where the accident occurred, their anger was not directed at the driver but at police.

The cops surely picked the wrong place to drink after work -- their chief's favorite morning hangout, Miss Shirley's, especially since they were in partial police uniform. But here's the other question this raises -- what were they drinking? The upscale eatery with locations in Roland Park and at the Inner Harbor doesn't have beer on the menu. Now, cops aren't limited to beer, but still, some of these drinks come with umbrellas. The “Wet your whistle” page offers the $5.99 Miss Mimosa - the classic champagne and fresh-squeezed orange juice, garnished with pulp, and a $7.99 Spicy Shirely, a Bloody Mary with pickled okra, Jalapenos and lump crab.

The Baltimore Police Department has suspended a statistics-based management tool that has been a hallmark of the department for more than a decade, saying weekly information-sharing meetings had grown "stale" and "laborious." Using numbers and maps to spot problem areas, connect incidents and discuss tactics, police commanders and investigators had gathered in a room each Thursday for years as part of a process called Comstat. The concept has become a national law enforcement standard, and it was the inspiration for Gov. Martin O'Malley's acclaimed numbers-driven management programs.

Baltimore police issued a formal report Thursday agreeing to carry out recommendations from an independent commission that gave a stinging assessment of last year's Select Lounge shooting, in which a plainclothes officer was mistakenly shot and killed by his colleagues. The 102-page response details promises made by the police commissioner in November to prevent another shooting like the one that killed Officer William H. Torbit and a civilian, and wounded several bystanders in the midst of a chaotic, unruly crowd.

The Baltimore police union voted overwhelmingly Thursday to reject a one-year contract that would have reduced wages by nearly 2 percent in exchange for five additional vacation days. Ninety-five percent of the members of the Fraternal Order of Police voted against the proposal; they were angered by pay cuts coming on the heels of an overhaul of the public safety pension system implemented by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, union president Robert F. Cherry said. "It's not just a rejection of the city's best offer," said Cherry.

After months of negotiations, city officials and the Baltimore police union have hammered out a deal that would cut $5 million from the police budget while bringing long-sought changes to shift schedules. Under the new agreement, which must be ratified by union members, officers would no longer be forced to work six-day weeks and would gain an average of seven days of vacation, though they would not be paid for five of those days, making them de facto furlough time. The plan would control the number of officers who could take off on a given day, limiting the amount of overtime needed to fill vacant shifts.

The union representing Baltimore police officers has endorsed attorney Gregg Bernstein in his race against incumbent Patricia C. Jessamy for state's attorney, saying the labor organization believes he will work "to ensure no violent crime goes unpunished. " The endorsement from the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, which represents 5,000 active-duty and retired city officers, is not surprising given complaints from the rank and file that Jessamy frequently blames police for bringing weak cases that force prosecutors to drop charges or agree to what some consider lenient sentences.

City police union officials said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake lacks faith in the Police Department as it investigates the fatal shooting of an officer and a 22-year-old man, and called her demand for an independent review an attempt to "utilize this tragic incident for political gain. " "We too want a thorough investigation of this incident to reveal all the facts of that night's events. However, at this point, this action seems premature," said union President Robert F. Cherry, a former homicide detective.

Sgt. Richard Willard, who this week settled a lawsuit he filed against the city alleging he never got help after fatally shooting a man in 2005, sent me an email wanting to explain his situation further. I had talked to his attorney on Wednesday. The sergeant, who agreed to drop his litigation in exchange for the city dropping its bid to fire him, will retire July 1, giving him 20 years on the job and enough time to collect his pension, about half his $73,000 salary. His allegations raised questions about whether city officers who fire their guns suffer emotional distress and whether the department gives them enough help.

The head of Baltimore's police union, Robert Cherry, launched a heartfelt defense of Det. Daniel T. Nicholson IV, who is suspended and accused of conducting an authorized raid while searching for his missing 15-year-old daughter: "I think what Detective Nicholson did is no different than what any concerned parened would do. He went out to find his missing daughter and make sure she was safe. In the end, I think the facts will prove that he did not abuse his position or his power.

A 22-year-old woman was killed and her infant daughter injured Monday night after a man eluding city police ran a red light and plowed into her vehicle in West Baltimore, authorities said. The accident occurred two weeks before Jordasha Rollins was to celebrate her daughter's first birthday, and, in a twist of fate, she knew the driver of the vehicle that took her life. But as family and friends hung balloons and flowers Tuesday at the site where the accident occurred, their anger was not directed at the driver but at police.

[This post has been updated. The original version remains intact below] A 22-year-old woman was killed and her infant daughter injured Monday night after a man eluding city police ran a red light and plowed into her vehicle in West Baltimore, authorities said. The accident occurred two weeks before Jordasha Rollins was to celebrate her daughter's first birthday, and, in a twist of fate, she knew the driver of the vehicle that took her life. But as family and friends hung balloons and flowers Tuesday at the site where the accident occurred, their anger was not directed at the driver but at police.

The union that represents high-ranking police officers in Anne Arundel County has dropped the name of the force's second-in-command from a radio ad that criticizes the county's executive and chief of police. The International Brotherhood of Police Officers, which represents Anne Arundel's police lieutenants and sergeants, originally planned to run an ad that promoted Deputy Police Chief Lt. Col. Emerson C. Davis as having taken a "brave stand" by testifying in front of the County Council about alleged improprieties by his superiors.

The union that represents Anne Arundel County's upper police ranks plans to run a radio ad beginning Thursday in support of the department's second-in-command, who has called for a federal probe of the department and said the force is "dysfunctional. " The International Brotherhood of Police Officers, which represents Anne Arundel's police lieutenants and sergeants, paid for the ad that trumpets Deputy Police Chief Lt. Col. Emerson C. Davis as having taken a "brave stand" by testifying in front of the County Council about alleged improprieties by his superiors.

The police union and City Hall are preparing for arbitration after attempts to reach an agreement to trim $5.1 million from the police budget failed. "Despite our best efforts, we have not been able to reach a consensus," said Scott Peterson, a spokesman for Mayor Sheila Dixon. The Fraternal Order of Police submitted a final offer this week, which city officials say does not meet the targeted cuts. But union President Robert Cherry disagreed, saying, "We've given them a number of offers that would not only meet the $5.1 million goal but exceed it."

The president of the Baltimore County police union has been suspended with pay and stripped of his police powers after an internal department investigation, months after he received probation before judgment on misdemeanor assault charges, a department spokeswoman said. Sgt. Cole B. Weston, who has led the Baltimore County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 4 for 12 years, will be suspended pending an administrative hearing that has not yet been scheduled, said Elise Armacost, a department spokeswoman.

In The Sun's news accounts of Police chief James E. Teare Sr. and the votes of "no confidence" by county police unions, a salient fact has been omitted. The first union vote of "no confidence" in mid-February was an expression of resentment regarding tight county budgets and the partial repeal of the county's binding arbitration law. Acting in the interest of county taxpayers, the decisions made regarding the budget and binding arbitration were made by the county executive, not the chief of police.

Baltimore police issued a formal report Thursday agreeing to carry out recommendations from an independent commission that gave a stinging assessment of last year's Select Lounge shooting, in which a plainclothes officer was mistakenly shot and killed by his colleagues. The 102-page response details promises made by the police commissioner in November to prevent another shooting like the one that killed Officer William H. Torbit and a civilian, and wounded several bystanders in the midst of a chaotic, unruly crowd.