NEWS
By Jessica Anderson, The Baltimore Sun | April 8, 2013
The Baltimore County police union says county officials have ignored a ruling by the state's highest court to reimburse some 400 retired Police Department employees for overpaid insurance premiums. A Maryland Court of Appeals decision in November required the county to reimburse the employees for wrongful deductions, but in a motion filed Friday in county Circuit Court, the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 4, says it hasn't happened. The union estimates the county owes retirees $572,887.10 through May 2011.
NEWS
By Justin George and Justin Fenton, The Baltimore Sun | February 18, 2013
Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts replaced the head of the department's training academy Monday, as the agency seeks to address safety lapses and restore public confidence following the accidental shooting last week of a trainee. Batts returned former academy director Maj. Joseph Smith to the job. He replaces Maj. Eric Russell, who was suspended last week after the training accident. Police say an instructor mistakenly fired his service weapon and struck a University of Maryland police trainee in the head, critically wounding him. Smith, a 25-year veteran, had been working on an initiative to improve crime reporting.
NEWS
By Alison Knezevich, The Baltimore Sun | February 6, 2013
A Baltimore County police union is suing the county retirement system's board of trustees over a $25 million loan the county took from the pension fund to update recycling facilities in Cockeysville. In a lawsuit filed last week in Circuit Court, the Baltimore County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 4 claims the deal reflects a breach of duty, and the board did not get enough advice on the consequences of the loan or obtain adequate security. "We have a responsibility to the people we represent, and quite frankly, all county employees should be concerned about this," said union President Cole Weston.
NEWS
By Justin Fenton, The Baltimore Sun | January 17, 2013
The Baltimore Police Department is planning to hire an outside consultant to develop a "three- to five-year strategic plan" to help streamline the agency and improve crime fighting, city documents show. The consultant group that is awarded the contract will have 90 days to forward a report assessing organizational structure and various challenges facing the department. It will be asked to recommend staffing revisions, new tactics for investigations, and improved working conditions to aid in recruitment and morale, among other things, according to a request for proposals.
NEWS
By Justin George and Justin Fenton, The Baltimore Sun | January 9, 2013
Three police officers suffered minor injuries in a police chase that started in Northeast Baltimore and ended with a collision in the Carney area of Baltimore County. A police spokesman said the pursuit began after two officers moved to interrupt a "possible drug transaction" in the 5200 block of Belair Road. Two officers suffered "scratches and abrasions" in a collision with the suspect vehicle, and were taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center as a precaution. The gray Chevrolet Cobalt fled, leading officers through Northeast and Northern Baltimore, with the passenger-side door of the vehicle bent backward at one point.
NEWS
By Erin Cox, The Baltimore Sun | December 3, 2012
Anne Arundel County councilmen approved on Monday the first raise for county workers in more than four years. The council unanimously granted a 3 percent pay increase for more than 550 officers who belong to the Fraternal Order of Police, as well as for an additional 1,000 employees in another union whose contract included a "me, too" clause entitling its members to raises if another bargaining unit received them. The county was forced to give the $1.6 million worth of raises, retroactive to July 1, after the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the police union in a labor dispute.