Police Union

Anne Arundel County's largest police union called Tuesday night on County Executive John R. Leopold and Police Chief James Teare Sr. to resign in the wake of the indictment of Leopold, who is accused of using his police security detail for campaign and personal tasks. Fraternal Order of Police members voted overwhelmingly to express no confidence in Leopold and Teare. Every ballot cast opposed Leopold, and about 90 percent voiced no confidence in Teare, union officials said late Tuesday.

About 400 retired Baltimore County Police Department employees could see their health insurance premiums reduced and past overpayments reimbursed, after the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled Monday in favor of a grievance brought by the police union. The Baltimore County Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 4, filed the grievance after county officials approved changes in 2007 to the way the county subsidized health insurance for a group of police retirees. Under an agreement, Police Department employees who retired between Feb.1, 1992, and June 30, 2007, were required to pay 15 percent of health insurance premiums while the county would pay 85 percent, and the union believed that the plan was fixed until the retirees became eligible for Medicare.

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.

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.

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.

Baltimore County's police union jumped into the crowded election contest for county executive yesterday with one primary goal in mind -- defeating Republican incumbent Roger B. Hayden."

Months of internal dissent at the Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police boiled over last night at a monthly board of directors meeting, where the union's president was suspended over several allegations of administrative misconduct. Lt. Frederick V. Roussey, the union's president, said the board voted to suspend him until he has a chance to defend himself against the charges at the next board meeting in about 30 days. He said that Robert Cherry, the union's first vice president and a homicide detective, was named acting president.

The Baltimore police union sharply criticized the Police Department's decision to charge an officer with misconduct after an investigation into the use of police resources during state Del. Jon S. Cardin's marriage proposal last summer, saying the punishment was overly harsh and blame should fall on the legislator. "It is, at minimum, a training issue," said Fraternal Order of Police President Robert F. Cherry, adding that the department would not have sustained the charge "if the agency had any backbone."

The Baltimore County Fraternal Order of Police has put in an early bid to cop the local award for Most Fear-Mongering Political Ad of 1993.In case you've missed this subtle gem, the police union radio commercial that has recently aired on local stations features screaming sirens, screaming humans and such overblown lines as "Robberies, murders, rapes. . . That's life in Baltimore County today."Who scripted this stuff -- Stephen King?True, crime is up in the county, as is anxiety over crime.

As Baltimore Police Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier cracks down on a record number of "preventable" car accidents in the department, the police union is challenging his power to punish officers exonerated by administrative boards.The union is threatening to sue the Police Department by next week over Mr. Frazier's decision to overturn board decisions in two minor accidents. Those actions violate state law, according to Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3."It is unfortunate that under Commissioner Frazier, Baltimore City police officers will not receive the same rights that are afforded to criminals of Baltimore City," the union said in a strongly worded memo posted on union billboards at police stations throughout the city.