Southwestern District

Baltimore CityROBBERY: Northeastern District -- A resident of the 3400 block of Mary Ave. was riding his multispeed bicycle near his home Tuesday evening when two older youths knocked him to the pavement and stole the bike, valued at $200.PURSE SNATCHING: Western District -- A resident of the 1800 block of McCulloh St. was in the 800 block of W. Baltimore St. Tuesday afternoon when a man stole her purse containing a small sum of money.CHILD ABUSE: Western District -- Police were seeking a man who assaulted a child during an incident in the 1400 block of N. Calhoun St. Tuesday evening.

Terrance Gough bought a king-size mattress, unpacked his clothes and arranged the bedroom in his uncle's Southwest Baltimore home just the way he liked it. The 26-year-old never got a chance to sleep in the bed, however: he was gunned down the next afternoon at an intersection around the corner, one of 11 people added to the city's growing list of homicide victims over the past nine days. "That was the first night he was going to stay here," said Gough's uncle, Andre Foote, 44. "He was shot twice, once in the heart, once in the lung.

BALTIMORE CITY* RAPE/ARREST: Northeastern District -- Police arrested a man who entered a house in the 1300 block of Silverthorn Road on Wednesday and raped the occupant after he asked to use the telephone. The man, police said, was the ex-boyfriend of the victim's sister.* ROBBERY: Northeastern District -- A resident of the 2000 block of Cecil Ave. was about to enter her car in the 500 block of E. 27th St. Wednesday afternoon when a man she knows stole her purse containing cash and property, all valued at $40.* BURGLARY: Northern District -- Someone entered a house in the 5200 block of Gallagher Court through the front door and stole stereo equipment, a bike and other pieces of property, all valued at more than $1,000.

John Lloyd Bergbower, a Johns Hopkins Medicine security vice president who as a city police commander battled drug buyers in Southwest Baltimore, suffered a fall at his North Baltimore home Sunday and died later that day at Sinai Hospital. He was 60. "He didn't need to run into a burning building or take on an armed gunman to know that John Bergbower was a courageous man," said Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III, who served under him in the Southwestern District nearly 15 years ago. "He was a very smart, capable person with an air of confidence about him that made an impression on a young sergeant like myself.

For months, police in the Southwestern District have focused on dangerous gangs, using aggressive tactics to engage suspected offenders displaying gang colors and signs. And, police say, frustrated gang members and criminals seem to be pushing back. In six weeks, three officers have either been shot or shot at, including Tuesday's gun battle near a city school that left an officer and suspected gang member seriously wounded. Yesterday around 9:30 a.m., blocks from a city school, more gunfire erupted, leaving a 15-year-old shot in the head, which forced authorities to lock down two schools, one of them for the second consecutive day. Sterling Clifford, a city police spokesman, said that the increased enforcement in the Southwestern district is part of the department's citywide crackdown on violent offenders.

The Baltimore Police Department offered to reinstate the suspended supervisor of a unit that was disbanded after allegations of misconduct in exchange for the sergeant dropping a defamation lawsuit he brought against two members of the force, according to a letter from the agency's chief legal council. The officer, Sgt. Robert Smith, was in charge of the Southwestern District's "flex squad" - an aggressive unit whose members had broad liberties to chase down drug dealers in high-crime neighborhoods - when allegations surfaced in January 2006 that a woman had been raped by a member of that squad in the police station.

James Sebastian Michael DiPino a retired Baltimore police captain and former Southwestern District commander, died of pneumonia Monday at Oak Crest Village in Parkville. He was 95. Captain DiPino was born in Baltimore and raised on Albermarle Street in Little Italy. He attended parochial schools and later dropped out of high school to help support his family. He earned his General Educational Development certificate, drove a taxi and was a security guard at the General Motors plant on Broening Highway before he joined the city police in 1942.

Vicki Mengel, an officer who faced gambling charges and allegations of misconduct as a member of the disbanded Southwestern District flex squad, has resigned from the Baltimore Police Department. Mengel, 36, a 10-year veteran of the force, quietly resigned two months ago, a Baltimore police spokesman confirmed yesterday. She had been suspended with pay since the gambling charges were lodged in November 2005. She was convicted in February in District Court of two misdemeanor gambling counts related to a poker game, but court records show the conviction was later modified to a finding of probation before judgment, meaning it can later be wiped from her record.

A police detective in Baltimore's Southeastern District was indicted yesterday by a city grand jury on charges of second-degree rape and misconduct in office. William D. Welch, a 12-year veteran of the Police Department, is accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl July 16 in the station house. The teenager had been arrested because she had an outstanding warrant in Baltimore County on prostitution charges, police said. Welch, 40, was suspended without pay, a police spokeswoman said last night.

The Baltimore Police Department has replaced a specialized unit in the city's Southwestern District because most of its officers have been suspended amid investigations of rape, drug possession and illegal gambling. A new group of officers was assigned to take over the district's "flex squad," whose members are freed from the rigors of street patrol to target criminals involved in violence and drugs. The FBI also has said it will investigate the suspected rape, adding more scrutiny to a district troubled by allegations of misconduct as it struggles to curtail a spike in homicides.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes from police reports in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. Baltimore City Southwestern District Shots fired/arrest: Officer Kenneth Jeffries of the district drug enforcement unit was at Crimea and Windsor Mill roads about 8 p.m. Wednesday when he observed four men standing behind a tree. As he approached, Jeffries heard three shots and saw one of the men flee into the woods, then break into a vacant house on nearby Tucker Lane through a window.