Baltimore Police Department
The Baltimore Police Department (BPD) is the municipal police department of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. Dating back to 1784, the BPD, consisting of 2,935 employees in 2020, is organized into nine districts covering 80.9 square miles (210 km2) of land and 11.1 square miles (29 km2) of waterways. The department is sometimes referred to as the Baltimore City Police Department to distinguish it from the Baltimore County Police Department.
"Baltimore Police" redirects here. For the county police, see Baltimore County Police Department. For the county sheriff's office, see Baltimore County Sheriff's Office.Baltimore Police Department
Baltimore Police Department
BPD
Semper Paratus, Semper Fideles, Ever on the Watch
Ever Ready, Ever Faithful, Ever on the Watch
1784
2,935 (2020)[1]
$536 million (2020)[1]
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
80.95 square miles (209.7 km2)
602,495 (2018)
2,514 (2017)[2]
- Richard Worley, Commissioner
- Vacant, Deputy Commissioner – Operations Bureau
- Brian Nadeau, Deputy Commissioner – Public Integrity Bureau
- Eric Melancon, Deputy Commissioner – Compliance Bureau
- Sheree Briscoe, Deputy Commissioner – Administrative Bureau
1-Central
2-Southeast
3-Eastern
4-Northeast
5-Northern
6-Northwest
7-Western
8-Southwest
9-Southern
Chevrolet Suburbans, Tahoes, Caprices, Ford Taurus Interceptors, Utility Interceptors, Explorers, Escapes, Mustangs and Harley-Davidson Police Motorcycles, Toyota Tundra, Ford F150
2x Eurocopter EC 120 called Foxtrot
12
History[edit]
Foundation to the 1840s[edit]
The first attempt to establish professional policing in Baltimore was in 1784, nearly 60 years after the founding of the colonial town and eight years after United States independence. The city authorized a night watch and a force of day constables to enforce town laws. Nightwatchman George Workner was the first law enforcement officer to be killed in the city; he was stabbed during an escape attempt by nine inmates at Baltimore City Jail on March 14, 1808.[3]
The department was founded in its current form (with uniforms and firearms) in 1853 by the Maryland state legislature "to provide for a better security for life and property in the City of Baltimore". The state did not give the city the power to run its own police affairs. The early decades of the department were marked by internal political conflict over split loyalties. In 1857 the police were reorganized by Mayor Thomas Swann and new men were recruited; many came from Know Nothing gangs in the city and maintained loyalties to former leaders.[4] The first BPD officer to die in the line of duty was Sergeant William Jourdan, who was shot and killed by an unknown gunman during the first city council elections on October 14, 1857.[5][6]
In 1861, during the U.S. Civil War, the police department was taken over by the federal government after police helped push pro-U.S. and pro-Confederate rioters into a full-out armed confrontation in the Baltimore riot of 1861. The U.S. military ran the police department until 1862, when they turned authority back to the state legislature.
The department introduced call boxes in 1885, the Bertillon identification system in 1896, and radio communications in 1933.
The 1930s to the Civil Rights era[edit]
The first African American officer hired by the department was a woman: Violet Hill Whyte, in 1937.[7] The first black male officers (Walter T. Eubanks Jr., Harry S. Scott, Milton Gardner, and J. Hiram Butler Jr.) were hired the year after. They were all assigned to plainclothes duty to work undercover.[8] In 1943, African Americans were allowed to wear police uniforms, and by 1950 there were 50 black officers in the department.[8]
African American officers at this point were barred from using squad cars, hit a ceiling in promotion and were limited to patrolling black neighbourhoods or assignments in the Narcotics Division or as undercover officers.[9] They were subjected to racial harassment from both white coworkers (including the use of racial slurs during roll call[10]) and African American residents (including degrading racial graffiti). Bishop L. Robinson and Edward J. Tilghman were two black police officers during this period; both later served as police commissioner.[9] Local Republican politician Marse Callaway played a significant role in increasing the number of African American officers.In 1962, Patrolman Henry Smith Jr. was the first African American officer to die in the line of duty; he was shot breaking up a dice game on North Milton Avenue.[11]
Notable incidents[edit]
Police Commissioner James M. Hepbron[edit]
Commissioner James M. Hepbron was subject to a hearing on February 19, 1959, led by Jerome Robinson, Democratic State Delegate for the fourth district.[57] Delegate Robinson had a long history of challenging wiretapping and search warrants, as he believed the practice unconstitutional, against Federal law and a violation of the natural rights of the citizen. In the 90-day public hearing and investigation, Robinson stated that the commissioner "demonstrate[d] lack of a sense of propriety and in several respects a lack of comprehension on the part of the commissioner of the nature of his duties, the functions of the department, and the obligations to the citizenry"[57] During the public hearing Hepbron incessantly left the hearing and/or refused to answer specifications against him.
During the hearing, Robinson urged the commissioner to resign in the public interest. Robinson wrote, "it is obvious that he has outlived his position. His administration has produced continuing deterioration and the demoralization of the department".[58]
The charges against Hepbron included: