Grayling Williams, the new head of the Baltimore Police Department's Internal Investigation Division, meets with reporters on Friday. Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III is in the background. (Baltimore Sun Photo By Barbara Haddock Taylor) |
The new heads of Baltimore police training and discipline met with reporters on Friday and expressed their desire to improve the agency that has been troubled by allegations of corruption last year.
Greyland Williams, a longtime DEA agent who grew up in New York, and John A. King, a former Montgomery County officer who retired as deputy chief, seemed to know their role well in Baltimore.
They each have challenging jobs, with city police coming off a year in which one cop got charged with selling heroin from a station house parking lot, more than a dozen others were indicted in a kickback scheme involving a towing company, and four officers shot a plainclothes colleague who they mistook for a gunman fatally shooting somebody else.
Williams especially will be on the hot seat. After her heroin bust, the police commissioner removed the head of internal investigations after it was learned he had a social relationship with the arrested officer and had appeared in a photo with him, and separately with another man charged in another drug case.
Williams did not back down:
“Baltimore is a tough town, and it’s got it’s tough areas,” he said. “But New York City is a bigger town and arguably it has some tougher areas.”
He said big departments and small have problems — and he pointed to the police force in East Haven, Conn., in which three officers and their sergeant were arrested by the FBI and charged this week with terrorizing Hispanic residents.
“That’s a 50-man department,” Williams said, “and they have issues.” He added that Baltimore is no worse than other police agencies. “Baltimore is a big city department with big city issues,” he said. “But they’re not insurmountable.”
Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld IIIhad this to say:
“We know we have in some areas, in some communities, and with some officers, an estranged, broken relationship,” Bealefeld told reporters during an hour-long round-table discussion at the downtown police headquarters. “I’m relying on these two.
“I want the communities to see Chief Williams as an icon of integrity,” the commissioner said. “He’s going to hear their concerns and he’s going to work his tail off to resolve them in a very just fashion. … I thought it was important that we find someone that would have the credibility in the community to stand alone, to go into neighborhoods and immediately win trust “
Greyland Williams, a longtime DEA agent who grew up in New York, and John A. King, a former Montgomery County officer who retired as deputy chief, seemed to know their role well in Baltimore.
They each have challenging jobs, with city police coming off a year in which one cop got charged with selling heroin from a station house parking lot, more than a dozen others were indicted in a kickback scheme involving a towing company, and four officers shot a plainclothes colleague who they mistook for a gunman fatally shooting somebody else.
Williams especially will be on the hot seat. After her heroin bust, the police commissioner removed the head of internal investigations after it was learned he had a social relationship with the arrested officer and had appeared in a photo with him, and separately with another man charged in another drug case.
Williams did not back down:
“Baltimore is a tough town, and it’s got it’s tough areas,” he said. “But New York City is a bigger town and arguably it has some tougher areas.”
He said big departments and small have problems — and he pointed to the police force in East Haven, Conn., in which three officers and their sergeant were arrested by the FBI and charged this week with terrorizing Hispanic residents.
“That’s a 50-man department,” Williams said, “and they have issues.” He added that Baltimore is no worse than other police agencies. “Baltimore is a big city department with big city issues,” he said. “But they’re not insurmountable.”
Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld IIIhad this to say:
“We know we have in some areas, in some communities, and with some officers, an estranged, broken relationship,” Bealefeld told reporters during an hour-long round-table discussion at the downtown police headquarters. “I’m relying on these two.
“I want the communities to see Chief Williams as an icon of integrity,” the commissioner said. “He’s going to hear their concerns and he’s going to work his tail off to resolve them in a very just fashion. … I thought it was important that we find someone that would have the credibility in the community to stand alone, to go into neighborhoods and immediately win trust “
