AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF BALTIMORE
I am writing to apologize profoundly to the members of my department, to the Mayor who brought me to this city and to the people of Baltimore who have looked to me to help protect their lives and their property. I have embarrassed and raised questions in the minds of many, by my handling of the commissioner's expense account started decades ago through private donation and administered with broad discretion by different commissioners for much of the last 20 years.
I should have treated the fund from the start as a public fund, even though it was not and never had been. Had I done this, we would have full and complete records of how the money was used, erasing all doubt about how and for what purposes it might have been spent.
As it was, the money was spent largely for training, recruiting, meetings with police officials here and in other parts of the country, travel related to these functions, and gifts for members of the department and visitors. If the audit the Mayor has ordered finds personal or improper expenditures charged to the account, I will reimburse the fund.
Furthermore, I apologize to the members of my security detail whose actions and overtime, earned legitimately in response to my direction, have been called into question by my handling of this matter.
In particular, Agent Thomas Tobin, often cited in the media as my intermediary to the account, was simply trying to facilitate my travel arrangements and purchases of equipment and gifts for employees and visitors. I told him to make these transactions in cash because neither he nor I could carry these expenses on our personal credit cards and we did not have access to a department credit card.
I do not offer this as an excuse by any means, but much of our travel and out-of-town meetings were precipitated by the events of September 11 and our need to establish a fast and dependable network with people I know and trust. It has been particularly painful for me to see questioned the integrity of this dedicated 22-year veteran, who has served for more than a decade as a full-duty cop even after a kidney transplant required medications that caused him to need multiple hip replacements.
He and other members of my detail have earned their overtime not only staffing my movement inside and outside the city, but also doing one or more of the following: conducting investigations, monitoring crime scenes, apprehending criminal suspects and conducting drug and warrant operations in concert with other units of the department.
Two things happened today that have caused me to write this letter. The death of yet another courageous police officer, killed while rushing to protect a fellow officer, reminded me that all my actions as police commissioner should be above reproach. The other was a call from a reporter asking whether questions about the fund have distracted me from our all-too-serious daily responsibilities. They have.
I am sorry for my failings as a human being, but I ask for your support in rededicating us all to the fight against the violence that still takes so many lives.
Sincerely,
Edward T. Norris
Commissioner