Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III said during a radio interview Tuesday that the department is scaling back the security detail outside former Mayor Sheila Dixon's house, which remained in place last week despite snowstorms and her resignation as part of sentencing for a criminal conviction.
"It's a balance," Bealefeld told WBAL's Ron Smith. "We've altered the way the deployment is conducted, and it's different from what it was. As we progress along, it'll change according to those assessments. It's a matter of transitioning from what she had to eventually getting and having no security there at all."
The detail, first reported by The Baltimore Sun last week, had an officer from the Southern District outside Dixon's Southwest Baltimore home 24 hours a day. It's among at least three such security details, including one at Bealefeld's home, and Bealefeld said a transition period was "not without precedence."
Law enforcement sources said officers had been asking when the detail would end, so the officer could return to patrol, and said the deployment was altered late last week. Dixon, a Democrat, stepped down Feb. 4 after accepting a plea agreement calling for her to resign and pay $45,000 to charity while keeping her pension.