The last time I put Tim Longo's name in a story was back in 2000, and it was about the retired colonel having to return to the police department to testify at an administrative hearing against a cop seven years earlier had taken a bribe from a drug dealer. He had led the investigation.
I knew Longo had gone on to lead the Charlottesville Police Department in Virginia (he's at left in a photo by The Daily Progress), but I haven't kept in touch. Today, Timothy J. Longo Sr.'s name is all over the news -- from the pages of his old Baltimore Sun to The New York Times -- talking about Yeardley Love, the 22-year-old senior from Cockeysville who was found slain at the University of Virginia.
The varsity lacrosse player was allegedly killed by another lacrosse player, 22-year-old George Huguely, of Chevy Chase. The slaying has stunned the college campus and our region and there's Longo front and center, straddling both worlds with ease.
Here is a little of what I wrote in February 2000 when Longo left the Baltimore Police Department:
Here's a bit more:
The departing Longo joined the police force in 1981. He has commanded the Southeastern District, worked in internal investigations, headed the communications division and was Frazier's chief of staff. He was promoted to colonel in March.
As head of the technical services division, he oversaw the $32 million construction of the police headquarters annex and implemented the nation's first 311 nonemergency phone system, which has been copied in several major cities.
Longo was most recently called upon to explain a new warrant initiative after officials discovered that thousands of people wanted by police had never actively been sought. He plans to seek a police chief position elsewhere.
"I have a passion for what I do," he said.