darryl de sousa

Former Baltimore Police Commissioner Darryl De Sousa has entered federal prison after pleading guilty to three counts of failing to file federal tax returns

Here’s a chronological look at some key points of Catherine Pugh's tenure in Baltimore City Council, the Maryland General Assembly and as mayor of Baltimore.

Baltimore City Councilman Ryan Dorsey plans to introduce three bills aimed at ensuring an ethical city government — including legislation that would ramp up financial oversight and disclosure requirements and protect whistleblowers.

A month into Michael Harrison’s tenure as commissioner of one of the country’s most challenged police departments, he’s reshaping it — looking nationally for top candidates and turning a critical eye to command staff.

As I watched Baltimore burn on the night of Freddie Gray’s funeral four years ago this month, the only comfort I could find was in the thought that the city I loved could not possibly ever again look worse to the world than it did at that profoundly sad moment. But recent events proved me wrong.

As part of the Baltimore Police Department’s restructuring under its new chief, Michael Harrison, Deputy Commissioner of Operations Andre Bonaparte is leaving the Department.

In a sentencing memorandum filed Friday, the prosecutors for the first time linked De Sousa’s prosecution with the wider corruption case, saying they uncovered evidence that city officers shared tips about how to get tax refunds by claiming fraudulent deductions.

Michael Harrison, Baltimore's first permanent police commissioner in 10 months, has received unanimous support from City Council. That means he's also launched on a complex mission: drive down historically high rates of violent crime while reforming a dysfunctional department.

The most important parts of police commissioner nominee Michael Harrison's contract aren't the salary or the guaranteed payout. They're the ones that give him the power to reshape the department and hold him accountable for doing it.

Baltimore’s spending board has approved a 5-year contract for the incoming police commissioner. The deal gives him valuable perks and a far higher salary than his predecessors, but at also makes him easier to fire. Michael Harrison would make $275,000 a year. He starts Monday.

Michael Harrison will start work as Baltimore's police commissioner with a much more generous contract than the past three leaders of the police department, guaranteeing him a far higher salary, raises and other perks. But the deal also makes it easier a mayor to fire Harrison.

A monitor overseeing reforms of the Baltimore Police Department says the dysfunction within the agency is so deep and widespread that it will take years longer than anticipated to root it out. Kenneth Thompson testified before the House of Delegates' judiciary committee in Annapolis.

A former Baltimore Police officer has filed a defamation lawsuit after he was appointed to serve as deputy commissioner but lost the job after a fake memo was sent to the media.

The major in charge of the Baltimore Police training academy is retiring, just as the department begins training officers on consent decree reforms.

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh announced that she has chosen New Orleans police superintendent Michael Harrison to lead the city’s police department, a day after her previous pick for commissioner withdrew from consideration.

In January of last year, Baltimoreans first heard the news that Mayor Catherine Pugh would be firing the city’s police commissioner Kevin Davis. Nearly a year later, the city still lacks a permanent police chief. Below, a look at how we got here. 

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh’s office says she is postponing community meetings with her nominee for police commission, Joel Fitzgerald, citing a medical issue in his family. The mayor’s office called the issue an “unexpected medical emergency having to do with his son" which requires surgery.

Here’s the challenge for Baltimore media: Cover these sessions with Joel Fitzgerald with the same intensity and resources as you do the Ravens this week. Getting the right person in the job of police commissioner is more important than whether or not the Ravens beat the Chargers Sunday. Really.

Mayor Catherine Pugh will hold two community “meet and greet” meetings next month with her nominee to become Baltimore’s next police commissioner. Fitzgerald is the chief in Fort Worth, Texas. He needs to win a majority of 15 votes on the Baltimore City Council to get the new job.

When a mayor doesn't know about her police commissioner's character or personal finances, that's a problem.

These were the top 10 biggest news stories from the past year.

The Baltimore Police Department faced an unprecedented number of challenges in 2018 that included leadership turnover, cases of officer misconduct, continued high levels of violence and the final convictions in one of the biggest police corruption scandals in city history.

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh said Wednesday that she wasn't aware that tax authorities had flagged an issue with Darryl De Sousa's taxes more than two years before she named him police commissioner.

What's criminal behavior for an ex-police commissioner just means a billionaire president can't serve on charitable boards.

De Sousa was charged in May with three misdemeanor counts of failing to file federal tax returns. He resigned one week later.

See former Baltimore police Commissioner Darryl De Sousa's plea agreement on federal tax charges.

Baltimore City Council members are expected to travel to Fort Worth, Texas, this week to learn more about its police chief, Joel Fitzgerald, who is Mayor Catherine Pugh’s pick to be the city’s next police commissioner.

Former Baltimore Police Commissioner Darryl De Sousa is scheduled to appear in court for a rearraignment hearing next month, court records show.

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh said she expects the city's new police commissioner could be paid about $260,000 — a 25 percent increase compared with what previous commissioners have made. The salary would make Joel Fitzgerald among the best paid city employees.

Members of the Baltimore City Council are pushing the mayor's office to release the results of a background investigation into police commissioner nominee Joel Fitzgerald. Mayor Catherine Pugh's office says it's confidential. Some council members say they won't vote for him without seeing it.

The Baltimore City Council will hold two days of hearings in January on the nomination of Fort Worth police chief Joel Fitzgerald to be police commissioner, setting up a final up or down vote by the end of that month, the council president's office said Monday.

At an interfaith event with at a church Sunday, Mayor Catherine Pugh capitalized on the moment to defend her hiring of Joel Fitzgerald to head the Baltimore Police Department before a diverse crowd.

Joel Fitzgerald, the police chief of Fort Worth, Texas, has been chosen as Baltimore’s next police commissioner, Mayor Catherine Pugh confirmed Friday.

There is one final candidate in the search for Baltimore's next police commissioner.

The selection process has been kept under wraps so far, but here’s what we do know about the search for the next Baltimore police commissioner.

From the death of Freddie Gray to scandals over surveillance planes and body camera videos, the Baltimore Police Department has had a rocky three years.

T.J. Smith, the Baltimore Police Department’s chief spokesman and most consistent public face since 2015, whose local roots and empathetic outrage over city violence often endeared him to a public otherwise distrustful of the agency, has resigned, he confirmed to The Baltimore Sun on Wednesday.

Baltimore’s interim police commissioner — the third person to hold the commissioner’s seat this year — has withdrawn from consideration for the permanent job, the city solicitor told a judge this morning.

A high-ranking Baltimore Police commander has been banned from city buildings after slamming a chair into a wall during a heated meeting with interim Commissioner Gary Tuggle’s chief of staff, he confirmed.

The Baltimore Police Department has failed to prioritize patrol positions, leaving a 26.6 percent vacancy rate — significantly higher compared with other areas within the department — and should reconsider restructuring, a new report found.

For the sixth time in less than a decade a group taking a close look at the Baltimore Police has delivered a lengthy report on the department's failings and issued a lengthy set of recommendations on how to fix them. This time the authors warned that they can't go unheeded again.

On the street where Baltimore police detective was found dying, many disbelieve he would have taken his own life

Baltimore received “north of 40 applications” for the police commissioner job, a city spokesman said Tuesday.

Baltimoreans have reason to harbor doubts about the independence of the panel investigating Sean Suiter's death.

While income tax problems toppled Baltimore’s police commissioner in May, a retired officer he hired to be a deputy commissioner didn’t file his personal business taxes until Wednesday, a day after The Baltimore Sun asked about the firms.

The consent decree hearing comes after the department has suffered a series of blows in recent weeks.

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh said Wednesday she’s impressed with acting Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle — but is nevertheless collecting resumes from “across the country” for the job as the city’s top cop.

The judge overseeing federally mandated reform of the Baltimore Police Department is expressing doubt the department has the leadership ability or resources to implement the needed changes.

The County Council is considering a resolution that would pose a question to the voters in the November election: Should their charter be amended to require the County Council to confirm the county executive’s choice of police chief?

Darryl De Sousa, a 30-year veteran of the Baltimore Police Department, has been tapped by Mayor Catherine E. Pugh to become the agency’s 40th police commissioner, replacing Kevin Davis.