gun trace task force

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.

By Tim Prudente

Oct 11, 2018

A high-ranking internal affairs commander told Baltimore City Council members that seven officers are under internal investigations connected to the Baltimore Police Department's corrupt Gun Trace Task Force.

By Ian Duncan

Oct 10, 2018

Today will be the third public quarterly hearing with the judge enforcing the Baltimore Police consent decree that calls for widespread reforms.

By Jessica Anderson

Oct 9, 2018

It is impossible to watch this report and not conclude that Baltimore police have utterly failed in policing themselves. It is also reasonable to wonder after watching whether Baltimore will ever escape the cycle of crime and corruption that now engulfs it if it fails to acknowledge that failure.

By David Zurawik

Oct 3, 2018

Baltimore jurors have acquitted the suspect in the 2016 shooting death of a 31-year-old man who federal prosecutors have said was killed over a drug debt after being robbed by corrupt Baltimore Police officers.

The list released Thursday shows more than 40 names, including a mix of senior department commanders, detectives who investigated their colleague’s death, other law enforcement officials and city residents who lived near the crime scene.

A prominent workers’ compensation attorney resigned Wednesday from a panel investigating the corrupt Gun Trace Task Force after revelations the attorney had represented three of the convicted detectives in injury claims.

By Tim Prudente

Sep 5, 2018

The seven-member panel is expected to hold public hearings on how the officers’ misconduct was able to flourish without accountability prior to federal racketeering indictments.

A report from an independent review board concluded homicide Det. Sean Suiter committed suicide. We're taking reader questions about the Suiter case.

Maybe Sean Suiter killed himself. Maybe not. The only thing that's certain is that the Baltimore Police Department shouldn't take the latest report into his death as an excuse to close the case and move on.

A report by a outside panel of policing experts sets out in detail why the evidence shows Baltimore Police Det. Sean Suiter took his own life in November and scrutinizes the investigation into the incident.

By Ian Duncan

Aug 29, 2018

Baltimore Police on Tuesday released a report from an independent review board that concludes homicide Detective Sean Suiter was not killed by an assailant, but likely took his own life.

The public has heard too many stories from the police about Det. Sean Suter's death to believe the conclusion that it was a suicide — or anything else.

Former Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis, who led the city force last November when Det. Sean Suiter was shot to death, is criticizing the anticipated finding by an independent review board that the fallen officer likely took his own life.

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

By Catherine Rentz

Aug 27, 2018

A timeline of the investigation into Baltimore homicide Detective Sean Suiter's death, according to statements by public officials and Baltimore Sun reporting.

The independent panel appointed to review the death of Baltimore homicide Det. Sean Suiter has concluded that the officer likely took his own life, according to a source with knowledge of the findings.

A Baltimore County police officer who faced accusations of stealing that were raised during the city police Gun Trace Task Force corruption trial has resigned from the force, a department spokesman said Tuesday.

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

When Donald C. Stepp, 52, was arrested last year on drugs charges, he immediately flipped and outlined for authorities how he had worked with former Baltimore Police Sgt. Wayne Jenkins to sell drugs.

Baltimore police should have to answer questions about their conduct before they testify at trial.

This is a plea to the governor and leaders of the Maryland General Assembly: Please take charge of fixing the broken disciplinary system of the Baltimore Police Department (BPD). This is a problem that only you can solve. The fix requires changes to state law.

The independent board reviewing the investigation into the death of Baltimore Police homicide detective Sean Suiter was to vote on its conclusions about the case Tuesday, and its final report could be made public within a month, the panel’s chair said.

Attorneys for the city of Baltimore moved in court Friday to prevent taxpayers from footing the bill for lawsuits related to misconduct arising the Gun Trace Task Force corruption scandal.

From a federal judge questioning whether officials have what it takes to implement to civil rights reforms to a sergeant charged after an alleged drunken crash, the Baltimore Police department has had a difficult July.

By Ian Duncan

Jul 27, 2018

Baltimore police need the best leader available, not merely the best local choice.

Baltimore County police officer has been suspended and another officer is no longer with the department after an investigation into claims made against them in the city police Gun Trace Task Force corruption scandal, the department confirmed Tuesday.

Federal prosecutors and public defenders are asking a judge to release an admitted drug dealer serving a 24-year sentence because his case relied on testimony from two discredited members of the Baltimore Police Department’s corrupt Gun Trace Task Force.

Keyon Paylor was three years into a prison sentence in 2017 when the federal government asked him to help convict the cop who locked him up.

State's attorney Marilyn Mosby leads in her quest for a second term despite the turmoil of the last three years.

By Dan Rodricks

Jun 26, 2018

Convicted former Baltimore Police Gun Trace Task Force detective Daniel Hersl was sentenced Friday to 18 years in federal prison.

Harford County is blessed with many wonderful, professional law enforcement officers.

The Harford County sheriff’s deputy whose investigation uncovered corruption in Baltimore City Police Department and led to charges of eight officers, will be honored next week with one of the National Sheriff’s Association’s top honors.

By Erika Butler

Jun 15, 2018

Thomas Finnegan, 38, was sentenced Wednesday to eight and a half years in federal prison for committing an armed robbery alongside a corrupt Baltimore police detective.

By Tim Prudente

Jun 13, 2018

Two men who served federal prison time after Baltimore Police planted drugs on them in 2010 to justify a fatal high-speed chase filed a lawsuit Wednesday and will ask for more than $40 million in damages, according to their attorneys.

Both officers pleaded guilty and cooperated with the government, testifying against their fellow officers at a trial earlier this year.

Former Gun Trace Task Force Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, perhaps the most corrupt officer uncovered in Baltimore Police Department history, was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in federal prison for his role in a stunning range of crimes. Former detective Marcus Taylor received 18 years in prison.

An ongoing review by the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s office has whittled down the number of cases affected by the police department’s corrupt Gun Trace Task Force from nearly 3,000 to about 1,700, Marilyn J. Mosby told the City Council on Monday night.

By Luke Broadwater

Jun 5, 2018

A convicted former Gun Trace Task Force member’s cooperation with the government “continues to this day,” his defense attorney wrote in a new filing, the latest indication that federal authorities continue to probe corruption within the Baltimore Police Department.

Attorney Steve Levin wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court late Thursday that the leader of the police department’s corrupt Gun Trace Task Force “climbed the ladder of success through hard work,” but “threw it all away by engaging in activity which he recognizes was wrong."

A 39-year-old Baltimore man has filed suit against former members of the Baltimore Police Gun Trace Task Force, as well as the city and the state’s attorney’s office, alleging officials were aware of a pattern of misconduct and failed to stop it.

A victim of the Gun Trace Task Force who testified at the corruption trial of two police officers was re-arrested by Baltimore Police this week in a bust that netted $138,000 cash, two guns and drugs, court records show.

The national media is having a field day with Baltimore's police commissioner who doesn't file taxes. And no wonder.

By David Zurawik

May 16, 2018

As news broke that Baltimore Police Commissioner Darryl De Sousa had resigned, Gov. Larry Hogan was signing into law a bill to launch an investigation into city police corruption. The law creates a commission with subpoena power to probe revelations about the Gun Trace Task Force.

By Scott Dance

May 15, 2018

Thomas Allers, 49, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison on Friday after he pleaded guilty to nine robberies carried out while on duty between 2014 and 2016.

Dozens of people have filed letters of support with the court ahead of Friday's sentencing for former Baltimore Police Sgt. Thomas Allers, who was among eight officers convicted in a federal corruption case.

Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn said she believed the department turned a blind eye to the comings and goings of Steven Bagshaw, 45. She said the department chose to make an example of him only after scandal emerged across the city with the corrupt Gun Trace Task Force.

By Tim Prudente

May 9, 2018

Philadelphia police officer Eric Snell asks for pretrial release on charges related to Baltimore Gun Trace Task Force case.

The Baltimore police union has advised its members not to answer questions being posed by prosecutors to flush out potential integrity issues of police witnesses, saying they go beyond the internal affairs disclosures mandated under a March agreement between prosecutors and city attorneys.

By Kevin Rector

May 2, 2018

A city prosecutor who was fired in February after being accused of leaking information to the corrupt Gun Trace Task Force officers is fighting back, saying she had "no clue" about a federal investigation.