Stunning police corruption revealed in Baltimore trial

WASHINGTON: A corruption case is drawing to a close in Baltimore after weeks of riveting testimony which has revealed stunning accounts of abuse by police in the troubled US city.

Drugs and guns seized from drug dealers and resold, hundreds of thousands of dollars pocketed, BB guns purchased so they could be planted on suspects.

Those are just a few of the revelations that have emerged during the trial of police detectives Daniel Hersl and Marcus Taylor, who have been charged with robbery and extortion and could face life in prison.

Closing arguments in the case began on Wednesday and were to conclude on Thursday, after which the jury is to deliver a verdict.

At the heart of the case is the Gun Trace Task Force, an elite plainclothes unit responsible for tracking down and seizing illegal weapons in the crime-ridden port city with a population of around 600,000, nearly 60 per cent of whom are African-American.

All of their victims were black men, many of them drug dealers who the corrupt police officers knew could not go to the authorities to complain. Six police officers have pleaded guilty to various charges and four of them have delivered gripping testimony at the trial of the other two officers.

Several avowed drug dealers have also been given immunity to allow them to testify about their encounters with members of the Gun Trace Task Force.

The Baltimore Sun has provided exhaustive front-page coverage of the case and detailed accounts of some of the most damaging testimony.