Police feel restricted, lacking in support
Most Baltimore Police officers who participated in a recent informal survey feel restricted by the department’s federal consent decree, inadequately trained and unsupported by city leadership.
Some of the officers surveyed said they don’t even feel comfortable intervening in incidents and making arrests without having been called to the scene.
“They’re afraid,” said City Councilman Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer, who conducted the unscientific survey. “In this political environment, you have to justify every move you make.”
About 362 of the department’s nearly 2,300 officers responded to Schleifer’s voluntary survey, which was sent at the end of 2018 via department email to Police Department leadership, officers and civilian members who responded anonymously.
The results showed 43 percent said they do not feel “comfortable making selfinitiated arrests,” which Schleifer said refers to proactive calls when officers are on patrol and they witness an incident and intervene, as opposed to calls they respond to through 911.
The survey also found that 74 percent said they “feel restricted by the consent decree,” while 44 percent said they don’t “fully understand the consent decree.” Only 60 percent said they feel “adequately trained” while 78 percent said they feel the department has “lowered our hiring standards.”
Two of every three officers who took the survey — 68 percent — also said they do not feel city leadership supports law enforcement.
Attorney Ken Thompson, who heads the independent monitoring team that is helping the department implement the consent decree, said he hadn’t reviewed the survey, but the responses show the team must work on its outreach efforts.
“We want to intensify our efforts to reach out to the rank-and-file,” he said.
Officers should not feel that the consent decree restricts them, he said.
Sgt. Mike Mancuso, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, the union that represents the rank-and-file officers, said in a statement on Twitter Friday that he hopes city leadership takes note of the responses.
“The results are no surprise to our members & it points out the shortcomings of the City & how the BPD is run including the theft of our pension benefits. It should be included in any discussion of recruitment, retention, & morale,” Mancuso said.
When Former Mayor Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake overhauled the city’s police and fire pension system, officers were required to increase contributions to the pension fund and had to stay on the force for 25 years instead of 20 to receive their pensions.
Most who took the survey — 83 percent — were sworn officers and the rest were administrative personnel. Of the officers who responded, the majority were experienced officers.
Only 8 percent had served up to five years; 19 percent had served five to10 years; 19 percent had served 10 to 15; 21 percent had served 15 to 20 years; and 33 percent had served 20 or more years.