Maryland Transportation Authority Police are PREDATORY Lowlifes!

Who's minding the store?

Originally published January 13, 2006

Allegations against three members of a special crime squad in
Baltimore's Southwestern Police District suggest rogue cops at work.
The officers were indicted last week in the alleged rape of a woman
they picked up in a routine drug arrest. A police search of an office
used by the five-member "flex squad" reinforces the idea that these
cops didn't exactly play by the rules. Here's some of what was found:
small packets of suspected heroin, marijuana and cocaine, 31 knives, 13
bootleg DVDs, various forms of ID, sets of metal knuckles, seven cell
phones.

At a time when Baltimore citizens have publicly complained about
aggressive policing and the City Council is considering empowering a
civilian review board, the charges against the flex squad officers
suggest an abuse of power of the worst kind - a quid pro quo to ignore
a crime. According to a report in The Sun, the victim said one officer
asked her what she was willing to do to stay out of jail. She told
police investigators she agreed to have sex to win her freedom. The
other two officers allegedly looked the other way.

The three officers have an absolute right to defend themselves; they
are innocent until proved guilty. But when police are accused of
wrongdoing, it reinforces every bad thing said about a cop. It makes
every officer suspect, undermining those who strive to "protect and
preserve life and property."

The victim's account of her arrest - she says she was parked in a car
with three other people smoking marijuana Dec. 27 - is indeed
disturbing. The 22-year-old contends that the flex squad officers let
go the two men in the car, but handcuffed her to the other woman and
took them to the station. Why were the women singled out? The victim
also claims that she was asked what she knew about any homicides - the
right line of questioning, given the increase in murders in the
district from 24 in 2004 to 40 in 2005. When she could offer no help,
the inquiry turned, according to her account.

Even if the flex officers are cleared of the rape charges, there
remains the matter of the contraband found in their office. Who was
supervising this squad? Police policy requires an immediate inventory
of evidence to guard against contaminating or losing it and
compromising the prosecution of criminal cases.

An internal police investigation continues, and the FBI plans to review
the case for civil rights violations. But Police Commissioner Leonard
D. Hamm would do right to order a review of flex squad operations in
all nine districts to ensure that the units, which focus on violent and
drug crimes, are following police procedures - and the law.


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all cops are crooked....the sooner you figure that out, the better off
you are.....not all cops obviously.....but far higher than people would
suspect.....I used to get the best herb on earth from a state trooper
who would confiscate and then kick it down to us cause he hated
paperwork.....

Chuck

More McLhinney BULL-$HIT!!!!

Md. dismisses whistle-blower complaint

by Greg Barrett, Baltimore Sun reporter

February 8, 2006

A whistle-blower complaint by a suspended port of Baltimore police
officer who revealed security flaws to The Sun has been dismissed by
the state.

George Tarburton Jr., a 16-year veteran of the Maryland Transportation
Authority police, said the agency was breaking the Maryland
Whistleblower Law by punishing him for disclosing information in the
interest of public safety. He is on paid suspension and is expected to
face a termination hearing this spring.

A previous hearing by the agency's disciplinary board was postponed
Jan. 11 when Tarburton's lawyer, Michael Davey, filed a last-minute
petition to show cause in Baltimore Circuit Court.

The court case, which argues for Tarburton's right to free speech under
the state Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights, has not been
scheduled. Davey said yesterday that he has not decided whether he will
contest the whistle-blower ruling, which could be appealed to the
state's Office of Administrative Hearings.

The state's review of Tarburton's petition did not judge the veracity
of his complaints about deteriorating conditions at the nation's
eighth-largest port. Its task was to decide only if he was being
unfairly punished for speaking to the news media, Davey said.

The state Department of Budget and Management, which rules on state
whistle-blower complaints, concluded that Tarburton violated agency
rules when he brought Sun personnel onto port property without
permission. Combined with the release of internal documents to the
newspaper, which broke additional agency rules, it rejected Tarburton's
allegations of "unfair vindictive treatment," according to a letter
signed by the department's Ann Gordon, a statewide equal employment
opportunity coordinator.

Tarburton, a 41-year-old former Marine Corps sergeant, said yesterday
he was surprised by the outcome. "I believe this sends a negative
message not only to state employees but to everyone in question," he
said. "People are now going to be even more afraid to come forward with
information. ... They're just going to clam up."

Cpl. Pamela Thorne, a transportation authority police spokeswoman, said
the agency is confident in its case against Tarburton. "The charges
brought against Officer Tarburton are within the rights afforded him
under the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights," she said
yesterday.

On July 10, The Sun published an article that quoted anonymous police
sources who pointed out the port's dilapidated fences, malfunctioning
alarms, inoperable surveillance cameras and unattended gates left open
for trains and trucks, and they produced logbooks showing that the
agency's new patrol boats were frequently docked. Tarburton, like other
sources for the article, had asked to remain anonymous for fear of
losing his $56,000-a-year job.

Four days after the story was published, he was identified by the
agency as a source for the leaks and immediately stripped of his badge,
gun and police powers. During questioning by investigators, he
acknowledged his role in assisting in the newspaper's report and was
charged with 14 violations, including insubordination, abuse of
authority and neglect of duty.

A three-month investigation by the agency into the leaks of information
to The Sun found that port officers and supervisors generally agreed
with Tarburton's concerns about a weakening of port security, but most
of the charges against him are for breaking with the chain of command.

"It had been four years after [Sept. 11, 2001], I figured they'd had
enough time to fix the problems," Tarburton said. "I wanted to cut
through all the bureaucratic red tape because the longer it took ...
the more time terrorists could have to attack the port."

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McLhinney uses the same lowlife tactics that O'Malley & Hamm do...


O'Malley, Hamm hear criticism of arrest policies

by Gus G. Sentementes, Baltimore Sun reporter

January 5, 2006

Before a raucous and mostly defiant crowd, Mayor Martin O'Malley and
his police commissioner tried to assure Baltimore residents and state
lawmakers last night that the Police Department is not pursuing overly
aggressive arrest policies in its struggle to curtail violent crime.

Angry residents booed O'Malley and other officials and were admonished
by state legislators who wanted to maintain order in a room at the
downtown War Memorial Building packed with more than 200 people.

The meeting began in late afternoon and lasted more than four hours,
highlighting problems faced by police in their daily battles to keep
people safe. Some people complained loudly that they feel abused by
aggressive police patrols, while others said officers must do more to
keep
crime from spiraling out of control.

O'Malley, who has made public safety a centerpiece of his leadership
and is running for governor, said arrests increased only slightly last
year and violent crime declined as police handled 1.4 million emergency

calls for help.

"Let me be clear," O'Malley said. "We do not now, nor do we ever,
encourage arrests for the sake of arrests. Nor have we, nor will we
ever,
encourage or turn a blind eye to the abuse of police powers, or arrests

made outside the bounds of the Constitution."

Questions over the Police Department's strategies have been simmering
for months, as some critics have charged that the department has been
engaged in a campaign of enforcement that results in the jailing of
hundreds of people each month who are ultimately released and never
charged
with a crime.

Also under scrutiny is the department's use of stop and frisk, in which

people believed to be holding guns are briefly detained and questioned
on city streets and freed when found to be unarmed. A Sun report in
November disclosed that the Police Department had lost track of how
many
times its officers had used the tactic on citizens this year, and
failed
to file mandatory reports with the Maryland State Police.

Ronald Clark, who lives in Northwest Baltimore, said police had
arrested him five times since early October within a two-block radius
of home.
Once, he said, he was taking the trash out when police swept in during
a drug sweep and arrested him. Another arrest involved his being
charged with loitering in front of his home. Prosecutors declined to
pursue
charges in four of the five arrests, he said, while he was dealing with

one charge in the system.

"How do you get arrested in front of [your] own house? For loitering?"
Clark said.

Melissa Techentin, president of the Southeastern Police District's
community relations council, backed the city's crime-fighting efforts.
"The
bottom line is that people are not willing to have their neighborhoods
decay under the thumb of crime," she said in her remarks.

Police Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm and other city officials, including

the mayor, have said that the residents in many neighborhoods demand
more, not less, enforcement. To allay concerns, police officials said
the
department is supporting state legislation that would allow people who
are arrested but never charged to have their records expunged.

Last night, Hamm disclosed a 21-point list of actions the Police
Department plans to take, including an independent study examining
police
arrests, more training for officers on legal issues surrounding search
and
seizure tactics, and quarterly audits on arrests in which people are
released without charges.

There appeared to be many police supporters throughout the crowd,
though those who were there to complain were far louder. Many entities
with
an interest in the issue - from the Mayor's Office of Neighborhoods to
advocacy groups - reached out to their supporters in the community to
encourage them to attend the meeting to voice their concerns.

Emotions ran high. People carried signs criticizing police or wore blue

and gold ribbons to indicate their support for the force. Many people
yelled at speakers.

Del. Jill P. Carter, a Baltimore Democrat, pointed to a high number of
arrests that police make of people who are not charged. For reasons
ranging from insufficient probable cause to an arrest's abating the
alleged criminal activity, prosecutors decline to prosecute about one
in
three cases each month at the city's Central Booking and Intake Center,
she
said.

Carter asked for an independent audit of police statistics, after
alleging that officers were regularly downgrading or not filing reports
of
crimes from citizens. When Carter asked O'Malley if he was "amenable"
to
an independent audit of crime statistics, the mayor responded: "Sure" -

and added that citizens had public access to police reports.

During his remarks, O'Malley suggested that the current process - in
which police arrest people, write statements of probable cause and
submit
the paperwork for review by prosecutors - could be changed so that
court commissioners are reviewing the charging statements.

But State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy and Public Defender Elizabeth
L. Julian said they do not support such a change. Jessamy, who at one
point held up a police charging document in which five people were
arrested without sufficient cause, said her office has a responsibility
to
ensure that the city "doesn't trample on the Constitution."

"I won't rubber-stamp arrests that are not appropriate," Jessamy said.
"We won't do it."

People complained last night that the hundreds of arrests in which
prosecutors decline to follow through with charges leave people stained

with an arrest record.

As a result, the Police Department is proposing legislation this year
that will allow for the automatic expungement of a person's arrest if
he
is never charged. Presently, people can pursue an expungement but must
sign a waiver stating that they will not sue the department - an
arrangement decried by critics as unfair.

Arrests that are never charged but remain on someone's record are a
"death knell to a job [search]," Julian said. She also said she worried

that without a change in the expungement process, a "new class of
suspicious citizens" was being created in Baltimore.

Elroy Christopher, 51, a retired electrician from East Baltimore, said
he supported the police.

"We must stand and set an example for our kids. Police can't solve it
all, but they can help," he said.

Lt. Frederick V. Roussey, president of the city's Fraternal Order of
Police, said that Baltimore officers "are not making illegal arrests"
or
"deliberately violating civil rights." Roussey described a culture of
management at the Police Department - based on statistics and
evaluations of officers' performances - that puts pressure on officers
to make
arrests daily. Hamm, the police commissioner, denied that his
department
tolerates arrest quotas.


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