BALTIMORE, MD (WBFF) — Facing discipline after a suspect under his watch escaped custody for roughly 30 seconds, a Baltimore Police officer’s case sat in limbo for more than a year before being heard at a trial board last month.
The seven-year veteran of the department did not dispute the charges — violations of the department’s policy for people in custody and its body camera activation rules. At dispute was the department’s recommended punishment of losing four days of leave; his attorney argued it should be only two. After the matter was heard, the board landed in the middle: three days.
The lawman’s case was one of the over 500 disciplinary cases involving Baltimore Police officers that were set for administrative trial boards. Most of the cases, police officials and attorneys involved in the hearings say, are for minor infractions such as failing to activate body cameras on time. The problem, though, is that at the current pace at which cases are heard — an average of just over two trial boards a month this year — it will be extremely difficult to catch up…