Real life 'The Shield' in Baltimore Maryland brings bad rep

Candidate for Governor, current Mayor, Martin O'Malley gets bad rep from dirty cops

It seems that some cops in the Baltimore, Maryland, police system have decided that the events on the fictional police agency depicted in the popular FX network TV show The Shield are not realistic enough, or perhaps should serve as a real life guide for cops on Baltimore's elite "Flex" squad.

Local TV-newsers at WBAL Channel 11 (an NBC affiliate in Baltimore, Maryland) have been working on peeling back the layers of the onion in the story about the dirty cops on the flex squad. Some of the original material is snipped below. Credit TheWBALChannel.com, the website for the station.

Some of the details follow below. Headlines are linked. Please see original articles for the complete story.

Another Flex Officer Reassigned; City Settles Suit

Officer Appears In Court For Fake License Plate Case

BALTIMORE -- Another Baltimore City police Flex squad officer faces reassignment because of legal trouble.
WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team lead investigative reporter Jayne Miller said Officer Michael Nelson, based out of the Western District Flex squad, a specialized crime-fighting unit.
The police department confirmed the officer's reassignment, explaining that a judge gave him probation before judgment in court last week for using a fake temporary tag on his personal car. An internal investigation in Nelson's case continues.
Earlier this month, police Commissioner Leonard Hamm announced stricter rules for specialized police units { see additional article snippet below }
Meanwhile, the city's Board of Estimates approved a $125,000 settlement Wednesday with a man who complained he had been beaten in an incident involving Officer Jemini Jones.
Jones is one of the Southwestern District Flex officers indicted earlier this month on rape charges. The settlement marks the third case in which the city has paid out in cases involving Jones.
Baltimore City Solicitor C. Ralph Tyler said information about those cases was passed on to the police department.
"There certainly was communication regarding a knowledge of the other cases," Tyler said.
Jones remained in the Flex squad until late last December, when he was suspended after the rape allegations surfaced.
A police representative told 11 News on Wednesday that the supervision of that Flex unit remains a key focus of the department's investigation.

... more at original site. Please see additional links there

Some of the original materials referenced in the above article snippet can be found in this snippet below.

Hamm Responds To Officers' Rape Charges

Commissioner Pledges To 'Clean House'

BALTIMORE -- Baltimore's police commissioner publicly responded on Monday to rape charges against officers. He also announced tougher standards for certain officers.
Police commissioner Leonard Hamm, flanked by Mayor Martin O'Malley, tried to assure citizens that the department is taking the allegations seriously.
"What happened in the Southwestern District is an embarrassment to us all," Hamm said. "Our job now is to be sure we clean our house. That's what we're going to do."
Three officers -- Brian Shaffer, 28; Steven Hatley, 27; and Jemini Jones, 28 -- surrendered to authorities two weeks ago to face charges in the alleged rape of a woman while she was in police custody last week at the Southwestern District station.
A city grand jury indicted the three officers on Jan. 6 on six counts of rape, conspiracy to commit rape, assault and misconduct in office. Prosecutors have accused the officers of exchanging sex with the woman for her freedom.
The commissioner also disclosed Monday that a second woman has claimed that one of the three officers indicted also forced her to have sex. The department's investigators have started preparations to meet with her lawyer.
WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team lead investigative reporter Jayne Miller reported Hamm's remarks came amid an internal investigation into possible corruption.
Following the indictment came broader allegations that centered on the Southwestern District's entire Flex unit, a specialized crime suppression unit, and suspicions of corrupt and illegal activity.
According to a police affidavit obtained by the 11 News I-Team, "... (two) officers have been implicated in the theft of cell phones belonging to arrestees."
The affidavit also states: "Allegations against (the) officers have been made as to the planting of controlled dangerous substances on citizens in an effort to knowingly make false arrests," the affidavit states.
Hamm disclosed Monday morning that those allegations date back three years, saying the department's internal affairs unit had not been able to make a case during that time.
Since the recent investigation began, the department has suspended all members of the Southwestern District's Flex squad.
Hamm stated during his announcement Monday morning that any officer throughout the department who applies to work in specialized units will be subject to tougher screening effective immediately. That screening would include random drug testing and polygraph tests.

... again, more at the original article. Please see the original for complete details

It's definitely a case of art imitating life, or life imitating art. Whichever, it's disgusting, and unfortunately the corruption is leading to dismissal of many cases that involve the officers that have been named in these complaints and issues.

While I don't want to see innocent individuals railroaded through the justice system, the taint that these individuals (bad cops) have brought upon the actions of themselves and others they work with means that both innocent and guilty will see their cases tossed as slick defense lawyers start going through the case materials and matching up the names of the officers involved against those named. In the end, even with good evidence against many, the district attorneys and prosecutors will be left dropping cases unless new untainted evidence can be obtained for use to keep drug dealers, gang bangers, murderers and other vermin off the streets.

I hope these bad cops are run off the force, and that they eventually face charges that land their butts in jail for a long, long time. There is no room for such corruption on any police force in this country. Law enforcement officers are given a lot of respect automatically because of the badge they wear. Unfortunately individuals like the allegedl bad cops documented above take away a lot of that respect and instead give us all reasons to scorn those who serve.

Meanwhile, if you are wondering why and/or how my subtitle fits in this article, let me expound a little here....

Baltimore, Maryland, has been consistently in the race for murder capital of the U.S. Every year it's problems with crime have continued. Somewhere in the last 4 - 5 years, Baltimore slipped to a point that it really got into the running for that murder capital title, knocking off it's neighbor to the south/west, Washington, D.C., which had that dubious distinction in the past. Detroit is another area that I recall also having earned that bad reputation. Anyway, Baltimore's problems have come despite having undergone a great rejuvination in it's inner harbor area. Under former Mayor (now Comptroller of the State of Maryland, also formerly Governor of the State of Maryland) William Donald Schaefer the city of Baltimore was headed on the right path. It saw neighborhoods that were blighted rejuvinated, and what had been a declining city started to regain it's lustre.

Since Schaefer left the office of Mayor, the city of Baltimore has had 3 other Democrats serve as Mayors: from 1987 - 1987 Clarence H. 'Du" Burns; 1987 - 1999 Kurt L. Schmoke; 1999 - present Martin O'Malley. In that time, slowly but surely Baltimore has found itself slipping back into the malaise that Schaefer had done such a great job of helping to get them out of. Even during Schmoke's time in office, things weren't that bad, as Schaefer had become Governor of Maryland, and even as he exercised fiscal responsibility (Schaefer is a moderate to conservative leaning politician, he has aggravated individuals in the Democratic party by supporting current Governor, Republican Robert Ehrlich in past elections and in battles with the Democratic controlled legislature in the state) he helped steer more funding to Baltimore to help improve things.

Unfortunately for O'Malley, who has designs on becoming governor of the state, available 'extra' state funds have been nil over the past several years because idiots like Speaker of the House in the State Legislature Michael Busch have fought off Slot Machines and legalized gambling at horse racing tracks in the state (even as other neighboring states have climbed aboard and are sucking revenue out of the pockets of Maryland residents). Without extra money, O'Malley has reigned over a period when Baltimore schools continue failing, and while crime and public safety -- a pet campaign issue for O'Malley -- are also obvious and glaring failures.

So, my sub-head for this article points out what some outside of Maryland may not be aware of, but what most in Maryland should be well versed in. O'Malley is just another liberal failure. He can thank other idiots like spend thrift former Governor (Democrat) Parris Glendening, who pretty much single handedly lost the election for his Lt. Governor, one Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. She should have been an easy choice to replace Glendening, but Glendening had basically bankrupted the state, drained a billion dollar rainy day fund, and left hard choices for whomever followed him. Republican Ehrlich won the office for the Republicans for the first time in 40 years.

Now O'Malley, and somewhat fiscal conservative Doug Duncan from Montgomery County are both jockeying (an ironic term to use, considering that their brother { Busch } in the Legislature has basically doomed horse racing in the state forever thanks to his 'no slots' stance) to be the Democratic candidate for Governor. One of them (most likely, though there are other lesser known candidates in the race) will run against Ehrlich in the next election. Hopefully whoever does will lose. But if not, then I really hope and pray it's Duncan that takes the prize. As much as I can't take some of his liberal social issue policies (his support and courting of illegal aliens as an example), at least I expect he wouldn't treat the state to the type of treatment that O'Malley would.

Sorry for the long article, but hopefully it brings many up to date on the state of politics in Maryland, as well as documenting the sorry state of affairs in Baltimore's apparently very corrupt Flex police squad."

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