Scrilla_Gorilla_ t1_ixw97ux wrote on November 26, 2022 at 9:36 PM

Reply to comment by 1dayAwayagain in BPD: we are severely understaffed. also BPD: we gotta protect people from this puddle by Whoevenknows94

People probably thought the C was for City, not County. That was the case for me anyways. Thanks for correcting me, that’s how we learn.

So legit question, do you think the BPD does a good job? Because personally it seems to me that they quiet quit right around the time Mosby brought charges on the Freddie Gray officers. And for the amount of money they make, and the state of lawlessness in the city, that’s sort of a shame. I can’t count the amount of times I see multiple officers chilling in a parking lot, I rarely see them making so much as a traffic stop.

But maybe you have a different experience? If you actually think they’re effective and doing a good job I’d love to hear why?

1dayAwayagain t1_ixx8nyn wrote on November 27, 2022 at 2:19 AM

I think BPD does the best they can with what they're given. They're tremendously short staffed, have garbage equipment and garbage vehicles.

Officers in Baltimore respond to 20+ calls per shift, EACH. Many of which require reports. When you see two officers sitting next to each other, they may not even be conversing. They're likely writing (or at least starting) a report from the call they just left. Until the next call comes in, before they're done writing the report from the last one.

The vehicle situation also forces more than one officer per vehicle. For your situational awareness, most districts (of which there are 9) have four Sectors. Each sector has four posts. So each shift has at least 16 officers per district. If a sector only has 2 working patrol vehicles, that means two Posts have to ride together... Meaning only one call can be covered at a time for two posts.

It's hard for officers to proactively conduct traffic stops when they're busy working double or triple shootings. You can't expect miracles from overworked and under-supplied employees.

Edit: also worth noting, is they don't get paid shit. Baltimore is one of, if not THE, lowest paying jurisdictions in the area. Another reason why nobody wants to work there.