Councilman Mark Conway Announces Hearing On GTTF Report
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The Baltimore City Council's Public Safety and Government Operations Committee is set to hold a hearing on Jan. 26 to discuss the 515-page investigation of the Gun Trace Task Force corruption scandal.
The report examines weaknesses in the Baltimore Police Department that allowed the unit to operate unchecked, especially leadership that turned a blind eye to top performing officers who brought in high numbers of arrests and seizures.
Eight officers in the Gun Trace Task Force were convicted of racketeering, armed robbery, selling drugs, falsifying overtime and planting evidence on suspects they arrested. A total of 13 defendants were charged in the scandal.
Councilman Mark Conway (District 4), chair of the committee, said it is important for council members to hear from Michael Bromwich, the former inspector general of the Justice Department who lead the investigation, and Baltimore Police Department brass.
"The report lays out a number of issues, and failures, that enabled the GTTF's shocking actions to occur without accountability for years. Its findings are difficult and at times disturbing to read, but necessary for the forward progress of the department," Conway said in a statement. "I appreciate the hard work of investigators both to forensically probe the successes and shortcomings of BPD over several decades, and to generate detailed recommendations."
Baltimore City Police Commissioner Michael Harrison last week sent a letter to Bromwich stating the department has already enacted many of the 25 recommended reforms and plans to implement a series of others.
"Your recommendations provide a clear roadmap; and by implementing them, along with our Consent Decree, BPD can write the next chapter in our history, one that the residents of Baltimore can be proud to call their own," he wrote.
Conway said the city needs "to see consistent follow-up and follow-through to make sure corrective action is fully implemented."
The hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m.
