Baltimore police union: 'Mismanagement' of police brass, 'ineptitude' of politicians to blame for OT

Baltimore police union: 'Mismanagement' of police brass, 'ineptitude' of politicians to blame for OT overruns


Baltimore’s police union on Tuesday blamed the department’s millions in overruns for overtime spending on the “mismanagement" of police brass and “ineptitude” of city politicians.

“Years of mismanagement on the part of the Department’s upper command, combined with the ineptitude of previous city administrations, has left our agency depleted of adequate manpower,” said Lt. Kenneth Butler, vice president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3. “We are currently in a crisis situation which will only be resolved when those in charge stop blaming our members and admit that the fault is theirs. … At the current time we are bleeding experienced officers at a furious pace and no one has offered any suggestions for a solution for even that problem.”

The union’s comments came the morning after the Baltimore City Council’s budget committee unanimously rejected a request to transfer $21 million to cover police overtime spending that ran over budget last year — a move seen as a statement by city lawmakers on the overtime issue.

“This is a clear message that the status quo is not going to work anymore,” said City Councilman Brandon Scott, chairman of the council’s public safety committee, at the meeting.

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-ci-union-ot-response-20180724-story.html