The Baltimore City Police Department continues to act as its own worst enemy as it struggles to earn the public’s trust.

A fine piece of reporting by Justin Fenton in today’s Sun gives the full rundown on a recent string of rapes and break-ins taking place over the past two weeks spanning several neighborhoods in East and Central Baltimore.  Fenton is a great young reporter and gives the full details in his story, and there is one line that is particularly revealing on how the department makes information available to the public:

“The eight attacks, which police confirmed after receiving inquiries from The Baltimore Sun, stretch back to…” (article continues)”

We are only now aware of these attacks because the Baltimore Sun connected the dots and took this to the department to find out if there was a possible connection.  This is especially remarkable if you consider that the department was blasted for dragging its feet in notifying the public of a similar outbreak of attacks last year in Mount Vernon.  When criticized for a lack of transparency, BCPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi is quick to tout his use of Twitter and Facebook to announce shootings and other violent crimes after they’ve happened, however nothing of the recent sexual assaults was mentioned on these networks.  Guglielmi defends the department’s response to the recent attacks in a Sun editorial board blog post today.

Another story in today’s Sun demonstrates the public’s diminishing access to critical information from the BCPD.  As part of a reporter exchange program, the Sun is sending Justin Fenton over to the UK and has welcomed British reporter Mark Hughes.  The British have a deep fascination with the crime culture of Baltimore due to the wild success of The Wire in the UK.  Today, Hughes posted on the public rift between the BCPD and the Baltimore State Attorney’s office, led by Patricia Jessamy.  Jessamy naturally blamed the police for the poor performance of her office, which declines to prosecute 10,000 of the 55,000 cases it receives from the BCPD (for some revealing insights into how Jessamy’s office truly works, I suggest reading former assistant state’s attorney Page Croyder’s blog).  Hughes offered to do a ride along with the BCPD and an interview with Commissioner Bealefeld, giving the department the chance to tell its side of the story.

Both requests were denied.