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.

There is a large credibility gap between many of the citizens of Baltimore City and the Baltimore City Police Department, and the problem continues to persist, due to actions that are entirely within the department’s control.

Many will remember the controversial decision made by department spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi back in March to stop releasing the names of officers involved in the shootings of civilians, putting an end to a practice that had been in place for the life of the department.  When challenged, Guglielmi claimed that officers involved in shootings were at risk for retaliation, citing 23 threats against officers in 2008.  What he failed to mention, and what former Baltimore Sun crime reporter and Wire creator David Simon revealed in a remarkable Washington Post story on the new policy back on March 1, was that none of these threats was in response to a police-involved shooting.  Inconsistencies plagued the department’s stance, and deepened its adversarial relationship with the same citizens it is tasked with protecting.

Perhaps more importantly, the policy comes at a time when detectives cannot convince a witness to take the stand because of the city’s entrenched witness intimidation culture.  ”Do as we say, not as we do” doesn’t exactly motivate a kid on a bike who just saw a drive-by and knows that if he wants to live, he’ll keep his mouth shut.

And today, Justin Fenton at the Sun has done a follow-up story on the mysterious death and disappearance of 16 year old Annie McCann one year after her death.  The family is claiming that the BCPD has botched the investigation, and has written letters to the Mayor’s office in the hopes of re-opening the investigation.  Perhaps most interesting is how Annie’s father was pushing to prosecute the teens that claimed to have moved Annie’s body to take her car for a joyride, but that the BCPD talked him out of it, saying that they and the State Attorney’s office would take another look at charging the teens, or at least interrogating them, which never happened.  The teens have not been charged or questioned yet.

Even if the BCPD cannot charge these teens in the murder of Annie McCann, or even determine that she was indeed killed and didn’t take her own life, they’ve failed to fully convince the teen’s parents, and more importantly, the public, that this case was handled as professionally and thoroughly as possible.  By intervening in the family’s attempt to press charges against the teens for auto theft in the hopes of learning more about their daughter’s death, the department now must face questions on its motives.  Was this an attempt to prevent another unsolved murder in the stat column?  An attempt to cover the botched investigation?

The department only has itself to blame for its failure to earn the people’s trust in Baltimore City, and the situation isn’t improving.