Cardin and the police boat -- story just won't go away
Shortly after Baltimore county Democratic State Del. Jon S. Cardin proposed to his girlfriend with the help of a mock "raid" by officers using the Baltimore police boat and helicopter, the city's police commissioner vowed a full accounting.
On Friday, the department announced that a police sergeant had been charged with misconduct for approving the misuse of police resources. But futher details have not been made public, including who owned the boat, who actually requested help from the police and who was aboard the boat the day of the proposal. Cardin has reimbursed the city $300 and made a donation to the police horse unit.
Here's remarks from Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III to WBAL-Radio after the Aug. 7 proposal:
Bealefeld: “Right now, certainly, it’s an internal investigation, and I wouldn’t have any problem making public everything that we could legally do, in terms of our discipline records.”
Q: “But would you be willing to reveal how it transpired, I mean people were outraged at the waste of money on that.”A: "Yeah, yeah, I think that as a followup to this, we get the same kind of feedback, but similar feedback people’s concern about police involved shooting. i think we can do more in regards to that, and in this case, I think people are going to want to know the full story.
Q: “So you would be willing to say who set this up, what officers were involved and what disciplinary action was taken?”A: “To the degree I'm able to, in terms of employee discipline cases. But, certainly we can give an accounting for what happened, and we will.”
You can certainly argue that the department is taking this seriously after annoucing charges that could cost a police sergeant his job. (You can listen to the commissioner's remarks here and judge for yourself).
But there are still too many unanswered questions. Police, who now are limited in what they can say because of rules govering the disciplinary process, have been less than forthcoming.
But so has Cardin, who continues to have this cloud over him because he refuses to address this head-on.
Now a cop could lose his job for helping him pull as stunt that not only cost taxpayers money but diverted police officers, even if briefly, from fighting crime in the Inner Harbor.
Comments
Cardin continues to show extreme arrogance. What can you expect from Maryland's light version of the Kennedy's.
He is full of entitlements and now he is going to get a police officer fired. Yet he goes on smiling. What a guy.
Posted by: Arman Tamzarian | November 23, 2009 12:37 PM
The department is "taking it seriously" because the story never leaves the news.
In the larger scheme of things... is ANYONE going to benefit from further "investigation" into "unanswered questions" and reporting on this? Certainly not the officers involved.
Enough already. The lessons have been learned. Better that the police and the reporters focus on matters that actually matter.
captcha:
laburnum teague
Posted by: MrRational | November 23, 2009 2:07 PM
you made the final statement about diverting the police from crime at the inner harbor...incorrect...the police are afraid to go where the crime is, that is why we have so much crime and killing in Baltimore...the true crime is in north baltimore, west baltimore, and east baltimore...we read about it in the paper everyday...this person shot, that person shot...same story everyday...instead of the police hanging out at the royal farms in federal hill or sitting in their squad car in canton, go to the 7-11 on north ave. or the corner of guilford ave. and lanvale st...where the real crime happens everyday...its sad when i take a trip out of town just to have someone say that i am from Bodymore, Murderland...
Posted by: mic dre | November 23, 2009 4:27 PM