The city Board of Estimates this week approved a secret $200,000 settlement to a person who had sued the Baltimore Police Department, saying the terms and name would be kept confidential to avoid "unfair damage to the career and reputation of the plaintiff." It also keeps the public from knowing just what the police department did to harm this person so severely.

When questioned, officials first said they would provide a range - $100,000 to $250,000 - for the settlement, then later said that the exact figure could be disclosed and was wrongly left off the agenda by the comptroller's office. George Nilson, the city solicitor, provided the amount Friday but said the city agreed not to discuss the details of case. He called the secret nature of the settlement "extreme" but with good reason.

"It was an honest mistake, quite clearly, that resulted in unfortunate and unintended harm to a citizen's reputation," Nilson said. "The community reached a cruelly wrong conclusion about this individual, based on this mistake, and this individual was harmed in personal and professional ways. I'm just not going to participate in furthering that unfortunate harm."

Nilson said in his three years as city solicitor, such a private settlement was a first, and he did not anticipate the city handling future claims in a similar manner. He also said the plaintiff was not a city resident, but he declined to provide additional details, citing the settlement agreement.