The Baltimore Public Defender’s Office called for an investigation of what it claims is a widespread practice by the Baltimore Police Department of wrongly expunging internal affairs files of officers accused of misconduct, the Baltimore Sun reports. The issue came to light as criminal defense attorneys have sought information to impeach the testimony of police officers. Officers’ internal affairs files are largely withheld from the public, and attorneys must make the case to a judge that such information is relevant to introduce the evidence at trial. But in some cases, attorneys say, they found files were expunged even though they had not been eligible for expungement.
The Public Defender’s Office is asking for the issue to be taken up as part of the police department’s federal consent decree reforms. The decree was reached last year between the city and the U.S. Justice Department after a federal investigation that found widespread discriminatory and unconstitutional policing in Baltimore. Many community leaders have stressed the need for greater transparency from the department and the city about officer misconduct following the federal racketeering convictions of members of the department’s Gun Trace Task Force and new mandates under the consent decree, which include more civilian oversight into officer misconduct. City Solicitor Andre Davis, who oversees the department’s legal section, agreed that it needs improvements in how it handles misconduct investigations. “Anybody who’s been paying attention in the consent decree knows these are the kinds of problems the department has every day,” such as management and supervision, he said.