Report: Baltimore police internal probes rarely find fault

BALTIMORE – A newspaper reports that Baltimore Police Department internal affairs investigations rarely conclude that officers used excessive force.

The Baltimore Sun (http://bsun.md/2axBujp ) reported Saturday on the findings of its analysis of more than three years’ worth of data obtained through the Maryland Public Information Act.

The story says internal affairs investigations often take longer than they should and mostly conclude without proving or disproving the officer’s alleged misconduct.

The newspaper reports that nearly 80 per cent of excessive-force complaints were not sustained, a rate more than twice as high as that found in a national study by the U.S. Justice Department.

Police Commissioner Kevin Davis, who took over last year, says his administration has been overhauling internal affairs and improving the system for flagging officers who routinely draw misconduct complaints.