The premier Baltimore police union is unimpressed with the quality of the city’s new recruits, an it’s letting the Baltimore Police Department know it.
The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) smacked the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) Monday after police instructor Sgt. Josh Rosenblatt voiced skepticism over the preparedness of a recent batch of recruits. Lt. Gene Grant, president of the local FOP lodge, said the department should adopt a more stringent process to weed out more applicants who aren’t “suited” for the job, the Baltimore Sun reported.
Rosenblatt said 17 of the 50 recruits who graduated this weekend had repeatedly failed their tests. They only passed when police brass removed Rosenblatt from the process and substituted an easier test. (RELATED: The Baltimore Police Department Is A Complete Disaster)
“We’re giving them a badge and a gun tomorrow, the right to take someone’s liberty, ultimately the right to take someone’s life if it calls for it, and they have not demonstrated they can meet [basic] constitutional and legal standards,” Rosenblatt told the Sun Friday.
The news comes after nearly two years of strife for the Baltimore Police Department. At least nine BPD officers are currently under FBI investigations for racketeering and fabricating evidence charges. On Feb. 1, the BPD announced it would be fingerprinting all of its officers to prevent overtime pay abuse that had been going on for years, according to the Sun.
The BPD is taking the drastic measure after several of the nine indicted officers admitted that faking overtime was a rampant practice in the department.
“Let’s not sugar-coat this: Criminals found a gap in the system and took full advantage of it,” T.J. Smith, a department spokesman said. “That’s not fair to the city, and it’s not fair to the men and women in this agency who do their job honorably every day.”
Officers will be required to scan their fingerprints at the start and end of shifts to prove they were actually working.
“We’re not just going to say, ‘Oh well,’ and everybody crosses their fingers and hopes we do better in the future,” Smith said. “We’re taking steps to make sure we do better.”
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