City of Baltimore - File #: 11-0305R

• File #: 11-0305R
• Version: 0
• Name: Informational Hearing - Tracking Police Involved Lawsuits
• Type: City Council Resolution
• Status: Adopted
• File created: 7/18/2011
• In control: Judiciary and Legislative Investigations
• Final action: 11/21/2011
• Title: Informational Hearing - Tracking Police Involved Lawsuits FOR the purpose of requesting that representatives from the Baltimore Police Department, the Law Department, and the Department of Finance appear before the Council to discuss the reasons why an increase in funding for police involved litigation was required in the 2012 budget, explain the City’s current process for tracking and learning from legal claims against the Police Department, and explore how the information provided by these claims can be better used to reduce the amount and cost of litigation against the Police Department.
• Sponsors: Mary Pat Clarke, Warren Branch, Carl Stokes, Belinda Conaway, Bill Henry, Robert Curran, James B. Kraft
• Indexes: Resolution

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result
11/21/2011	0	Judiciary and Legislative Investigations	Recommended Favorably
11/21/2011	0	City Council	Adopted
9/26/2011	0	Judiciary and Legislative Investigations	Scheduled for a Public Hearing
7/21/2011	0	The City Council	Referred for a Report
7/21/2011	0	The City Council	Referred for a Report
7/21/2011	0	The City Council	Referred for a Report
7/18/2011	0	City Council	Introduced
7/18/2011	0	City Council	Assigned

* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*

CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)

Introduced by: Councilmember Clarke

A RESOLUTION ENTITLED

A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
title
Informational Hearing - Tracking Police Involved Lawsuits

FOR the purpose of requesting that representatives from the Baltimore Police Department, the Law Department, and the Department of Finance appear before the Council to discuss the reasons why an increase in funding for police involved litigation was required in the 2012 budget, explain the City’s current process for tracking and learning from legal claims against the Police Department, and explore how the information provided by these claims can be better used to reduce the amount and cost of litigation against the Police Department.
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Recitals

In order to close a multi-million dollar projected deficit, the City Budget adopted for fiscal year 2012 necessarily included painful and difficult cuts to many important services. Still, a handful of areas did see increased funding compared to FY 2011. One budget item that was increased was spending on legal expenses for the Baltimore Police Department. According to the FY2012 budget agency detail publication, “an additional $846, 806 for judgements and an additional $653,194 for legal services” was added to the Police Department’s budget.

These increasing legal judgements against the Police Department are a double burden for the City. Not only do they siphon off scarce funds that could have been used to ...