Ben Conarck

1 week ago | thebaltimorebanner.com | Ben Conarck

As scores of attorneys flee the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, nine of them recently withdrew from the federal case overseeing the Baltimore Police Department consent decree. The wave of departures threatens to tilt the 8-year-old court case into dysfunction. It represents the strongest ripple effect yet for policing in Baltimore as President Donald Trump remakes the federal government, sparking the Justice Department exodus.

1 week ago | thebaltimorebanner.com | Sahana Jayaraman |Ryan Little |Ben Conarck

Baltimore ended April with five homicides, the lowest monthly total in recent memory, as looming cuts to federal grants threaten gun violence prevention programs. It marked the lowest total of any month in any year dating back to 2012, according to a Banner analysis of public crime data released on Open Baltimore, which covers 2012 to the present. Mayor Brandon Scott went even further, saying the total was the fewest in any one month in the city’s history.

2 weeks ago | thebaltimorebanner.com | Ben Conarck

Fighting to claw back huge losses from $4.6 million in unpaid debts owed by a for-profit prison health care company, the University of Maryland hospital system says the state corrections department should be made to foot the bill.

3 weeks ago | thebaltimorebanner.com | Ben Conarck

In recent months, the Baltimore Police Department has made considerable progress bolstering its recruitment class sizes and reversing the steady attrition of sworn officers that has plagued the agency for years. But it’s now facing delays in getting trainees out on the streets due to its reliance on a state-owned firing range. U.S. Judge James K.

1 month ago | thebaltimorebanner.com | Ben Conarck

After Freddie Gray died nearly a decade ago from injuries sustained in police custody, sparking unrest throughout Baltimore, Officer Rashad Hamond was assigned to a foot patrol near the Penn-North Metro station. A native of Northeast Baltimore, Hamond was in his 20s back in 2015. The young officerwasn’t surprised by the protests sweeping through the city. That pent-up frustration, he said, represented the start of a conversation that was long overdue.