Longstanding history of violent crime

In the , LAPD officer Jake Hoyt wanted to be accepted by the Narcotics Unit officers but allowed his acceptance ambitions to be corrupted. The mentor, , exploited Hoyt’s ambitions and manipulated him into committing crimes to test the allegiance to the unit. The tests were a series of corrupt and illegal actions under the pretense of fighting crime. In March 2017, seven Baltimore City Police (BCP) Officers who were members of the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF) were charged with racketeering, robbery, extortion, and overtime fraud. Since that time, six additional GTTF police officers have been accused of similar crimes. In October 2019, Baltimore Commissioner Harrison initiated an independent investigation led by Steptoe & Johnson LLP. The investigation lasted over two years and produced a of the corruption scandal. The report went into the roots and causes of the corruption stemming from a longstanding history of violent crime.

“This report is a detailed examination and analysis of the ways in which BPD’s various anti-crime initiatives over the past 20 years have played a central role in shaping the culture, values, and behavior within BPD. Over time, BPD developed and perpetuated a culture in which productivityas measured at various times by some combination of the number of arrests, volume of narcotics seizures, and number of gun seizureswas enshrined as the most important yardstick for measuring success and failure.” “As a result, other important institutional needs and imperativessuch as training, supervision, and accountabilitywere never given adequate attention or supplied with adequate resources.”

The corruption committed by the former BCP officers was like those committed by the characters in the film Training Day. They believed in the noble cause and slid down the slippery slope into a pit of lies and corruption they could not escape.