Baltimore Police Office Burglarized

BALTIMORE (AP) â€” The Police Department's campaign to weed out corrupt officers has been compromised by a burglary at a secret police internal affairs office outside the city. <br><br>Computer equipment

Wednesday, January 3rd 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

BALTIMORE (AP) â€” The Police Department's campaign to weed out corrupt officers has been compromised by a burglary at a secret police internal affairs office outside the city.

Computer equipment was destroyed and internal affairs files apparently were stolen during the Christmas Eve burglary in the suburban Middle River area of Baltimore County, officials said.

No arrests had been made as of Wednesday and police would not comment on possible suspects.

``The possibility certainly exists that this may be an internal matter,'' said police spokeswoman Ragina Averella.

Among the files missing was one involving an officer who was charged in October with planting drugs on a man and then arresting and charging him with drug-related offenses.

The (Baltimore) Sun quoted unidentified police officials as saying the office was the secret headquarters of the department's anti-corruption program. Few people knew it existed, including top commanders, the newspaper said.

Police union president Gary McLhinney said he was concerned that the burglary might expose ``a lot of sensitive information about individual officers.''

According to The Sun, a source familiar with the case said six files may have been stolen or tampered with, along with lists of civilians who had filed complaints about officers.

A county police report listed the victim of the burglary as ``Baltimore Police Department,'' described the address as confidential and gave no summary of the stolen or damaged items.