A knife expert who prosecutors were prepared to call in the Freddie Gray case said Baltimore's law on switchblades is too vague, creating problems for people who carry certain types of knives as well as police officers trying to enforce the law. City prosecutors initially said Gray's April 2015...
When an Ohio company pitched its aerial surveillance technology to the Baltimore Police Department in the summer of 2014, department officials weren't interested, according to internal emails obtained by The Baltimore Sun through a public records request. Persistent Surveillance Systems said it...
As part of its continuing coverage of Freddie Gray’s death, The Baltimore Sun is examining some of the intractable problems that affected his life — and still trouble thousands of city residents. This series of occasional articles has focused on lead poisoning, segregation in public housing and...
Heather Elizabeth Cook is the second-ranking official in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. The 58-year old is charged with manslaughter, driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident in the death of bicyclist Thomas Palermo on Dec. 27, 2014, in Roland Park.
Baltimore City has paid about $5.7 million since 2011 over lawsuits claiming that police officers brazenly beat up alleged suspects. One hidden cost: The perception that officers are violent can poison the relationship between residents and police.
A two-month investigation by The Baltimore Sun highlighted troubles at a LifeLine Inc. group home for disabled foster children, where a 10-year-old died in July. The Sun showed that state regulators were left in the dark about significant problems at LifeLine, including the founder’s conviction...
The seafood black market is a hidden, but lucrative world. Wild-caught illegal imports are worth $1.3 to $2.1 billion annually across the United States, the world's second-largest importer of seafood. Fraudulent mislabeling of species – like foreign crab as more expensive Maryland crab— is a common...
Baltimore Sun staff writers Scott Calvert and Luke Broadwater;spent more than six months investigating the proliferation of speed cameras in the region. They obtained detailed citation data from Baltimore City, Baltimore County and the State Highway Administration, which oversees the state's highway...
Just after midnight, medics rushed the gunshot victim into the last available trauma bay, and nurses and doctors swarmed. They needed to stop the bleeding.
The wedding of Gov. Larry Hogan's stepdaughter this weekend might be one of the largest parties thrown at the historic governor's mansion in decades, but Maryland's governors have hosted high-profile and extravagant affairs for centuries. Mark Twain visited the mansion. So have Queen Elizabeth...
As protests over Freddie Gray's death escalated, Baltimore police began ordering riot gear. Police bought 690 suits of Damascus Gear hard-shell body armor for $275,052, plus hundreds of shoulder, shin, thigh and forearm guards. The city also bought 1,399 equipment duffel bags for $82,788. The total...
Many Baltimore residents may not have heard of Texas philanthropists Laura and John Arnold until it came to light last month that they had bankrolled a secret aerial surveillance program by police. But the Arnolds' support of the pilot operation is not the first criminal justice technology they've...
Maryland Juvenile Services Secretary Sam Abed pledged Thursday to change his department's policies and move to limit the use of strip-searches and shackles on young people held in state facilities. Abed, speaking at the first meeting of a task force studying the state's treatment of juveniles, said...
Police in Baltimore and surrounding communities have been using a service that monitors, maps and stores citizens' social media posts — a practice that has drawn the concern of civil libertarians. Baltimore police say they have used the service, called Geofeedia, to monitor protests, parades and...