New policy allowing wanted offenders to flee called ‘ridiculous’ by officials

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Some Parole and Probation Division agents say they’re upset over a new directive allowing wanted offenders at Baltimore’s Preston Street office to run free before police arrive to arrest them.

“It’s ridiculous. Utterly, utterly ridiculous,” said Rai Douglas, a local union president for parole and probation officers. “Everything we should be trying to do should be to make the public safe.”

The move comes after two parole agents were assaulted last Friday by a man who tried to escape the office while waiting for police to arrive and arrest him on an open warrant.

“As we are handling a very violent and dangerous population it is imperative that we do everything possible to ensure that we are as safe as possible,” supervisor Felicia Edmondson of the Violence Prevention Unit wrote in a Wednesday e-mail sent to staff.

The e-mail, obtained Thursday by The Examiner, instructs staff to house offenders waiting for police to arrest them on open warrants in an area from which they can more easily escape without assaulting staff.

“We did this so that in the event an offender chooses to run they can,” Edmondson wrote.

Edmondson also wrote that Parole and Probation agents have met with Baltimore police who have agreed to use two officers, instead of one, when making an arrest at the Preston Street office.

Such arrests are part of the state’s Violence Prevention Initiative, in which parole agents and police officers are supposed to work closely together to lock up violent offenders on technical parole violations, such as failing to report a new address or testing positive for drug use.

Rick Binetti, a spokesman for Maryland’s Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, which oversees Parole and Probation, called the directive a “change in logistics.”

“Our agents don’t have arrest powers,” he said. “If an offender is going to get violent, we’d err on the side of caution. If it came down to being injured by a violent offender or letting him run, we’d probably let him run.”

But Douglas said the directive serves only to show the lack of security at parole and probation offices.

“Our agency has never fully addressed security issues,” said Douglas, who suggested the department create a “lockdown room” to hold offenders while waiting for police to arrive to arrest them. “If I was an average citizen, I’d want to know what the hell is going on.”

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com

Advertisement