So now public officials in Baltimore are afflicted with apology fever.
It hasn’t been two weeks since Congress issued its apology for slavery and Jim Crow. (And I say for all my ancestors who ever lived in servitude — including the white woman — “apology not accepted, you nimrods.”) Now it seems city attorneys and the police department want in on the act.
And who got the apology? Why, none other than former members of the Southwestern District’s flex squad. You know, the ones who were accused of all kinds of corruption in late 2005.
Let’s see now: There were allegations of rape, false arrest, the planting of drugs on suspects and of drugs being left in the flex squad office. For all I know, investigators may have wanted to throw in aiding and abetting in the Lindbergh kidnapping, but probably couldn’t find a way to make the charge stick.
As it turns out, they didn’t make the other charges stick either. Jemini Jones, the officer charged with raping a female suspect, was acquitted in circuit court. Criminal charges against other officers were dropped, and on Wednesday city officials paid out $290,000 to Sgt. Robert L. Smith, Officer Vicki Mengel and their attorney. You see, it turns out police honchos are now saying they did nothing at all.
It was Smith and Mengel who got the apology, and according to news reports, it was a lulu. Smith was the supervisor of the flex squad that was supposedly rife with corruption. It turns out he was on vacation when the alleged rape occurred. Mengel’s name was included in a search warrant even though she was no longer in the unit when the warrant was served.
Smith’s apology reads, “The Baltimore Police Department apologizes to Sgt. Robert L. Smith for any statements made by members suggesting he had committed, or may have committed, a drug offense or sex offense. Sgt. Smith is, and has been, a law-abiding, dedicated police officer who has served well the citizens of Baltimore City.”
Oh, this gets better. Wait until you read the apology Mengel got.
“The Baltimore Police Department,” Mengel’s apology reads, “expresses regret that former Police Detective Vicki Mengel’s name was included in the Application for a Search Warrant.”
Even the cops who served that warrant got an apology, from Smith and Mengel, for doubting that they acted in good faith.
Let’s cut to the chase and say what all this apologizing really means: The case against the flex squad officers was what might be called, in impolite company, a crock.
But that’s not the worst of it. Anybody notice the folks who didn’t get an apology, the ones who are conspicuous by their absence in all this apologizing?
That would be you, me and every other taxpayer who funds police operations in the city of Baltimore. In short, taxpayers across the state. We’re the chumps who got taken for $290,000. And we’re the ones who funded what police now say was a bogus investigation or an investigation of bogus charges, which to me is the classic distinction without a difference.
Where’s OUR apology from the Baltimore Police Department? Where’s our apology from Mayor Sheila Dixon, the city solicitor and the Board of Estimates? The apology doesn’t need to be anything elaborate. A simple “Hey, sorry we messed up your money” will be quite sufficient.
I know we live in a city run by liberal Democrats, who consider taxpayers slightly below scum of the Earth. But I had such hopes for Dixon — Big Sheil, as I’m fond of calling her — because she’s made some statements that show she’s really trying to get in touch with her inner conservative.
Being a liberal Democrat doesn’t always mean you have to mug taxpayers. William Donald Schaefer, the former mayor of Baltimore and governor and comptroller of Maryland, was liberal on a lot of issues. But one thing you can say about Willie Don: He always believed the money government spent didn’t belong to the government; it belonged to the taxpayers.
If Smith and Mengel are worthy of an apology, the taxpayers who were forced to pay for this nonsense with the flex squad deserve one too.
The BPD can mail mine to me at The Examiner offices.
Gregory Kane is a columnist who has been writing about Maryland and Baltimore for more than 15 years. Look for his columns on the Editorial Page every Thursday and Sunday.
