“My computer crashed.” “My e-mail went down.” “I never received the voicemail.”
Sometimes these statements reflect why homework can?t be finished or messages go unreturned. But most of the time they are lame excuses.
Even lamer is the Baltimore City Police Department?s excuse for shredding documents a federal court ordered it to preserve: running out of folders.
Baltimore is not Antarctica. It is a place bountifully filled with office supply stores and retail supercenters, some open 24 hours per day, stocking every conceivable type of folder the department could need. According to online store trackers, Staples has 15 locations in the area; Office Depot has 10. And don?t forget the Web. Surely an officer could have spared 20 minutes to run to a local strip mall to restock the department?s supply cabinet?
We can only imagine what happens when the department runs out of pencils and pens.
Surely the court does not believe such an explanation for eliminating key evidence in a discrimination lawsuit?
Even worse, what if the excuse is true? What does it say about the management of the clerical staff at the police department? At the very least, members must be extremely lazy.
But evidence points to the fact that officers eliminated the documents purposefully.
Plaintiffs? attorneys in the lawsuit told U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Grimm that the depositions of officers who shredded papers show management went out of its way to get rid of evidence. In them, officers said the department authorized overtime for three additional staff members to help them dispose of the two years of documents, plaintiffs? attorneys said. They asked Grimm to depose the three.
City Solicitor Ralph Tyler said the suit, which claims black officers faced more severe discipline and received fewer promotions than their white counterparts, has no merit. And city attorney Elizabeth Harris said deposing the three overtime workers would overburden an office strapped to produce 14 years worth of documents for the case.
We think you would agree that Grimm must allow the depositions. We, the people, deserve to know who authorized the shredding and whether police management and clerical staff are inept or criminally negligent, or both.
At the very least, those filing suit against the city deserve a fair trial.
