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Credibility suffered due to corruption

Crime fighting is difficult enough, but when cops turn criminal, it can undermine the credibility of officers with those they are sworn to protect.

A recent towing scandal involving dozens of officers underscores that problem for the Baltimore City Police Department.

"The towing scandal and you just brought up about an officer selling heroin---these guys didn't just pop up in terms of their bad behavior since I came on the scene," said Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld, "They've been doing cruddy, bad stuff for a while."

In a bid to uncover other cruddy stuff and corruption, the city's top cop is shaking up the top brass bringing in an outsider to lead internal investigations.

"I can count the number of Baltimore police officers on one hand that I actually know," said Chief Grayling Williams who spent 22 years with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

Now, he'll police the police weeding out those who go astray amongst a force of more than 3,000 officers.

"Baltimore is a big city department with big city issues, but they're not insurmountable," said Williams.

A 26-year veteran of the Montgomery County Police Department, Director John King, will be charged with training officers in the basics.

"Integrity, leadership, the principles of community policing and then cultural awareness," said King, as he identified the priorities.

In spite of the shake up, the commissioner wants to assure people that the department is still doing its job. He points to the falling homicide rate, which fell to its lowest level last year since 1977.

Many of the same officers who once made more than 100,000 arrests per year have more than cut that number in half.

"That's not cold weather. That's not there was high tide at the Harbor. That wasn't there was some new phase of the moon," said Bealefeld, "That's policy, procedure and commitment from the men and women of the police department to do things differently."

The department also plans to review its procedures for handling police-involved shootings and for handling community complaints.