Mayor Rawlings-Blake, Commissioner Anthony Batts Announce New Police Schedule

New deployment plan will put more officers on the streets, increase community engagement

BALTIMORE, Md. (January 9, 2015)—Today, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was joined by Commissioner Anthony Batts, Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) President Gene Ryan, and members of the community to announce a new public safety deployment schedule to be implemented by the Baltimore Police Department (BPD).

The new schedule will give BPD officials the flexibility to rapidly shift officers to respond to emerging crime trends, increase foot patrols, and offer more opportunities for community engagement.

“Today, we announced the next step in our ongoing efforts to create a more efficient and responsive police force,” said Mayor Rawlings-Blake. “This innovative new deployment strategy will give us the agility to ensure that communities have the manpower and resources they need—when they need them.”

Beginning this Sunday, the new schedule—which consists of four, 10-hour shifts—will allow the agency to more effectively deploy officers to meet the demands for police services throughout the day. The new schedule will increase the number of patrol officers on duty during peak demand periods than is possible under the previous schedule of three, eight-hour shifts.

“Our work doesn’t stop here,” said Police Commissioner Batts. “In the coming weeks we will unveil our plans to better use technology, better connect with our community, and better engage all of our partners both public and private, to make Baltimore as safe as it can be.”

For the first time in the department’s history, officers were given an opportunity to choose their daily work schedule through a bidding process. Each officer's work schedule was awarded based on seniority.

"The new schedule is a direct result of our new union contract," said FOP President Gene Ryan. "The negotiations required to bring this new contract to fruition were often very difficult. However, each struggle strengthened the resolve to bring us to this point."

On New Year’s Day, the mayor and police commissioner announced an overall decline in crime in 2014. The new police schedule is the latest of several administration initiatives, including Operation Ceasefire and expanded enforcement zones, aimed at driving down crime and ensuring public safety in Baltimore City.