The Baltimore Police Department would become one of the first major police departments in the country to create a civilian detective classificaction.

BALTIMORE, MD (Wednesday, April 13, 2022) — Today, Mayor Brandon M. Scott and Police Commissioner Michael S. Harrison announced that the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) has updated its staffing vision to create a more robust civilianization plan that will build additional staff capacity in the department and maximize the effectiveness of limited sworn resources.

Additionally, it allows the BPD to tap into previously unexplored but qualified personnel resources that can quickly go through the hiring process.

“This is a crucial step in our larger work to move BPD forward,” said Mayor Brandon M. Scott. “Civilianization will allow us to modernize our approach to law enforcement and optimize how we deploy our sworn police officers to serve our communities’ needs better.”

New civilian investigative specialist positions will augment the current detective force, allowing civilian investigators to manage low-level property crimes, cold cases, background checks, intelligence gathering, and internal affair matters.

The BPD will be among the first major law enforcement agencies in the nation to introduce this Investigative Specialist classification, which can be used broadly throughout the agency, and has the potential to set a national standard on staffing allocations for law enforcement agencies.  

The BPD civilianization proposal for FY2023 calls for:

• 35 Investigative Specialists to be hired in FY2023, with more than 135 additional positions identified for future civilianization efforts scheduled for FY2024-FY2026
• 9 civilian positions dedicated to support the Mayor’s Group Violence Reduction Strategy
• 12 civilian support positions to enhance capacity at the Telephone Reporting Unit (TRU)
• Restoring civilian positions cut from the 2021 budget

Professional, civilian staff may fill several existing positions following a necessary training period. 

Some additional areas that civilians may staff include:

•     Crime Scene Technicians
•     District Detective Unit
•     Cold Case Unit
•     Internal Affairs
•     Forensics Unit
•     Executive Secretaries
•     Fleet Support
•     Recruitment/Human Resources
•     Academy Instructors
•     IT Specialists and Support
•     Fiscal Services
•     Background Investigators
•     Crime Analytics
•     Public Relations
•     Records Management
•     911 Dispatchers

 “This plan is not about taking away jobs from sworn members of the department. It is about growing the department and creating additional civilian capacity while being smart about how we deploy officers,” said Police Commissioner Michael S. Harrison. “We are aligning our staffing plan and our budget resources to bring qualified professional staff to work alongside our officers to prevent, deter and reduce crime more effectively.”

For civilian job listings, go to Civilian Careers.