Contact:

Evan Serpick, OSI-Baltimore, 410-234-1091

T.J. Smith, BPD, 410-396-2012

Organizational Development Advisor and Social Justice and Equity Advisor

will help examine and reform department culture

BALTIMORE – The Open Society Institute-Baltimore (OSI) has provided a grant of $300,000 for the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) to establish two new staff positions that respond to Commissioner Kevin Davis’s stated goal to transform the culture of the BPD to become more responsive to the needs of the communities it serves, and help fulfill the mandates of the Consent Decree.

“We are thankful to OSI for the support to bring in people who will help us examine our policies and procedures and implement important systemic changes to make the department more responsive to the people we serve,” Commissioner Davis said. “It will make us better, it will improve our relationships with the community, and most importantly, it will make the city safer.”

The grant will not be used directly for crime-fighting, but to fund two new positions:

An Organizational Development Advisor will assist the BPD in improving its core mission and values and creating the infrastructure needed to align individual officer behavior and the entire BPD culture to those mission and values.

will assist the BPD in improving its core mission and values and creating the infrastructure needed to align individual officer behavior and the entire BPD culture to those mission and values. A Social Justice and Equity Advisor will serve as the BPD’s change management specialist—particularly in the areas of diversity and equity—and help establish department-wide trainings and leadership development activities to bring the BPD culture and individual officer behavior in alignment with the mandates of the consent decree.

Both positions are currently listed on the human resources page of the city’s website (http://humanresources.baltimorecity.gov).

“OSI-Baltimore is proud to help the Baltimore Police Department achieve its own vision of becoming a more responsive, community-oriented force,” says Diana Morris, director of OSI-Baltimore. “These funds can help begin a process of transformation that will make Baltimore safer for its citizens and its police.”