BALTIMORE, MD — A growing staffing shortage in the Baltimore County Police Department is fueling a dispute over how many officers the agency is actually down — and raising concerns about response times and officer burnout.
FOP President Douglass Jess said the department is facing far more vacancies than the number it publicly reports. “The 10th, the vacancy of report was 162 sworn vacancies,” Jess said. But, he added, “The forward-facing report is half of the actual number.”