Staffing woes could hinder Baltimore Police reform efforts under consent decree, federal judge warns

The Baltimore Police Department has made sweeping changes in policy and practices, but it’s essential the department “stop the bleeding” in terms of its recruitment and retention, a federal judge warned Thursday. Insufficient staffing marks the agency’s biggest obstacle to achieving compliance with the policing consent decree between the city and the U.S. Justice Department, according to Judge James K. Bredar, who is overseeing the process. The decree, reached in 2017, lays out a series of reform