SCANDAL

Baltimore Police Department Disbands Plainclothes Unit After Racketeering Indictment

Officers accused of extortion, robbery.

The Baltimore Police Department has disbanded its 46-person plainclothes police unit, after members of another unit were hit with racketeering charges, The Baltimore Sun reports. Members of a Baltimore Police gun squad were charged with robbery, extortion, and filing false police reports in a racketeering indictment unsealed last week. Baltimore Police brass said the department would consider major changes in the wake of the scandal. While the 46 members of the plainclothes enforcement unit were not named in the indictment, all will be redistributed to other parts of the department, indicating a major restructuring of the Baltimore force.