Body Camera Video Allegedly Shows Baltimore Police 'Plant' Drugs - NBC News 7/19/17, 5(27 PM

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NEWS JUL 19 2017, 5:40 PM ET

Body Camera Video Allegedly Shows

Baltimore Police ‘Plant’ Drugs
by PHIL MCCAUSLAND

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Body camera video produced Wednesday appears to show a Baltimore
police officer plant drugs in late January, an act that later resulted in a
criminal arrest.

The 90-second Baltimore police body camera video, which was made
public by the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, belongs to Officer
Richard Pinheiro, who appears to hide and later "find" drugs among trash
strewn on a plot next to a Baltimore residence. Two other officers appear to
be with the Pinheiro as he hides the drugs.

"I'm gonna go check here," Pinheiro announces in the video from a

morning in late January. He then picks up a can in which he placed a
plastic bag of pills earlier in the video and retrieves them.
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Police body camera video produced Wednesday by the Maryland Office of the Public Defender
Time for Murder
appears claims shows a Baltimore police officer "planting" drugs at a scene. # Office of the
Public Defender for the state of Maryland

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Body Camera Video Allegedly Shows Baltimore Police 'Plant' Drugs - NBC News 7/19/17, 5(27 PM

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"This is a serious allegation of police misconduct," Baltimore Police
Commissioner Kevin Davis said. "There is nothing that deteriorates the
trust of any community more than thinking for one second that police
officers ... would plant evidence of crimes on citizens."

One of the officers has been suspended, and two others have been placed
on "nonpublic contact" administrative duty, Davis told reporters.

Police said the Office of Professional Responsibility Ethics Section was

investigating.

Pinheiro is a witness in about 53 active cases, and he was even called to

testify in a case earlier this week, the Public Defender's Office said.

The new video has led to that case's dismissal after an assistant public
defender forwarded it to the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office,
according to the Public Defender's Office.

Melba Saunders, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore City State's Attorney's

Office, said the prosecutor took "immediate and appropriate actions" and
dropped the case against the man who was charged.

"Currently, this case is under investigation and has been referred to internal
affairs of the Baltimore Police Department," she added.

Debbie Katz Levi, head of the Baltimore Public Defender's Special

Litigation Section, said that Baltimore police have long had a problem with
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officer misconduct but that the city does not hold individuals accountable.
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"We have long supported the use of police body cameras to help identify
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to rely on these officers, especially if they do so without disclosing their bad
acts," Levi said. PhD Millionaire Predicting 'Cash Panic'
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Police played four other videos for the media on Wednesday afternoon to Hollywood Actress Tells All: “I Hope My
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& In the first two videos, officers procure two gel capsules of heroin. The third Deals With This Little-Known Site Tophatter
video has officers approaching the alleged seller of the heroin and shows
' them arresting the man on whom they found marijuana and a gel capsule of
heroin, police said.
(
In the fourth video, officers undertake an extensive search of a yard
identified by the dealer for more drugs. Police said they recovered a plastic
bag with 25 gel capsules of heroin.

Davis and Deputy Police Commissioner Jason Johnson suggested that it

implied that they were re-enacting the recovery of drugs for the body
camera — which is also inappropriate, Davis said.

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Body Camera Video Allegedly Shows Baltimore Police 'Plant' Drugs - NBC News 7/19/17, 5(27 PM

"The release of [this body camera video] tells me and hopefully [the public]
that there was a little more to this," Davis told reporters.
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Johnson and Davis told reporters that there was a four- to five-minute gap
in the video.

According to police policy, officers are required to record all activities that
are "investigative or enforcement in nature."

The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, a component of the

U.S. Justice Department, concluded in a 296-page report that there is not
enough research to understand the impact of body cameras but that "the
ultimate purpose of these cameras should be to help officers protect and
serve the people in their communities."

Davis said the department would get to the bottom of the matter because
he fears the effect it would have on the community.

"Perception is reality," Davis said. "If our community thinks that there are
officers planting evidence in the course of their duty, that is something that
will keep me up at night."

PHIL MCCAUSLAND & '

TOPICS CRIME & COURTS, NBCBLK, U.S. NEWS

FIRST PUBLISHED JUL 19 2017, 5:40 PM ET

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