A program that allowed certain security guards in specific Baltimore locations act as police officers with the power to make arrests is being reconsidered after several recent lawsuits and complaints.“Special police” officers, as they are called, work in some shopping centers, apartment communities, the District Court of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University. They can detain and arrest citizens violating laws in those areas but are not trained by state or city police.
The Baltimore police department will decide whether or not to continue this program in the wake of lawsuits from citizens concerned that they act outside of their bounds and without the internal oversight of the police force.
