New enforcement of Baltimore County ‘light duty’ policy could force injured police officers out amid vacancies

Cassidy Jenson

The Baltimore Sun

October 21, 2024

Baltimore County will soon begin enforcing a policy limiting how long injured police officers can work in “light duty” positions — a move that likely will push out staff in a department with more than 300 vacancies.

Earlier this month, 29 injured officers who haven’t been able to return to full duty after about a year received letters from Baltimore County Office of Human Resources Director Renee Coleman informing them that they may be forced to leave the department or apply for a different position.

The letters show the county beginning to carry out a rule that officials didn’t enforce for more than a decade. They went to employees, including those shot or otherwise injured on duty, who are working in administrative roles while earning police officer salaries. Some were denied medical retirements years ago.

“You are receiving this letter, referred to as an ‘Options Letter,’ because it has been determined that you meet at least one of the below criteria that subjects your employment with Baltimore County, Maryland … to termination,” the letters began, according to copies reviewed by The Baltimore Sun.

Some of the options for officers unable to return to full duty after 251 workdays include applying for a reclassification or transfer within county service, taking a leave of absence, seeking medical retirement or resigning. The letters also came with a form to request an extension, which would require officers to forgo most raises, a status known as “red circle.”

Officers have until Oct. 31 to file for an extension or notify the county’s human resources department of their decision, according to the letters.

“The administration has worked to update the policy and streamline the process, which went into effect on July 15, 2023 and was further modified early this year, ensuring compliance with Baltimore County regulations,” county spokesperson Erica Palmisano said in an email to The Sun.

Palmisano said the county worked with unions and incorporated suggestions and feedback into the final version of the policy.

Police department spokesperson Joy Stewart said in an email that after the county modified its light duty policy, 29 members got letters telling them about the options that “may be available to them under federal, state, and/or Baltimore County law.”

“Since every individual situation is different, each member’s case will be handled accordingly. This will not impact patrol operations,” Stewart said in the email.

The county police department, like many law enforcement agencies nationwide, has struggled to fill vacant positions. As of Oct. 11, there are 262 sworn officer positions and 116 non-sworn positions open, Stewart said.

That concerns FOP Lodge 4 President David Rose, leader of the union representing county officers, who said some of the injured employees perform work that must be done by a sworn officer. Officers on light duty also fulfill important roles, doing tasks like preparing crime statistics to send to the Maryland State Police or the FBI. Rose said he believes the change could impact 50 to 80 officers.

“Some of this work’s still got to get done, and if we’re going to make these people leave, who’s going to do it?” Rose said. “They’re not taking a job that someone else is waiting for.”

Stewart said departments across the U.S. are facing personnel shortages.

“Baltimore County is fortunate in that the Department continues to see an increase in applications,” she said in the email.

Former narcotics detective Jonathan Chih, who was shot and critically injured in February 2023, likely was among those sent letters. His rank is now officer and he is working in a desk job, Chih said in court in September.

Chih did not respond to a voicemail and an email seeking comment. Stewart said the department can’t release personnel information about individuals.

Last month, Chih testified about the moments when David Linthicum, who jurors convicted of attempted first-degree murder, fired a rifle at him along the side of Warren Road on Feb. 9, 2023.

“I couldn’t get up and I couldn’t reach my gun,” Chih said. “It was a bad nightmare.”

He showed jurors his bloodstained police vest and scarring on his arms where gunshots struck him. Another bullet traveled through his face and out his back, and his sciatic nerve was damaged by another bullet in his left buttock.

Body-worn camera footage shown during the trial captured him firing back at Linthicum, then groaning in pain as other officers arrived and applied tourniquets.

Chih was taken to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he stayed for about 10 days before going to an inpatient rehabilitation center until early March.

Officer Brandi Ahmer, who was injured in an on-duty car accident in 2021 and has since worked a desk job at police headquarters, received an options letter earlier this month.

Ahmer said she has been fighting to get workers’ compensation to cover medical treatment that could return her to full duty. In February, a judge ruled that she is “not at maximum medical improvement” for her injuries, according to court records.

“I’ve just been trying to get better so I can go back to the road and be a full, capable officer,” Ahmer said in an interview with The Sun. “That’s all I wanted since my injury happened.”

Now she’s receiving treatment that she hopes will return her to full duty, but she’s worried the policy change will interrupt that.

“I’m just concerned that it may put a hiccup in something,” she said.

In 2013, the county settled lawsuits with two former firefighters and a police officer who alleged that they were forced out of their jobs illegally.

The year before, the county paid $475,000 to settle a U.S Department of Justice complaint alleging that the county violated the Americans with Disabilities Act in part by requiring firefighters, EMTs and police officers to submit to unnecessary medical examinations and inquiries.