Washington, D.C.-area police departments are seeking reimbursement for the cost of helping Baltimore police during the April riots.
Expense reports obtained by the News4 I-Team show suburban police departments incurred more than $1 million in overtime costs by sending officers to help quell the unrest and protect the city of Baltimore. Baltimore city officials said they will have to tap deeply into their rainy day fund to pay the tab, without an immediate plan on how to refill the fund.
Reimbursement forms submitted to the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, which helps administer city-to-city reimbursements after disasters, show Anne Arundel County has requested a $449,622 reimbursement from Baltimore to offset the costs overtime and regular pay for the offices it dispatched. Howard County police are requesting $293,783 in reimbursements, a majority of which are costs for overtime pay for the officers it sent to Baltimore. Montgomery County is seeking about $291,400 in money from Baltimore, according to a police spokesman. City of Frederick police have submitted a request for about $40,000, for the services of 31 city police officers sent to Baltimore.
City of Frederick acting Police Chief Patrick Grossman said his agency cannot absorb the costs of its Baltimore deployment. “Obviously these are unplanned personnel costs," Grossman said. "These costs could have a big impact on the city and the department itself.”
A Baltimore city spokesman said the city will use its rainy day fund to reimburse the neighboring police agencies, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey state police. A request for federal aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency was rejected, city and state officials said. Baltimore city leaders will have to draw money from future budgets to replenish the rainy day fund, if the federal agency rejects future requests for financial aid, a city spokesman said.
Reimbursements requested from outside agencies:
- Montgomery County - $293,783
- City of Frederick - $40,230
- Anne Arundel County - $449,622
- Howard County - $293,783
- Frederick County - $49,737
The rioting and unrest in Baltimore injured dozens of city police officers, according to a city spokesman. The rioting and looting also damaged a series of businesses and food markets in the city, according toe neighbors. Doc Cheatem, a community activist who lives within a block of some of the violence and damage, said the neighboring police officers helped save his community.
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“The bills need to be paid," Cheatem said. "Those other jurisdictions need to be compensated. We shouldn’t be hurting them financially because of what happened here in Baltimore.”
A CVS pharmacy along Pennsylvania Avenue in Baltimore was looted during the April unrest. Damage and burn marks are still visible along the outside of the building. A CVS spokesman told the I-Team his company intends to reopen the pharmacy, but wouldn’t estimate the cost of doing so.
