Baltimore police had 2,269 misconduct complaints in 2024, report shows
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott is promising accountability to a mother searching for answers after her son died in city police custody on June 24.
Dontae Melton Jr. was shackled and handcuffed during a mental health crisis, and a medic never arrived after officers called for help.
It comes as the city council tackled police accountability and learned there were 2,269 misconduct complaints against BPD officers in 2024.
Fighting for Dontae Melton
Investigators have released little information about the death of Dontae Melton Jr. following an encounter with police at West Franklin Street and North Franklintown Road on June 24.
Melton was having a mental health crisis, went to an officer for help, but at some point police restrained him by his hands and feet.
The only information investigators have released is a single press release from the Maryland Attorney General's Office 19 days ago.
The Maryland Attorney General's Office, which investigates such deaths through their Independent Investigations Division (IID), told WJZ Investigates Tuesday there was nothing new to release in this case right now.
They pointed us to their June 26 statement, "In this case, the IID will delay releasing the names while they gather and review evidence to determine the involved law enforcement officers. The IID will identify the decedent when the names of the officers are released."
"My plea is for the people who are in charge of these systems to get it right. My plea is that another family will never have to endure this kind of pain," Melton's mother Eleshiea Goode told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren. "To know that my son died alone when he had so many family and friends and everybody who had been there in a second had we known."
Hellgren took Melton's mother's concerns to Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott.
"We still know we have so far to go when dealing with behavioral and mental health, not just in Baltimore but in this country, and with the cuts that we are all staring down the barrel of, it's going to hurt that work even more and not allow people to get the help they need when they need it," Mayor Scott said. "She has my commitment that we will do everything in our power not just to get her the answers but also work to make sure we have a better system, so we don't have things like this happening over and over again."
The city's computer-aided dispatch system (CAF) reportedly failed that night. It is the main line of communication between police and fire.
Because of that failure, a medic never came—despite repeated calls for one—and officers ended up taking Melton to a hospital themselves where he later died.
In one of the dispatch calls WJZ reviewed, police said, "Individual was unresponsive at the moment we tried to place him in the car. We were unable to do so due to his limp body. We're still waiting on a medic."
"That is beyond frustrating to know that a system failed—that according to what I'm reading the medics never got the call. To know that people waited around for the medics to get the call," Melton's mother said. "And maybe I'm sounding too simple, but could they have just picked up the phone and called someone? What was the backup system? Was it in place? Was it followed? I have so many questions."
The mayor told WJZ, "For her and her family, the first thing is my heart is with them, and you're taking about a tragic event that happened—someone that lost their life. And for us, as we go through the investigation… whatever has to happen, if it's accountability, it will happen. She has my word we will do whatever is recommended with the attorney general and working with our folks, but we will also work to build systems."
He said he did not want to get ahead of the attorney general's open investigation.
"We have to allow to him to do his investigation and work without any interference from me or anyone else," Scott said.
Police accountability hearing
The Baltimore City Council's Public Safety Committee tackled police accountability at an oversight hearing Tuesday at a packed meeting.
It followed several deaths in BPD custody this year.
They revealed there were 2,269 complaints against BPD officers in 2024. More than 770 were for serious misconduct, and 30% of those complaints remain open.
The council's public safety chair Mark Conway is concerned those complaints are taking too long to resolve.
"The data that the council was given showed many cases that were six months old or older, and still unresolved," Conway said. "It's unclear when the investigation of each case actually began. That said, if we cannot deliver accountability in a transparent, equitable, and timely manner, we are not honoring either the terms of that agreement or the people it is meant to protect. Our police officers also deserve a swift and fair process."
The head of the city's police accountability board called for subpoena power to assist in their investigations.
"The most frequent allegations were neglect of duty, followed closely by body-worn camera failures and use of force out of policy," said police accountability board chair Jamal Turner. "The Central, Eastern and Western Districts saw the highest volume of complaints, and data integrity and transparency remain major concerns that limit our ability to drive systemic change."
There have been 813 police misconduct complaints so far this year, and 282 of them are for serious misconduct.
"We do not have, of course, enough folks to get to those complaints all immediately so there is a time lag, which has always been the issue in the six years that I've been in this agency. It's been the issue and we've been working on correcting it," BPD Deputy Commissioner Brian Nadeau told the committee.
What is the Maryland Police Accountability Act?
In 2021, Maryland passed the Police Accountability Act, mandating the creation of police accountability boards in each county and Baltimore City.
In 2022, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott signed into law a bill that established a police accountability board to restore trust between the community and the Baltimore Police Department.
The legislation established a 17-member board that reviews police complaints and appoints civilians to serve on an administrative charging committee, which recommends discipline for officers formally accused of misconduct.
Baltimore's shift to local control
For years, residents and lawmakers pushed for local control over the Baltimore Police Department.
The state initially held legislative control until the Maryland Gubernatorial Election in November 2023, when 80% of voters supported Ballot Question H to make BPD a city agency for the first time in more than 150 years.
But Question H had limitations. It did not give the city the power to write laws that govern BPD.
For a period, neither the city nor the state had legislative control over the department.
Then, during the Baltimore City General Election in November 2024, voters passed Ballot Question E, finally giving legislative control over BPD to the city.
The restructuring dissolved Baltimore's Civilian Review Board, which was the city's original police oversight entity, founded in 1999.