With the Baltimore City Police Department under a consent decree to overhaul its operations, Police Commissioner, Kevin Davis, and Mayor Catherine Pugh cut the ribbon on the new Baltimore City Police Museum today.
Standing for a ribbon cutting and photo-op, Mayor Pugh and Commissioner Davis opened the museum commemorating the 233-year history of police in Baltimore.
"To me when I got here a couple of years ago and I noticed we didn’t have a police museum," said Davis in an interview following the event. "I think that is a gap in when we look backwards the way forwards is the way we need it to be consistent with expectations of our community."
The museum is complete with an old Ford police car, motorcycle, piece of a jail cell, and records of former police officers who served throughout the department's history. Davis said that not only was this a museum a tangible symbol of community engagement, but also a way for the police department to be more transparent.
"You only really come in this building if you work here, or if you are under arrest, or being interrogated because you are suspected of committing a crime," said Davis. "So to have a piece of this headquarters facility open to the public it takes away a shroud of secrecy, and mystery with this big building."
The museum is funded under the administrative budget of the police department. It will be open and available for public viewing this weekend.