BALTIMORE — Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison and City Solicitor Andre Davis on Wednesday appointed an independent review team to look into the roots of the Gun Trace Task Force.
Former Department of Justice Inspector General, Michael Bromwich of the Washington D.C. law firm Steptoe & Johnson was tapped to lead the review.
According to Davis and Harrison, Bromwich will have free rein on the scope of the investigation without any limitations or police department interference.
Harrison said he will order the police department to cooperate with all interview, document, and information requests made by Bromwich and his team.
Bromwich called the review an enormous job, and said he would run it efficiently as possible, and not drag it out, but stressed there would be no artificial time constraints to complete the review.
"The truth is I wouldn't have accepted the assignment under any other conditions," Bromwich said.
Though there was no cost mentioned, Harrison said the police department would provide all necessary funding to complete the review.
Bromwich hasn't yet assembled his team for the review.
Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court of Maryland, James Bredar, who oversees the consent decree and the monitoring team have both previously pushed for such an investigation.
Davis said he's hopeful Bromwich's report will bring the truth out as to what happened.
"We know that the police department can burn off the stink of this horrific scandal only through the use of the best disinfectant, namely full disclosure," said Davis.
On March 1, 2017 seven GTTF members were arrested on Federal racketeering charges. All have since either plead guilty or been convicted and are currently serving anywhere from 7 to 25 years in Federal Prison. Multiple others have since been arrested and charged in connection to the scandal.
To read more on the GTTF click here .
