City School Officers have no confidence in chief

BALTIMORE -  

The vote was taken last month by the members of the Baltimore school police union; 84 officers of 110 have no confidence in Baltimore school police Chief Marshall Goodwin.

“It's not something to take lightly.  When you seem them, they are generally unions in police world that feel like they have nothing left to lose."

Gary McLhinney is the labor negotiator for the school police union.

Usually he says, votes of no confidence are a last resort and typically involve a beef about pay or benefits and this is not the case here.           

The FOP Lodge #5 union just got a new contract last year and it’s a good one he says.

"In this case it's about working conditions and communication with management...that's something that should concern the public," said McLhinney.

While both sides have not publically spoken about specifics, sources say officers feel Chief Goodwin's leadership style is questionable, the force feels lack of control to handle criminal situations inside the schools and crime is not being reported accurately.

 We tried to take these concerns to North Avenue, but the school administration said it had no comment on the vote, or the issues some officers have spoken about off the record.

Progress is being made though, McLhinney tells us the dialogue between the officers’ union and the school administration is progressing and a meeting between the two is scheduled for later this month.