Eight students and recent graduates from Baltimore City’s two prominent historically-Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), Morgan State and Coppin State, will take part in summer internships with the Baltimore City Police Department (BPD).
The Baltimore Sun reports the interns will work with officers “in a range of roles, such as street patrol, administration, technology and data analytics, training, budgeting, special investigations and forensics.” In addition, each intern will receive $10,000 over ten weeks from the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington-based think tank. Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison provided a quote to the Baltimore Sun explaining the intent of the program:
‘We want to give them a true look inside policing, and maybe they become ambassadors to help us rebuild public trust,’ [Commissioner Harrison] said. ‘Who better to help regain trust than young people from the communities most likely to be negatively impacted by police — minority communities?’
The internship program will help address some of BPD’s staffing issues, which have worsened due to “difficulty recruiting rookies, in addition to increased retirements and resignations.” Moreover, as the City continues to operate under a federal consent decree, the internship program is representative of institutional reform.
