By Justin George
The Baltimore Sun
BALTIMORE — Law enforcement officials in Baltimore moved Wednesday to increase protection of officers and others who work in the city’s police stations.
They suspended a program that brought violent offenders into police facilities, and they put armed officers at the front desks of every station.
They ordered the measures a day after police said officers wrestled a loaded gun from a man who had come to the Northeastern District station for a meeting with a probation agent. The man told detectives that Black Guerrilla Family gang leaders had ordered him to bring the gun in to test police security.
Jason Armstrong, 29, faces several gun and drug charges. He remained in a Baltimore City jail without bail Wednesday.
State court records show that Armstrong, who has been convicted of multiple drug crimes, was being supervised by a statewide parole and probation program that closely tracks felons and ex-convicts who law enforcement officials believe are prone to violence.
In Baltimore, the 7-year-old Violence Prevention Initiative has been run out of police district stations. But corrections officials suspended it to give police time to assess the safety of probation agents and officers at the stations.
“That practice has now ceased, effective Tuesday morning, while we work with our law enforcement partners on a thorough review of this case,” said Mark Vernarelli, spokesman for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
Baltimore police posted full-duty officers at the front desks of every police station, police union president Gene Ryan said Wednesday.
Often, those positions have been filled by officers on light duty for medical reasons or who have been suspended. Not all of them are allowed to carry guns, which is why the switch was made, Ryan said.
“We definitely need to step up our awareness and improvements at district levels,” he said.
Authorities released new details of the incident Tuesday at the Northeastern District station. Police said in court records that officers had a brief struggle with Armstrong before they were able to take away the .22-caliber gun they said he was carrying.
Corrections officials said Armstrong arrived at the station, near Morgan State University, about 8:45 a.m. for a scheduled meeting with his probation agent.
Court records show Armstrong pleaded guilty to a drug distribution charge in December 2013 and was sentenced to one month in prison and four years of probation.
Records show he was also sentenced to a year in prison in January 2014 after he failed to appear at a court hearing the previous October, but the records did not indicate whether he served any of that sentence.
Armstrong does not have an attorney listed in state court records. A lawyer in a previous case said he did not remember Armstrong. Family members could not be reached in person or over the phone on Wednesday.
Police said in court records that Armstrong told an officer at the front desk of the Northeastern District station Tuesday that he had come to see his parole and probation agent.
Police said the officer smelled “fresh marijuana” coming from Armstrong, walked to a detective’s desk and asked for assistance because the officer was on light duty.
The detective and another officer asked Armstrong about the smell. He said, “I smell like weed because my boy was smoking in the car when we drove over,” police said.
The detective said he noticed that Armstrong was acting nervous and asked if he was carrying anything illegal, police said. Armstrong stood up and said he had nothing on him while reaching for his pants pockets and moving toward the police station door.
The detective told Armstrong to keep his hands out and stand still, police said, and he responded by saying he had a bag of marijuana on him.
“I don’t want to get in trouble,” he told police.
“Mr. Armstrong began to get even more nervous and attempted to get past me to get out of the district,” the detective wrote in a report. “I told Mr. Armstrong to calm down and keep still.”
The detective grabbed his wrist, and when Armstrong tried to break the hold and get away, police say, the detective felt the handle of a gun in Armstrong’s breast pocket.
“I yelled out gun in order for officers to assist with restraining him,” the detective wrote.
Police said Armstrong tried to run out of the station and slipped on the wet floor. The detective grabbed his left arm and pinned him to the ground so he could not reach into his pocket, police said.
Officers pulled out a black semiautomatic Smith and Wesson .22-caliber handgun with nine rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber. The gun’s serial number had been scratched off.
Police say Armstrong was also carrying 24 pieces of what they suspected was crack cocaine in clear plastic baggies, what they suspected was heroin split up in four green plastic bags, and two pink bags carrying less than 10 grams of what they suspected was marijuana.
Police said Armstrong admitted to detectives in a recorded interview that he brought the handgun into the station but wouldn’t say where he got it. Police did not say in the arrest report that he was ordered to bring the gun in by BGF leaders.
But Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts said Tuesday that Armstrong told detectives that gang members forced him to bring the drugs and loaded gun into the station to test police security.
Police said they have posted patrol cars outside police stations and told officers to report any possible contacts with gang members.
“I think they better be cautious and aware,” Ryan said. “They need to be on heightened awareness.”
Batts said he planned to meet with federal law enforcement agencies soon to share information about the BGF.
The FBI office in Baltimore warned police departments in December that it had received information claiming that the Black Guerrilla Family was targeting “white cops” in Maryland.
The FBI said an information had warned that BGF members linked to a corruption scandal at the Baltimore City Detention Center last year had ordered hits on the officers.
BGF members or associates — which Baltimore police said included Armstrong — are part of the state’s Violence Prevention Initiative.
State corrections officials said they are supervising 1,024 offenders in Baltimore. Probation agents work out of police stations so they can monitor offenders in their neighborhoods and can share information with district detectives.
While the program is suspended, Vernarelli said, offenders or ex-offenders in the program are still required to check in at city parole and probation offices.