Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said Wednesday that he is effectively ending plainclothes policing in Baltimore after the federal indictments of seven officers last week.

Known on the streets as “knockers” or “jump-out boys,” the officers were most often seen wearing tactical vests, jeans and backwards hats as they prowled the city for guns and drugs.

Davis said they have also been the officers most likely to be the subject of complaints, and he had become increasingly concerned that their style “accelerated a cutting-corners mindset.”

Source Commissioner Davis says plainclothes policing in Baltimore is over

Somebody emailed me this story, I accidentally deleted it but managed to remember what was about and found it. So, my apologies for not giving the proper Hat Tip.

Plainclothes policing is not the issue: Bad cops are. And it is not policing in general but specific aspects of police job and not the standard patrol duties. Many jurisdictions do not allow officers to do simple stuff like traffic stops unless the officers are in full uniform and in a marked patrol car because of the jackwagons that pass themselves as cops to rob victims; this I support wholeheartedly.  But very specific situations like Apprehension teams for Violent Offenders can benefit from officers not being encumbered by all the gear a regular patrolman carries.