Bates seeks to expand Baltimore’s Do Not Call list beyond police

Ivan Bates is moving Baltimore’s Do Not Call list beyond the police department, a step that could affect who prosecutors rely on in court and how credibility is judged across city agencies. The State’s Attorney’s Office said it wants to extend the review to Baltimore City Fire and the Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office, not just the Baltimore Police Department.

The office said it wants to begin the expansion work by the first quarter of 2027, using Baltimore City’s fiscal calendar. James Bentley, a spokesman for Bates, said the same kind of record review used for police officers would be applied to other agencies, with the office looking at people who are still employed or who left within the last five years. That puts the issue squarely on courtroom consequences, not just internal discipline, because assistant state’s attorneys do not call officers on the DNC list for testimony.

Bates has already shown how that list can reshape prosecutions. On September 18, 2023, he republished the Baltimore Police Department list with 60 current and former officers, including 11 still on the force and 49 who had left within the prior five years. The office’s policy page says those officers are off-limits as witnesses for assistant state’s attorneys, a significant limitation in cases where police testimony can determine whether charges stick or collapse.

The fight over the list has also already reached Maryland’s courts. In October 2021, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals ruled that the Baltimore list was not exempt from disclosure under the Maryland Public Information Act and was not protected as a personnel record or attorney work product. The General Assembly then amended the public records law through Anton’s Law, effective October 1, 2021, to allow prosecutors to release Do Not Call information publicly.

The proposed expansion drew a public nod from Baltimore City Sheriff Sam Cogen, who called it important to public safety. That matters because the Sheriff’s Office is not a side agency; it is the law-enforcement arm of the Circuit Court of Maryland in Baltimore City, and its deputy sheriffs have law-enforcement powers. Pulling that office into the same review would widen Bates’ credibility screen into another corner of the criminal-justice system, at a time when City Hall, prosecutors and public-safety leaders are still fighting over trust, access to information and who gets to shape the record in Baltimore courtrooms.