Advocate urges Board of Estimates to reject sole-source Thomson Reuters CLEAR expansion

Jennifer Kunze published an opinion piece in Baltimore Brew on March 4, 2026 urging Baltimore’s Board of Estimates to reject sole-source procurement SB-25-14465, which would expand Baltimore Police Department access to Thomson Reuters’ CLEAR platform. The op-ed makes a direct appeal to the city body that signs off on procurement actions.

SB-25-14465 is presented as a sole-source procurement to extend the Baltimore Police Department’s reach into the commercial data service operated by Thomson Reuters known as CLEAR. The proposal is identified in city paperwork by its procurement number, SB-25-14465, tying the policy question to a specific administrative action under consideration by Baltimore government officials.

Kunze’s published call places procurement process and police data sourcing at the center of the debate. By urging rejection of a sole-source contract, the piece frames SB-25-14465 as a decision point for the Board of Estimates that could shape how the Baltimore Police Department acquires and uses third-party investigative tools from Thomson Reuters.

The op-ed appears at a moment when procurement decisions carry both budget and oversight implications for city agencies. Naming the procurement number SB-25-14465 and the vendor Thomson Reuters makes the choice concrete for city stakeholders and for members of the Board of Estimates tasked with reviewing the request. Kunze’s intervention focuses attention on that formal request rather than on broader, unnamed policy changes.

Baltimore residents and neighborhood leaders now have a clear locus for scrutiny: the Board of Estimates and the specific procurement SB-25-14465 that would expand BPD access to CLEAR. Kunze’s piece, published March 4, 2026 by Baltimore Brew, ties a technical procurement item to a public discussion about the Baltimore Police Department’s use of commercial data services.

The op-ed ends by asking the Board of Estimates to reject SB-25-14465 outright, leaving the next step in the hands of the city’s procurement approvers and underscoring a narrowly defined decision point for Baltimore governance officials.