Its close to 11pm and I needed a few things from Walmart quick for a funeral at Arlington National Cemetery.  I've only been to this Walmart one other time at Christmas however upon arriving via my GPS I noticed several squad cars leaving the parking lot at least one being a Prince Georges County.  I parked and walked to the entrance passing by two Bladdensburg police cruisers running with their lights on - not the primary bar lights some smaller side window lights.  As I passed by I recalled just hours before an ANC Meeting which I was on where it was discussed a MPD unit had been stolen as a result of it being left unattended while at a call.  This had me wondering if other departments had this issue and so I had decided that I would inquire on my way out.  As I walked into the entrance life was all normal for a Walmart store.  Now, lets not forget that I use to work for Walmart as an Assistant Store Manager so I have an idea on how things are handled.  I did not see any police or any sign of concern and frankly I didn't think too much about it.  I checked out again no sign of anything.  The greeter checked my receipt as I purchased a TV and I walked outside where standing just to the side of one of those running units was an officer on the phone. 

I stood by waiting to see if he would become free to discuss my inquiry whether or not their department had any sort of policy in relation to cruisers being left running.  The officer acknowledged me so I began to ask, immediately he became defensive and his tone took a tone I had not been expecting.  He told me that it was "None of my concern" in fact he told me this several times while engaged with him.  My response was one of well yes it is as I'm a tax paying citizen and now I took offense to his challenge.  It was a short exchange of maybe two minutes or so I had asked for his name as his behavior towards someone asking him a perfectly acceptable accountability question was alarming and I decided I would file a complaint.  Then, he dismissed me and went inside. 

​Now I stood there outside shocked at how he was responding to a simple inquiry and soon followed him inside because I wanted to know whether or not he had his body camera on as I would have filed a FOIA to obtain the footage and expose how this officer conducted himself.  He was still on the phone however I did ask him that one question of which he decided to ignore me.  There was another officer in the open doorway (to which I assume was the security office off of the customer service desk) he made contact with me and asked if there was anything he could help with. I began to tell him I was trying to see if the officer on the phone had his body camera on and That's when the officer on the phone basically told him not to worry about me and to leave me be - I was like oh, wow.  The officer in the door way basically said the he was the corporal and was his supervisor.   I then was surprised and asked the Corporal if this was an appropriate way in handling this situation. What he did next was disgusting.  He asked me whether I was harassing him or not "Are you harassing me?" as though some sort of police intimidation and fear of arrest for harassment would send me away I replied "I guess so"  I asked him again about the body camera whether it was on or not and he finally told me that it wasn't on and I left.  

Its unfortunate I don't have this engagement to share however, during the complaint process I became even more concerned.  I understand that my complaint is regarding something mundane however when I could not find a way to file a compliant against the officer so I decided to call the Chief of Police of Police, Chief Tyrone Collington, Sr.  

Here you will hear the Chief of Police's return call to me which he informs me he was actually on the call with the Corporal overhearing the conversation.

Now at this point I was just going to write a written statement and email it to the Chief, all of a sudden out of the blue I get this call from Internal Affairs Lt. Silver.  This is a very strange phone call especially from Internal Affairs.  Lt. Silver had no interest really in listening to me and for someone that was about to investigate another officer it was very clear whose side he was on.  I am very concerned if this officer is reviewing complaints and or involved in any decision making process.

At this point I sat on my concerns for almost a week.  The more I thought about it and listened to it  The more concerned I got with the departments response to this especially given the behavior by LT. Silver barely allowing me a word edge wise and debating the actions of the officer with me.  Is he to be a neutral party or his attorney?  So I decided to go to the Mayors office, I called the Mayors office and explained the situation clearly stating I did not want to talk to the Police Chief yet who was I transferred to?  Chief Collington. 
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So after a few days, I began to think about this matter some more and decided to call the Mayors office.  It was a bit confusing however the woman told me the Mayor worked part time and to email her however in the meantime she would connect me to someone - an interesting note that as I was explaining the situation to the woman I mentioned that I had got this call from Internal Affairs and her response was suggested that maybe Bladensburg had no Internal Affairs department but that maybe she wasn't correct,  I do continue to find it interesting that I search for an internal affairs department in Bladensburg and I see nothing mentioning Lt. Silver as part of Internal Affairs. Now in relation to the recording of the telephone conversations: Let me be very clear.  I own a small business where lots of details are shared, in the spirit of transparency its fair to inform that none of these folks speaking with me on the phone knew their calls were being recorded.   Frankly I didn't even think about it until yesterday when I downloaded the conversations and played them back for review.
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What I did find interesting is how concerned the Chief of Police was about his conversations with me.  Holding police accountable is important they are the ones we are suppose to trust.  The trust is compromised with me and the Bladensburg Police Department and I look forward to hearing from anyone with information that may add to this discussion.  You may contact me at [email protected].
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Note: Additional details pertaining to the call I made to the Mayors office and the intimidation tactics  were added on Feb 15, 2021 at 7:45am.