Where is Ex-Deputy BPD Commissioner ‘Dean Palmere’ Today? – Following a career in the department’s hard-charging plainclothes units, Dean Palmere served as a deputy Baltimore Police Commissioner for five years, telling members of the Commission to Restore Trust in Policing that he never received information from internal affairs regarding challenges with officers he was pushing onto the roads.
The HBO series ‘We Own This City‘ tells the narrative of the Baltimore Police Department’s corrupt Gun Trace Task Force. The show exposes several incidents in which members of the GTTF engage in heinous acts of power abuse in order to profit themselves.
Sergeant Wayne Jenkins, the task force’s leader, is central to the story and commits a staggering amount of crimes, including selling drugs obtained during raids. The entire police department is feeling the impact as the probe into the corrupt activities progresses. We also learn some interesting insights regarding the BPD’s senior leadership near the end of the show. Dean Palmere isn’t the main character in the story, but he does play a part in the mess.
Given how much of ‘We Own This City‘ is based on true events, let’s take a look at Dean Palmere’s current location.
Also Read: We Own This City Season 2 Cancelled or Renewed: Will There Be a Season 2?
Dean Palmere: Who is He?
Dean Palmere is a former Baltimore Police Department official who served in senior positions in the department during a period when members of the Gun Trace Task Force were committing crimes at an alarming rate.
Palmere served as the Deputy Baltimore Police Commissioner for five years after spending years working in plainclothes units (the GTTF was a plainclothes unit). His name came up in the GTTF investigation because of his leadership position at a time when the department was committing many offences.
He informed members of a state Commission to Restore Trust in Policing in 2020 that he was unaware of the department’s illegal practises at the time. He said that he had never received any information about the operations from internal affairs.
Palmere did not ask his subordinates, who had worked closely with the charged police, to conduct a thorough assessment when the GTTF officers were indicted in 2017. “At the time, I didn’t really think about it since you’re conducting other day-to-day operations and the investigation was still pending,” he later explained.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, took a different approach, claiming that “Dean Palmere oversaw many of the BPD’s plainclothes units throughout his tenure and had actual or constructive knowledge of the Officer Defendants’ misconduct, yet he did nothing to stop their practises,” according to court filings.
Palmere was also accused of having a direct line to Wayne Jenkins during the commission proceedings, though he denied it. Momodu Gondo, a convicted former GTTF officer, testified that Palmere “coached” detective Jemell Rayam on how to appear innocent after the latter fatally shot a victim. Rayam is also one of the GTTF officers that has been convicted.
Palmere worked in the organised crime section and managed the Violent Crimes Impact Division during his long tenure with the BPD (VCID). Under Anthony Batts, he was promoted to Deputy Commissioner in 2013, and he held the role until Kevin Davis took over as Commissioner in 2015.
It’s worth remembering that prosecutors never charged Palmere with any misconduct directly. However, as part of the federal case against the BPD and members of the GTTF, a civil action was filed against him, and Palmere also appeared as a defendant in other lawsuits alleging “pattern and practise” violations of civil rights by the BPD.
What Happened to Dean Palmere and Where Is He Now?
In 2018, Dean Palmere announced his departure from the force. The federal racketeering prosecution against the GTTF officers was still going on at the time, and the announcement came the same day that Gondo testified that Palmere had advised cops what to say after a fatal shot to avoid punishment.
The former Deputy Commissioner refuted the charges, claiming that he had told higher-ups two weeks prior about his plans to resign. Palmere’s present whereabouts do not appear to have been made public, and it appears that he is opting to stay anonymous. He did, however, say that the GTTF issue concerns him every day, adding, “It’s not how I intended my legacy or my family heritage to finish. What these individuals did was very tragic.”
Stream ‘We Own This City’ Season 1 episodes on HBO.
