Cogen over Tapp-Harper for Sheriff

context

The Sheriff’s Office is responsible for serving warrants, evictions, foreclosures, providing security for courts and such (not to be confused with the Baltimore City Police Department which conducts patrols, traffic enforcement and 9–11 calls etc). The Police Chief is appointed by the Mayor whereas the Sheriff is elected by city voters. From 1989 to 2022 the Office was run by John Anderson, until his employee Sam Cogen narrowly defeated him that year. Running against Cogen is former colleague Sabrina Tapp-Harper was also working in the Sheriff’s office but was let go by Cogen shortly after his victory over their boss.

backgrounds

Sabrina Tapp-Harper was raised in Baltimore and went to Coppin State University and Johns Hopkins University. She worked for the Baltimore Police Department for 26 years, going from cadet to Major and Northern District Commander. In 2014 she was brought in by John Anderson to command the Domestic Violence Unit of the Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office overseeing the service of protective orders, and became the highest ranking woman in the history of the sheriff’s office (if elected, she’d make history in this way again). Tapp-Harper also served as Region Three President of the National Black Police Association. A year before Cogen’s election, she filed “an internal complaint detailing incidents of gender and race discrimination, including allegations that Cogen, then the assistant sheriff, was unequally enforcing training reimbursement policies.” This was settled while Cogen stepped down to focus on his campaign. She was promoted to Assistant Sheriff by Anderson months before the election, but let go immediately after Cogen took office.

Sam Cogen studied biology at Goucher, then sociology. He worked in the Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office from 1996 to 2021, promoted 8 times before election over his boss. During his tenure he saw that many low hanging fruit options were available but not acted upon, such as connecting people facing eviction with resources and communicating with them about their options at the point of contact, rather than leaving them hanging and abandoned. Also, using computers. These suggestions and attempts to change and improve were rebuffed from higher up the chain. Cogen was a major when Freddie Gray died in police care, and earned the ire of the FOP due to his association with the Mosby investigation of those officers: he has been banned from the fraternal order of police property and their union president encouraged members to greet him with scorn and disrespect. Today the FOP enthusiastically supports Tapp-Harper to replace him.

issues, values, platform

Sabrina Tapp-Harper calls for audit of the sheriff office finances, more public safety partnerships with nonprofits, and implementing a Professional Integrity Bureau (PIB) within the BCSO to collect and resolve complaints such as prejudice in the office. Frames her winning would be a “return to institutional knowledge combined with fresh perspective.”

Sam Cogen is proud of “training that emphasize professionalism, cultural awareness, and constitutional rights.” In his first term he’s started modernizing the office, humanized the eviction process, utilized several state grant awards and other novel forms getting resources and hired a social worker to assist families affected by evictions. The department also gives free security to community groups and events that would otherwise be unable to afford it, and the Sheriffs are massively preferred to the BPD for event security in every community event I’ve been a part of. Cogen also prevents ICE from marauding near court facilities.

campaign finance

Cogen raised around $350,000 from grocery stores, city workers, realtors, laywers, contractors, realtors, financial workers, bar owners, clerks, the firefighters union, strip clubs, and a bunch of people within the sheriff’s office. His most troubling donor: $6,000 from Atlas Group

Sabrina T-Harper raised around $50,000 from salesman, bus drivers, construction workers and managers, non-police security workers, the Sharon Green Middleton PAC, and a smaller number of people from within the sheriff’s office. Her most troubling donor: $2,500 from the Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police PAC

Conclusion

In-office Cogen remains as good as candidate Cogen. He attends “know your rights” events in the community, listens to residents, and works to make the eviction process less brutal. rather than automatically aligning with the more powerful party in a legal dispute, sees role as peace officer and not taking a side. He has been making the Sheriff’s office significantly more professional and respectful, reorienting it to stop looking at prisoners, people being evicted, and the public as a threat or obstacle, but as people deserving dignity and respect.

There is bad blood between Tapp-Harper and Cogen — I find it plausible she was discriminated against, and also plausible Cogen didn’t want a police department insider and Anderson loyalist as his second in command. Sabrina Tapp-Harper’s extensive experience dealing with violent crime might make her super qualified for plenty of things, and I like her proposal for creating a PIB in the office, but despite her generally good rhetoric and stated goals she doesn’t have the experience Cogen does for implementing organizational change to better and more peacefully serve the public, and she might represent a return to a more police department-like sheriff’s office.

Also, she is the favored candidate of the Fraternal Order of Police.

I enthusiastically endorse Sam Cogen for Sheriff.

References and Works Cited: https://www.patreon.com/posts/sheriff-and-160557966