Preserve Our Legacy: Share Your Baltimore Police Story
Fellow Officers,
Our time in law enforcement carries stories worth telling—moments that shaped us, challenges we faced, and an era that is quickly passing. As some of the last of the “old-school” Baltimore police, your experiences are a vital part of our department’s history and deserve to be preserved honestly and respectfully.
Understanding AI and How It Helps
We know AI sometimes gets a bad reputation, and many don’t fully understand it. Simply put, AI is like an advanced search engine. It looks for information already available on the internet and in public records and helps turn it into clear, factual stories. It doesn’t think, it doesn’t have a mind of its own, and it cannot access classified or private information. It won’t spy on anyone or track you with cameras. AI’s role here is to help us pull together and write non-biased reports based on real facts and your input.
For example, I asked AI to find information and write a story about me based on what is public. This sample story (below) shows how it works.
How You Can Contribute
If you want to share your story, just answer the simple questions below and send your responses to me by email. I’ll use AI to create an initial draft report about your career. Then, I’ll send it back for you to review, correct, and add anything you want. After final edits and grammar checks, your story will be added to the Baltimore Police History site.
Please include your start/end dates, district names, and years served to help us organize the stories properly.
Getting Started: Questions to Answer
- What inspired you to become a Baltimore police officer?
- What were some of the most memorable or challenging cases you worked on?
- How did policing change during your career?
- What lessons or reflections would you like future officers and the community to know?
- Provide your first, last, and middle names (Nickname if you had one)
- What district(s) and years did you serve?
- Badge numbers, ranks, and units.
- Any URLs (webpages) you know of that have article(s) about you already online
The more information we have to know we are writing about you and not someone who shares your name, the better your story will come out. You can send your answers to the above seven questions to us at
Sample Story: Kenny Driscoll: A Baltimore Detective’s Story and Legacy
Kenny Driscoll, known today as a retired Baltimore City Police detective, embarked on his law enforcement career driven by family influence; his uncles were Baltimore City Police Detective Leo Smith and Patrolman Mike Driscoll. So, family legacy and the need for a secure, meaningful profession. Ken was inspired chiefly by his Uncle Detective Leo Smith, a well-respected detective in Baltimore. Kenny made the choice to follow in his footsteps, convinced it was a life path that would serve both him and his family well, and it did.
Starting as a patrolman in the Central District in 1987, Kenny quickly distinguished himself not only through dedication and hard work but also through innovation. His introduction as an out-of-the-box thinker. There was once a rash of patio furniture in Bolton Hill, and on the midnight shift a sergeant stopped a guy pushing a shopping cart loaded with patio furniture, obviously stolen, but from where? The sergeant called the six sector cars to meet him on Dolphin Street in hopes one of the six would recognize the furniture; they could go get the owner to identify their property and make an arrest. But as the first five officers arrived one by one, no one could identify the property. Ken was working the top end of Reservoir Hill, so he was last to the scene and immediately said, "Cuff him up." The sergeant said, “You know where this furniture came from?” Ken answered, “No sir, but I know where that shopping cart came from. We arrested him for the shopping cart, and in the morning, we’ll get a call for the missing furniture,” and they did. His sergeant at the time was overheard telling the shift commander Ken was thinking out of the box and would make a fine officer. Then 4 years later Ken was able to introduce the use of Scientific Content Analysis (SCAN), which provided Baltimore Police with a powerful tool to improve interviews and investigations, helping to clear innocent people and take the truth to heart to better gain confessions from and convict guilty people.
A Memorable Case: The Carjacking Questioned
One of Kenny’s most memorable cases came shortly after learning SCAN. Called to validate a quick arrest for a carjacking, he found no deception in the suspect’s written statement—a red flag in itself given the tool’s reliability. Trusting his judgment, Kenny then took the unusual step of questioning the alleged victim, whose statement revealed discrepancies the moment he finished writing it. He was confronted, and within minutes, the man confessed to fabricating the carjacking story and rewrote his statement to nearly mirror the suspect’s words.
Though this caused friction with other officers initially upset by overturning the arrest, senior commanders recognized Kenny’s keen investigative skill and transferred him to the Major Crimes Unit to continue his work with SCAN and his ability to interview/interrogate. This case prevented a wrongful detention that could have lasted months and exemplified Kenny’s unwavering commitment to justice.
Reflections on Change and Honor in Policing
Over his career, Kenny witnessed significant shifts: from uniform changes to the introduction of computers in patrol cars, to a notable decline in police personnel numbers on the streets. He reflects candidly on how policing culture evolved, lamenting the decline in frontline policing and victim focus.
His guiding principle is simple and enduring: “Honor—always hold your head high, work as if someone is always watching, and never do anything you wouldn’t want your family to know about.” Prayer before each shift to be placed where he was most needed underscores Kenny’s heartfelt dedication to his calling.
By sharing stories like Kenny’s—rich with personal history, professional insight, and meaningful challenges—we preserve more than facts; we preserve the soul of Baltimore policing. Your story/stories matter. Let’s record them before they become lost to time.
Your story is part of the Baltimore Police Department’s living history. Let’s preserve them together. Let AI help you put it all together for us, and we’ll add them to the website under the district you feel most represents your years with the department.
Follow-up on this article
When asked about the article AI had written about Ken, he said he hadn’t read it. His hope is that AI will write an article that fairly represents an officer, the officer will read it, and it will spark something that leads to edits by the officer to their liking. Then, as in most police gatherings, one person tells a story, which ignites a rush of similar stories, and before long we are hearing pure Baltimore Police gold, not just war stories—but the best police war stories in the country. Ken chose not to read the AI article about him because he didn’t want to fall into the trap of changing anything. He wanted his fellow police brothers and sisters to see it exactly as it was originally written.
Patricia
POLICE INFORMATION
We are always looking for copies of your Baltimore Police class photos, pictures of our officers and vehicles, newspaper articles relating to our department and/or officers, old departmental newsletters, old departmental newsletters, lookouts, wanted posters, and/or brochures, information on deceased officers, and anything that may help preserve the history and proud traditions of this agency. Please contact retired Detective Kenny Driscoll.
NOTICE
How to Dispose of Old Police Items
Please contact Det. Ret. Kenny Driscoll if you have any pictures of you or your family members and wish them remembered here on this tribute site to honor the fine men and women who have served with honor and distinction at the Baltimore Police Department. Anyone with information, photographs, memorabilia, or other "Baltimore City Police" items can contact Ret. Det. Kenny Driscoll at
Copyright © 2002 Baltimore City Police History: Ret. Det. Kenny Driscoll
