(BALTIMORE – April 28, 2026) — There are moments in a political campaign when the noise cuts out and something real surfaces. This is one of those moments.
What you are about to read is not opposition research. It is not a hit piece funded by a rival campaign. It is an official statement from FOP Lodge 22 — the union representing the sworn Deputy Sheriffs of the Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office. These are the men and women who report to Sam Cogen every single day. They know him not from a campaign mailer or a press release, but from lived experience inside that office.
They took a formal no-confidence vote against him. And then they put it in writing.
Read every word.
FOP LODGE 22 DOES NOT SUPPORT SHERIFF SAM COGEN’S RE-ELECTION
BALTIMORE, MD — The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 22, which represents the sworn Deputy Sheriffs of the Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office, is setting the record straight: Sheriff Sam Cogen does not have the support of the men and women who serve under him, and he does not have the endorsement of this Lodge.
Despite public messaging suggesting that “labor” stands behind Sheriff Cogen on the strength of a single outside union endorsement, the deputies he actually supervises have taken a no-confidence vote against him. The reasons are on the record.
- Sheriff Cogen attempted to circumvent the collective bargaining process and, in doing so, created substantial uncertainty for the deputies who work under him. The Office of the Inspector General documented this conduct in Case No. 24-0054-I, released February 12, 2025 by Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming. The Mayor’s Office publicly characterized the Sheriff’s directive as “worsened by the Sheriff’s attempt to circumvent the collective bargaining process.” Rather than pursuing lawful, negotiated pay increases, Sheriff Cogen bypassed the MOU process and placed 94 deputies in the middle of a dispute between City Hall and the Sheriff’s Office — leaving them exposed to potential recoupment of more than $2.3 million. The recent pay increase he now takes public credit for arrived only after his re-election campaign began to falter. Labor recognizes the difference.
- During the Freddie Gray matter, Sheriff Cogen, alongside then-State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, pushed to indict six Baltimore Police officers after Baltimore Homicide detectives advised there was no criminal case to bring. Sheriff Cogen has acknowledged that he conducted no independent investigation before signing the charging documents. Three of those officers were acquitted at separate trials; the charges against the remaining three were dropped.
- The Lodge’s no-confidence vote stands. A self-serving, election-year pay increase does not change who Sheriff Cogen is as a leader. Deputies describe a workplace run on fear and retaliation, in which many are reluctant to speak publicly about conditions inside the office. That pattern of intimidation, particularly in off-election years, must end.
It is notable that an outside labor organization chose to endorse Sheriff Cogen without first consulting the sitting FOP Lodge that actually represents his deputies. Had that organization asked, it would have heard directly from the members living under Cogen’s management. The public is entitled to ask who steered that endorsement, and why.
FOP Lodge 22’s position is clear: Sheriff Sam Cogen is not a friend of labor. Lodge 22 urges Baltimore City voters to reject his re-election.
Baltimore, Sit With This
Baltimore, I need you to sit with what you just read.
Fear and retaliation. Those are not my words. Those are the words of people inside that office — people who took a real risk by saying them out loud.
Ninety-four deputies left exposed to millions in potential recoupment by a man who bypassed the very process designed to protect workers.
A leader who rushed to indict officers in the Freddie Gray case without conducting a single independent investigation of his own.
And a convenient election-year pay raise that his own union saw straight through.
That is not leadership.
That is management by manipulation.
The Choice in Front of Baltimore
Baltimore deserves a Sheriff’s Office built on accountability, transparency, and genuine service — not one where employees are afraid to speak.
That is why I am proud to endorse Sabrina Tapp-Harper for Baltimore City Sheriff.
Sabrina isn’t running to protect a legacy or salvage a record. She is running because this office needs to be rebuilt from the inside out — and she has the integrity, the competence, and the fire to do it.
FOP Lodge 22 told the truth at considerable cost.
Now it’s our turn.
Vote Sabrina Tapp-Harper for Baltimore City Sheriff.
Doni Glover is the founder and publisher of BMORENews.com, now in its 24th year of covering Black Baltimore, and the founder of the Joe Manns Black Wall Street Awards, now in its 15th year. He is also the host of the Emmy-nominated Doni Glover podcast and The Doni Glover Show on WMAR-TV 2.
