MITCHELL PRESSES FBI TO WIDEN PROBE OF BALTIMORE POLICE

A state senator asking for a federal investigation into potential
corruption and racist practices in the Baltimore Police Department pleaded
his case with two FBI agents this week and said he is encouraged by the talks.

Sen. Clarence M. Mitchell IV said he pressed the agents to look not only
into allegations that some officers are planting evidence but also into a
broad range of issues, such as discrimination, that have troubled the city
force for years.

"I want a comprehensive Department of Justice investigation," Mitchell
said. "They have to look at the entire system."

The meeting stems from the arrest Oct. 4 of Officer Brian L. Sewell on
charges that he falsely arrested a city resident on drug charges after an
undercover sting by the department's Internal Affairs Division.

Baltimore's FBI office is conducting a civil rights investigation into the
Sewell case but has not expanded that probe. A spokesman for the office,
Special Agent Peter A. Gulotta Jr., declined to comment yesterday except to
say, "We will conduct whatever investigation is necessary to bring this to
a logical conclusion."

Baltimore Police Commissioner Edward T. Norris has rejected calls for a
broader FBI investigation, saying that it was his efforts to root out
corruption that led to Sewell's arrest and that FBI agents already are
working with Internal Affairs detectives.