Darryl De Sousa

Darryl D. De Sousa (born 1964 or 1965) is an American former police officer who served as commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department from January to May 2018. Having served the BPD since 1988, he resigned as commissioner after he was indicted for three counts of tax evasion. After pleading guilty in December 2018, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution.

Born in New York City, De Sousa joined the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) in 1988. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Morgan State University in 1997, having deferred completing his degree to join the BPD. In 1995, he was involved in two fatal shootings; while he was found not liable in both cases, they resurfaced once he became commissioner. He held many positions within the department, and was serving as deputy commissioner of the Patrol Bureau when he was appointed as acting commissioner in January 2018 to replace Kevin Davis amid rising crime rates. After his appointment, he vowed to reduce violence and re-introduced hot-spot policing. In February, he changed the management of the BPD, promoting the first African-American woman above major in over 30 years, and introducing several new units, including one to give polygraph tests to special units after the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF) scandal. He was confirmed as commissioner by the Baltimore City Council on February 26, 2018, with only one member opposing, and he was sworn in two days later. As commissioner, homicides reduced under De Sousa, despite an upward trend towards the end of his tenure.

De Sousa was indicted on May 6, 2018, for three misdemeanor counts of failing to file a tax return, in 2013, 2014, and 2015. The indictment was unsealed on May 10, after which he admitted to the crimes in a Tweet, saying that he "failed to sufficiently prioritize [his] personal affairs". While mayor Catherine Pugh initially supported De Sousa, the Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police called for his resignation. Pugh placed De Sousa on paid suspension on May 11 while Gary Tuggle served as acting commissioner; De Sousa resigned on May 15. He was re-arraigned on December 18, where he pleaded guilty, also admitting to a series of tax infractions starting in 1999. Investigators discovered that the GTTF had given De Sousa tips on avoiding taxes, which his attorney countered by saying that he was unaware their tips were illegal. Despite petitions from his friends and family, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison, one year of supervised release, 100 hours of community service, and ordered to pay restitution on March 29, 2019. He was held in the Federal Correctional Institution, Fairton, from May 13 to February 14, 2020, when he was moved to a halfway house; he was planned to be released on March 11, but said he was released on November 11.