Dear Baltimore Media,

What a ride it’s been. I have made the decision to move on from the Baltimore Police Department. I commend you for your work and your tenacity over the last few years that I’ve been in Baltimore. But before I go, I wanted to acknowledge your hard work through some of Baltimore’s darkest days.

During the riots, we saw some courageous and vulnerable reporting. I’m not talking about being on the ground with fires in the background. I’m talking about the decisions to profile the pain and the promise. Allowing homegrown reporters to report in the neighborhood they grew up in and letting us to see their pain. Anchors, who, routinely went off script to show their real emotion about our city, Baltimore. This was more than a story, this was a moment, and while I wasn’t here in Baltimore at the time, I watched like many others and I wanted to commend you for your efforts.

I would also like to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for your handling of the murder of my brother, Dion. That was the hardest press conference of my life and one of the most difficult moments. Some of you knew it was my brother before I made it public. Thanks for thinking beyond the story. Some of you knew about the funeral. Some of you showed up, simply to pay respects. I asked for privacy and you all respected that. From my family to all of you, thank you.

One of the most horrific scenes in my career was the fatal bus crash on Frederick Avenue. I understand media and news and my team and I worked persistently to get out information as quickly and accurately as possible. We also worked to get you respectful shots of the scene so that the story could be told. You all listened when I said, “There are multiple bodies on scene and in view.” Thank you for respecting the families of the fallen. Six innocent souls perished in that horrific crash. It takes team work to delicately navigate the waters of a scene like that while working to keep the community informed. Thank you for that.

Thank you to the stations who chose to do wall to wall coverage of Detective Sean Suiter’s funeral. The community celebrated Detective’s Suiter’s life and you all got to witness that. It was critically important for the public to see the outpouring of respect for law enforcement at this critical time.

Your profession is noble and necessary. Like bad cops, those reporters who tarnish your image aren’t indicative of the whole. I took pride in my relationships in order to understand what you needed, what the public needed, and what we needed to do to be fair, accurate, and transparent.

My hope for the future of Baltimore journalism is that you continue to hold public officials accountable and that you continue to tell well-balanced, unbiased stories for the residents of the Baltimore metro area and the world because the world is watching. With that, I challenge you to work diligently to hire a staff that reflects Baltimore. Diversity is necessary to understand the stories of Baltimoreans. Diversity is necessary to have robust ideas, disagreements, and pushback.

Baltimore is on its way back. We have a long way to go, but be sure to document it. Be part of the change, while keeping citizens informed through fair and balanced storytelling.

You are not fake news. You are not the enemy of the people. You are public servants. We are depending on you to give us the accurate information so we can form our own opinions without influence. Keep pushing.

And thank you, Capital Gazette, for “putting out the damn paper”.

I’m not going far and you all know how to get in contact with me. Thanks again!

Email: TJSmithMedia@gmail.com, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook: @TJSmithMedia

T.J. Smith