Baltimore Officer Indicted Over Alleged False Traffic-Stop Reports

A Baltimore Police officer has been indicted after prosecutors accused him of recording traffic stops that did not happen.

Officer Dequwan Houchins faces four counts of making false entries in public records and five counts of misconduct in office, according to reporting on Monday’s announcement by Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates and Police Commissioner Richard Worley.

An indictment is a formal accusation, not a finding of guilt. Houchins is entitled to the presumption of innocence and the allegations must be proven in court.

Prosecutors say the investigation began after a December 2025 complaint. Internal Affairs detectives then monitored four traffic-enforcement shifts. Authorities allege that Houchins reported 17 stops during those shifts but that only nine occurred. They also say required body-camera video was missing for the allegedly fabricated encounters.

The charging account alleges that Houchins used the reported stops to appear unavailable for other service calls. Local reporting describes investigators finding him sitting in his patrol vehicle during some of the periods at issue, including one occasion when he allegedly visited a smoothie shop instead of conducting the stop he reported.

The case raises a public-trust question larger than traffic enforcement. Police records help establish where officers were, why residents were stopped and how public resources were used. False entries can distort supervision and shift work onto other officers while weakening confidence in official data.

PowerPage will follow the case through court filings and verified agency statements. Until a plea or verdict, coverage should continue to distinguish the prosecution’s allegations from established facts.