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This is an important point that is sometimes missed because the "GTTF Scandal" has become the label for so much corruption in BPD. @notrivia touched on this last night too at the book launch. The specialized units in @BaltimorePolice were (are) a breeding ground for corruption. https://twitter.com/JMizgata/status/1285717640422531076
There were always plainclothes or other units outside of patrol, but their names constantly change, usually as a way for the department to claim they're addressing misconduct allegations.
When I started in 1999 the district units were known as "Hot Spot" units. Since then they've gone by Flex Squad, District Drug Unit, Drug Enforcement Unit, Operations, and District Action Teams. This is normally the initiation into plainclothes policing for a lot of cops.
You can move from patrol into the district version of a specialized unit fairly easily if you're considered an "aggressive" cop and make drug and gun arrests in patrol.
A lot of the bigger citywide specialized units began as "initiatives" or were spin-offs of other details or smaller units. The first big initiative I remember was under Ed Norris, called the Eastside Initiative.
It was a bunch of cops being flooded into East Baltimore to make as many arrests as possible. It became permanent and was named the Mobile Enforcement Team (MET). One of MET's best cops (who is no longer with BPD 
) is profiled here... https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2004-04-09-0404090036-story.html
) is profiled here... https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2004-04-09-0404090036-story.html
MET amassed a ton of complaints and was renamed and moved to the Organized Crime Division (OCD). This is a unit that a lot of names you've seen in the news came from. A lot of future commanders also worked in this unit like; Dean Palmere, Robert Quick, Mike Fries, Sean Miller etc
MET or the "Crime Suppression Unit" as it was renamed was "disbanded" but really what happened was most of the cops just went to patrol districts and became an extra flex squad. Most of them would soon reform under another initiative called "Blue Thunder."
Blue Thunder became permanent and was known as the Special Enforcement Team (SET). Once again, misconduct complaints piled up and the unit was "disbanded." https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2006-09-13-0609130102-story.html
Lol, fooled you. Really what happened was the two SET units (one was in the SED and the other in the ND) were just combined and called Citywide Operations and moved into an office building on MLK Blvd. Eventually, the eastside team was moved back to the Eastern.
A second "Eastside Initiative" was created combining eastside SET with OCD. This would later merge into a permanent unit known as the Violent Crime Impact Section (VCIS). Then it became VCID. (Section was relaced with Division.)
Next was the Special Enforcement Unit (SEU) which then became SES. (Unit replaced with Section). Again, this unit retained most of the problem cops from the earlier iterations, mainly because those are the kinds of cops who thrive in these units. https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-ci-police-under-investigation-20131024-story.html
Just about every cop you've seen or read about in the news worked their way through one if not all of these units. Jenkins and his crew just happened to be in the GTTF when they were caught, but this could easily be the VCIS or SES scandal.
And there are plenty of cops they worked with who are still out there on the streets now. BPD continues to create new initiatives and units. The Pennsylvania Avenue Initiative, Monument Street Initiative, the Mobile Metro Unit, and the Anti-Crime Squad are just a few.
