Baltimore Police officer faked traffic stops to avoid calls, prosecutors say

A Baltimore Police officer falsely claimed that he was conducting traffic stops so he would not have to respond to service calls, prosecutors allege.

Officer Dequwan Houchins, who’s been with the department for more than five years, was indicted Friday in Baltimore Circuit Court on charges of making a false entry into public records and misconduct in office. He is suspended with pay.

Houchins falsely entered information into the dispatch system to indicate he was performing traffic stops, according to the indictment. But undercover detectives watched him sitting in his patrol vehicle, talking on the phone and even ordering a smoothie.

“This was just a lazy cop who didn’t want to do anything and wanted to collect a paycheck,” Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said Monday at a news conference.

Good cops, he said, don’t want bad cops. “Good riddance,” Worley said. “If anybody else does it, we’ll do the same thing to them.”

When reached by phone, Houchins said he was unaware of the indictment.

When a Banner reporter described the accusations, including the allegation that he was getting a smoothie when he attested to making a traffic stop, Houchins seemed taken aback.

“Getting smoothies. What the hell?” he said.

Houchins, 30, said he grew up in East Baltimore and had wanted to become a police officer since he was 18.

So far, he said, he’s enjoyed the job. “But now I’m like, ‘What the hell is going on?’” Houchins said.

The president of the Baltimore City Lodge No. 3 Fraternal Order of Police, Mike Mancuso, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In 2025, the department received a vague, anonymous complaint that Houchins was not making traffic stops, Deputy Police Commissioner Brian Nadeau said.

At the same time, the agency was conducting a random audit and found that Houchins had not submitted body camera video and other required information for traffic stops, Nadeau said.

Police conducted an undercover operation and watched Houchins on four occasions between April 8 and May 13, according to the indictment.

On those occasions, Houchins made nine traffic stops. But the indictment alleges that he also logged eight stops that did not happen.

Speaking at the news conference, Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates said Houchins “placed a burden on his brothers and sisters in uniform and potentially jeopardized their safety.”

“No one entrusted with the authority of a badge is above accountability, and falsifying official records for personal convenience is a serious breach of public trust,” Bates said.

Houchins is set to make his initial appearance on Sept. 10.