Maryland Transportation Authority Police
law enforcement providing services on Maryland Transportation Authority highways and facilities
The Maryland Transportation Authority Police is the eighth-largest law enforcement agency in the U.S. state of Maryland and is charged with providing law enforcement services on Maryland Transportation Authority highways and facilities throughout the state, in addition to contractual services that are provided at Baltimore–Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, and the Port of Baltimore.
History
The Maryland Transportation Authority Police trace their beginnings to the opening of the new Baltimore Harbor Tunnel and the Harbor Tunnel Thruway connecting highways (now part of Interstate 895) which crosses under the Patapsco River of Baltimore's Harbor in 1957, when the municipal "Harbor Tunnel Thruway Special Police Force" was established. In 1971, this force developed a State-authorized Police Academy, Commercial Vehicle Safety Division, police-apprenticeship program, and an Honor/Color Guard. An additional under-harbor tunnel was added in the mid-1980s with the construction of the parallel Fort McHenry tunnel for Interstate 95. In 1998, by act of the Maryland General Assembly the previous Maryland Port Administration Police was abolished and the members were merged into the larger Maryland Transportation Authority Police under the new Maryland Department of Transportation. The new police force assumed law enforcement responsibilities for the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore facilities including the Canton, Seagirt, Dundalk, Clinton Street, Fairfield and Locust Point Marine Terminals, as well as the downtown Baltimore World Trade Center on East Pratt Street at the "Inner Harbor". Today the MDTA Police force has grown to encompass law enforcement responsibilities at all of Maryland's transportation facilities projects, also including the Baltimore–Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, and the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore.
Chiefs of Police
Chief Joseph F. Scott, 2024–2026
Chief Kevin Anderson, 2020–2023
Chief Jerry Jones, 2015–2020
Chief Michael Kundrat, 2013–2015
Chief Marcus L. Brown, 2007–2011
Chief Gary McLhinney, 2003–2007
Chief Larry Harmel, 1997–2003
Chief Edward Hechmer, 1982–1997
Acting Commander Lionel Foote, 1981–1982
Major Walter Wallace, 1977–1981
Captain John J. Zimmerer 1971–1977
Captain John J. Zimmerer 1957–1971
Overview
The Maryland Transportation Authority Police, the first state law enforcement agency to be nationally accredited in the state of Maryland, is the second-largest state law enforcement agency and the eighth-largest law enforcement agency in Maryland, with approx. 500 sworn officers and 100 civilian law enforcement professionals.
The Maryland Transportation Authority Police provide law enforcement services to some of the most critical transportation infrastructures in the state of Maryland.
“Maryland Transportation Authority Police” enters the record as law enforcement providing services on Maryland Transportation Authority highways and facilities. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Maryland, Transportation and Authority can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Maryland Transportation Authority Police” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Maryland, Transportation and Authority provides the most credible route into that argument.
Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6781524. VIAF identifies the subject as 156143727. The Library of Congress control number is n2004094517. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1957, 1971, 1998 and 2024.
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This entry incorporates text from “Maryland Transportation Authority Police” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.