Martin Bartness

Martin Bartness joined the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) in May 2022 as a Senior Principal in the Center for Management and Technical Assistance. Prior to PERF, Martin served 25 years with the Baltimore Police Department, retiring as a Lt. Colonel/Deputy Chief of Patrol, where he provided executive management, leadership, and command and control of day-to-day operations of the department’s nine patrol districts. His other executive roles included chief of staff to the police commissioner and commander of Education & Training, Special Investigations, Strategic Services, and Professional Standards. He also worked closely with the Department of Justice to advance organizational reform under a consent decree, focusing on policy development and implementation, training, response to persons in behavioral health crises, and accountability.

Martin’s career has traversed the intersection of public health and criminal justice, attuned to research with a focus on praxis. For his work improving police response and building stakeholder partnerships in the areas of sexual assault and child abuse, Martin has been honored by the National Children’s Advocacy Center for “Outstanding Leadership in Law Enforcement,” the Maryland Children's Alliance for “Exceptional Leadership,” and TurnAround, Inc. for “Exceptional Service to Victims of Sexual Assault.” He has also been recognized for his leadership in developing Baltimore’s comprehensive crisis response system, including testifying before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on the essentiality of police partnerships with behavioral health professionals; instituting a focused deterrence violence reduction program; standing up the Homicide Review Commission; and representing Baltimore’s criminal justice community in the National Institute of Justice’s inaugural Sentinel Events Initiative. In the area of police training, Martin has been instrumental in developing and adopting transformational courses on Ethical Policing Is Courageous (EPIC) and Integrating Communications, Assessment, and Tactics (ICAT).

Martin is a graduate of the 73rd Session of the Senior Management Institute for Police. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Creighton University, Master of Arts degree from the University of Nebraska-Omaha, and Master of Criminal Justice degree from Boston University. He is currently a Bloomberg Fellow pursuing a Master of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He has recently served on the boards of directors of Project Pneuma and Ronald McDonald House Charities Maryland.