The Baltimore City Police Department's jurisdiction encompasses an area of 86 square miles (78.3 on land and 7.7 on waterways). Its mission, in partnership with the Baltimore community, is to serve and protect life and property, to understand and serve the needs of the city's neighborhoods, and to improve the quality of life by building capacities to maintain order, recognize and resolve problems, and apprehend criminals in a manner consistent with the law and reflective of shared community values.

The city of Baltimore is divided into 9 districts & the majority of prevention & enforcement of the BCPD is decentralized & handled by district personnel from the 9 district station houses spread throughout the city. Each district is geographically broken down into Sectors (3-4 per district; each supervised by a sergeant) and Posts (4-6 per sector; each supervised by a single police officer). The districts differ in size, character, manpower, & resourse allocation. Each district is controlled by a District Commander (who's usually a Major). Organizationally, each district is comprised of four functional areas: Motorized Patrol, Neighborhood Operations, Headquarters & Services, and Drug/Vice Enforcement.

Homicide is located in the Southeastern District.

District stations meet 2 needs in very large cities:

1. They provide a convenience to citizens who may wish to call at a police station for some service.
2. They save police time by reducing the distance between the location of their duties and their station. The need for this travel arises when officers report on & off duty & when they return to their station with prisoners, evidence, found persons & property, & to prepare reports.