The Justice Department launched the civil rights investigation a year ago after the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who suffered a fatal spinal injury in police custody.
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Baltimore police stand in formation as a curfew approaches in Baltimore. Black people were “91 percent of the 1,800 people charged exclusively with “failure to obey” or “trespassing”; 89 percent of the 1,350 charges for making a false statement to an officer; and 84 percent of the 6,500 people arrested for ‘disorderly conduct'”.
Between 2010 and 2015, BPD stopped 34 African Americans at least 20 times and seven other African Americans at least 30 times, while no person of any other race was stopped more than 12 times, the report said. The new report further indicated that the Police Department disproportionately stopped African-American residents for minor crimes or even no crimes at all.
The report documented “severe and unjustified disparities” in the rate of African Americans being stopped, searched and arrested – in violation of the US Constitution and US federal law.
The Department of Justice also said that it was “troubled” by statements that BPD detectives made, suggesting an “undue skepticism” on reports of sexual assault. “But I think the technology pales in comparison of importance when I think about the deep lack of accountability and oversight the police department has”.
The investigation also found that the policing resulted in the perception that there are “two Baltimores”, one white and well-served by the police, and one black that was abused by the police.
“We are committed to making sure these reforms happen”, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Wednesday.
The Justice Department’s report Wednesday on the Baltimore Police Department is troubling because “one of the more disturbing underlying themes of the report is that there were many indicators of problems in Baltimore”, former Federal Bureau of Investigation assistant director Ron Hosko told Newsmax TV on Wednesday.
“The goal is to have the Newark Police Department undertake systemic reform, to put in new policies and, more importantly, practices, that reflect modern policing”, says Peter Harvey, the independent monitor overseeing the consent decree signed by the city of Newark in March.
With such a culture in place in many police departments, there can be no confidence in the investigation of police violence against community members without outside independent investigators.
Gray’s death ignited widespread protests in Baltimore and in other cities, coming in the middle of a parade of deaths of unarmed black people during police stops or while in police custody.
Lawyer Billy Murphy said the report, released Wednesday, failed to address certain issues including retaliation against officers who blew the whistle on bad cops.
DOJ investigators reviewed the conduct of the department’s officers going back to 2010, interviewing police, city officials, residents and community leaders.
The DOJ investigation was prompted by the case of Freddie Gray, who died from injuries he sustained while being transported in a Baltimore police van in April of 2015.
Morren Jackson, 21, has had his fair share of run-ins with Baltimore police officers. Baltimore PD also perform unconstitutional and public strip searches, and often use excessive force against civilians, including juveniles. Another officer’s case ended in a mistrial.
As part of the consent decree established between the department and the DOJ, a series of mandated police reforms and overhauls must be adopted.
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“It had it’s highest per cap homicide rate in history past year because the city began backing-off on policing”, Mac Donald said. Specific behavior outlined by the Justice Department include blaming victims, not taking seriously complaints by those who work in the sex trade, and refusing to acknowledge a transgender woman as a woman.
