A new Department of Justice report finds that the Baltimore Police Department has practiced racially discriminatory policing policies, which include targeting black residents and using excessive force for illegally detaining residents.
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Federal investigators interviewed Baltimore residents, police officers, prosecutors, public defenders and elected officials, rode along with police on duty and reviewed documents and complaints.
Eugene O’Donnell, a former New York City police officer and a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the report failed to take into account the complicated realities of being a police officer in Baltimore. Rawlins-Blake added that all Baltimore police officers would have body cameras within two years.
The fact that trial boards are required before police face serious discipline arises from state legislation, the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights, which provides officers accused of wrongdoing with a matrix of protections – and impediments to discipline – unavailable to other public employees (except prison guards) or to police in most other states.
Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, who heads the DOJ civil rights division, made it clear during a press conference Wednesday that the federal investigation did not look into the specific circumstance of the Gray case.
In addition to police behavior, the report noted that the relationship between the police and community was so frayed that witnesses frequently refused to share information with officers, even when they had called the police themselves, because of a lack of trust, according to NPR.
To many in the African-American commuity, the report was familiar reading.
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. Wednesday, local and federal officials said they have agreed on a number of court-ordered solutions aimed at solving the problems identified in the report.
First, a little background: In the wake of the death of 25-year old Freddie Gray, who died after sustaining injuries while in police custody, charges were brought against six police officers involved in his arrest.
Investigators found that multiple officers showed a mistaken understanding of the law, believing that people standing in front of a business or a vacant lot were considered to be loitering or trespassing.
Numerous stories describe retaliation against residents who question or challenge police actions – and against other officers who attempt to speak up for victims. “It’s your actions that are fostering fear and resentment in our communities, and making it extremely hard and unsafe for the vast majority of honorable men and women who serve in our very noble profession”. “I didn’t hear the word used once by a white officer”.
The numbers in the Justice Department’s scathing report on the Baltimore Police Department are startling, showing that officers often make stops with dubious justification, sometimes targeting the same people in mostly poor, black neighborhoods. Many of those arrested later had their charges dismissed. The Department of Justice paints a picture of obscene, systematic discrimination against people of color-one that isn’t exactly stunning after two years of Black Lives Matter protests across America, but serves as a reminder that the men and women policing some of the country’s largest cities still have a long way to go. None of the stops resulted in charges.
“BPD’s failings result from deficient policies, training, oversight and accountability, and policing strategies that do not engage effectively with the community”, the report reads.
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Baltimore police are trained in aggressive tactics that foster am “us vs. them mentality” toward the community, the report said.
