Startling numbers in federal report on Baltimore police

The report on the 2,600-officer department released on Tuesday found that black residents were regularly subjected to stops as pedestrians and motorists, arrests, strip searches and excessive force in violation of USA constitutional rights and federal anti-discrimination laws.

The federal investigators said officers are poorly trained, and the department has fostered a culture where complaints against police are often ignored. “These racial disparities, along with evidence suggesting intentional discrimination, erode the community trust that is critical to effective policing”, the 163-page report found.

Here & Now’s Robin Young speaks with WYPR metro reporter P. Kenneth Burns about what the report means and the next steps the police department will take. “When the patrol officer protested that he had no valid reason to stop the group, the sergeant replied, ‘Then make something up, ‘” the report said.

But the DOJ expressed concern that the lower rate masks a continuing problem, saying they believe the unit may be simply letting cases linger as “open” rather than marking them “unfounded”, and creating an illusion that they are not continuing to disregard cases it believes are without merit.

“What the report shows is that so many people in poor black communities were unduly harassed and incarcerated”, Catherine Pugh, a Maryland state senator, said in an interview.

Although the city is 63% black, African Americans account for 84% of pedestrian stops, the report found.

One 22-year-old black man was detained merely for walking through an area known for high crime and drugs.

Hundreds of others were stopped at least ten times.

Police in Baltimore also have frequently violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by detaining and arresting individuals who engaged in protected speech, the report said. Department transport vehicles have also been outfitted with new safety equipment, including cameras, she said, and the department started a new body camera program. Only 3.7% of these stops led to citations or arrests, and numerous later charges were dismissed.

“A White House task force on policing past year recommended better reporting of police-involved shootings, de-escalation training for officers and stronger relationships with communities, but those recommendations are not binding and do not address problems in individual police departments”.

In 2015, the Justice Department released an in-depth report into the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. Department records showed more than 2,800 force incidents during the almost six-year review period, of which only 10 were investigated and one found to be excessive.

The investigation into the department is one of many in recent years.

The Baltimore Police Department has disproportionately targeted African Americans for stops and arrests, a Justice Department investigation has found.

According to the report, the Baltimore Police Department imposes lenient punishments on officers charged with police misconduct and “lacks meaningful accountability systems to deter misconduct”.

Many times, these reports lead to negotiations and agreements between police departments and the Justice Department that are created to curb some of the violations.

“‘This is the one tool that the Department of Justice has been able to use to advance comprehensive police reform in some of our most troubled communities, ‘ said Kanya A. Bennett of the American Civil Liberties Union”.

The Justice Department said almost 90 percent of excessive force incidents it identified involved force against African-Americans.

“‘It’s the beginning of a reform process that hopefully will change how the Baltimore police operate with some new professional standards that hopefully will result in lawful, constitutional policing, ‘ Walker said”. “DOJ’s findings will serve to solidify our road map”.

Mr Gray died a week after suffering a severed spine while being transported in the back of a police van, unsecured and with his hands and feet bound, after being arrested on 12 April 2015 while fleeing police.

All six officers who faced charges in Gray’s death escaped conviction.

Gupta’s remarks came as she announced the results of a yearlong investigation into the police department’s policies.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said while the findings of the report are “challenging to hear”, the investigation creates a “crucial foundation” that will allow the city to change the department. But analysts say his Justice Department has already made a legacy-defining imprint on policing. They also found that officers made over 11,000 charges between 2010-2015 that were found to have no probable cause.

Information for this article was contributed by Matt Zapotosky, Wesley Lowery, Lynh Bui, Peter Hermann, Clarence Williams and Keith L. Alexander of The Washington Post; by Del Quentin Wilber and Kevin Rector of Tribune News Service; and by Richard A. Oppel Jr., Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Matt Apuzzo.