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Two reasons
Crimes down. Crimes down. We're the safest ever.
Yeah, that's been disappointing. I've posted numerous articles here from numerous sources (mostly left-leaning sources because I know those sources will be more readily accepted by the doubters), and even with those sources that show an irrefutable uptick in crime there are still people who simply won't accept that reality. But, hey, here's another such article:
I'm the biggest fan of living in Baltimore, and I find it irrefutable that increasing crime is an unbelievable problem in Baltimore right now.
Except that this is not true. High school students have to go to the bus/metro stop at Mondawmin every day to go home. On this day, they went to go home and were prohibited from accessing public transportation. So they were stuck and walled off by police in riot gear. Guess they should have called Uber!
Guess we'll have to agree to disagree. My point is that the riot started when the police confronted the kids. It wasn't like a riot was ongoing and the police happened upon it. We'll never know, but I genuinely believe that if the police hadn't shown up for a confrontation, it's not like a bunch of teenagers would have started rioting. I know you believe differently.
I admit I don't know the layout of the area in question. Did they essentially cage the kids? Or was it closing off a particular street, or section of town? I'm guessing more of the latter.
IMO this is the kind of reform that needs to take place. I think the trials were a horrible idea, an injustice even, but the city needs to think about institutional ways to resolve what are apparently genuine serious problems in the PD. Inspector General. Police Monitor. Increased transparency in crime statistics and internal investigations. That's the way to go.
While I agree, it seems from the report that the problems are systemic throughout the department. Sounds like a complete overhaul of the force is needed. Maybe you are suggesting it - not sure. But more than just cosmetic changes are needed. A complete overhaul of the mindset is necessary.
I'm certainly not against it, but I can tell you that here in NO that meant the DOJ actually taking on oversight. I was in favor of that in NO - we needed it and I'd bet we had some problems that Baltimore does not have - and I still am (here, I think only Baltimorans can speak for their own city) but I can tell you that it has been painful and there have been collateral problems that have been caused. For one thing we have had mass defections from the police force and it is at extremely low manpower now. Diminished morale is another issue.
But if cops leave because the DOJ comes in and cleans up the force, are those cops we wanted on the force anyway?
If they left because they were ####ty cops, then no. If they left because morale and community relations suck, then yes. Why would good cops stick around under crappy working conditions. It's not like there are a shortage of police departments to work for.
That's kind of a weird argument, right? The DOJ steps in when there are serious, systemic issues in a police department. That HAS to change. If that change causes some low morale and hurts community relations - so what? In the long run, you will have a much healthier PD and a much better community.
No. Not really. It depends on how serious the problems are and how bad the impact is on the department. Every department is going to have problems. Is ripping every department apart and forcing a rebuild a good idea? Probably not.
That has been proposed. We have a host of problems requiring "pay" though. One is that prior administrations shafted firefighters on pension benefits, then successive administrations fought it in court, now the amount owed is huge, and I mean huge. So they are first in line. Then we had a proposed tax to hire cops and increase their pay - the voters shot it down. It seems they had a poor image of the cops and also did not trust the city to properly administer the money. We are a very liberal city IMO, this isn't some conservative vs liberal thing. Politically (speaking liberal/conservative) we likely have more in common with Baltimore than Baton Rouge.
Yea I don't think anyone is advocating ripping apart every department. At least I'm not. Just the ones that have real problems and real issues. Like, for example, the BPD - at least according to the DOJ report.
I don't know how it is there, but here - where our neighborhoods are very mixed, the very poor can be just a few blocks from the very rich - the strategy of the police here seems to be that they protect the very rich, keep them safe is the goal. Meanwhile essentially the very poor neighborhoods can pretty much run themselves, with exceptions.
What is Baltimore going to do about it?
Baltimore already pays almost $500 million per year for police (as compared to $256 on education, though the state kicks in almost another $1 billion for education, but 0 for police).
This should be a good thing. What is the average salary?
Here's the link:SaintsInDome2006 said:
I'm just curious about something - is the police department controlled by the mayor in Baltimore?
No, that low arrest or citation rate doesn't necessarily mean that all the people not cited or arrested did nothing to warrant being stopped. Officers often give people who they've pulled over for a minor infraction a verbal warning either because the officer thinks only a warning is warranted or the the officer doesn't want to be bogged down with paper work on a minor issue. Standard stuff from all police departments that nearly everyone reading this has experienced.
Ha I have no idea. I'd just say hey maybe someone should take a look at who we've been electing lately, and by lately I mean for the last 4 decades or so, because this stuff does not happen overnight.
Serious question - do you plan to read the DOJ report? I totally understand if you don't, but I'm not going to argue your opinions vs. the facts as reported by the Justice Dept. Things like:
And I now realize I grossly understated the frequency of police harassment.
Finally, this might be my favorite. If a sergeant is ordering civil rights violations and lies DURING A DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE RIDE ALONG, what goes on when no one is watching?
Here's the link to the DOJ release:
Here's a truly fantastic interview with David Simon about how Baltimore got to Freddie Gray
But none of the facts you highlighted support your math (or general contention based on that math) that every single person stopped by the Baltimore PD who was not cited or arrested was "hassled for nothing". I'm not arguing that the DOJ investigation is incorrect or that the Baltimore PD doesn't have a pattern of professional misconduct. I'm arguing that your obvious disdain of the Baltimore PD causes you to make statements the facts don't necessarily support.
- List of all Post-WW2 mayors of Baltimore.
