08-10-2016, 05:08 PM
Baltimore PD Practices -- Scathing Report from DOJ Investigation
The DOJ has completed its investigation of the Baltimore PD. The conclusions are as bad or worse than those of the Cleveland PD.
The investigation found that the civil rights of citizens, of all colors, were routinely violated. It doesn't surprise me, but does piss me off. This shit goes on in a lot of cities.
- UNCONSTITUTIONAL STOPS/FRISKS:
Baltimore PD officers pulled over, stopped, and frisked people with no probable cause whatsoever all the time. African Americans were the target of such unconstitutional police actions much more frequently, with one black man stopped 30 times in a year without doing anything that merited arrest or ticketing.
- PUBLIC STRIP SEARCHES:
Citizens were forced to strip and be searched in public without probable cause. One woman was pulled over for an alleged busted tail light (sound familiar?), made to get out of the car, ordered to strip in public so a female officer could search her, and told she had to comply when she hesitated to undress right there. A female officer put on gloves and searched her, including anal cavity, right there on the spot (with witnesses present). The woman had nothing on her and was sent on her way.
Luckily, the gloves the female officer used had been discarded on the scene and recovered when the woman complained, so what she and the witnesses described was verified. The Baltimore PD had been accused of the same public strip searching w/o probable cause many times. When questioned about the violation of the woman's civil rights, the male officer said, "I turned away when she undressed". Effin' dipshit.
- HARASSMENT/RETALIATION:
New patrol officers were told by training officers to stop people who weren't in violation of any rules or laws. When some new officers objected because they had no cause to do so, the training officers told them, "then make something up." Citizens who objected were regularly retaliated against by police who arrested them and cited their mouths as weapons. Seriously.
- BRUTALITY:
Excessive and undue force was used regularly by police against community members.
There's a whole lot more in the 163 page report, and the Baltimore PD has a laundry list of mandatory systemic and training changes which must be made. The new Chief of Police and the Mayor had already started making some of them before the investigation was complete.
SOURCE: DOJ Report and Stats: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documen...-FINAL.pdf
The DOJ has completed its investigation of the Baltimore PD. The conclusions are as bad or worse than those of the Cleveland PD.
The investigation found that the civil rights of citizens, of all colors, were routinely violated. It doesn't surprise me, but does piss me off. This shit goes on in a lot of cities.
- UNCONSTITUTIONAL STOPS/FRISKS:
Baltimore PD officers pulled over, stopped, and frisked people with no probable cause whatsoever all the time. African Americans were the target of such unconstitutional police actions much more frequently, with one black man stopped 30 times in a year without doing anything that merited arrest or ticketing.
- PUBLIC STRIP SEARCHES:
Citizens were forced to strip and be searched in public without probable cause. One woman was pulled over for an alleged busted tail light (sound familiar?), made to get out of the car, ordered to strip in public so a female officer could search her, and told she had to comply when she hesitated to undress right there. A female officer put on gloves and searched her, including anal cavity, right there on the spot (with witnesses present). The woman had nothing on her and was sent on her way.
Luckily, the gloves the female officer used had been discarded on the scene and recovered when the woman complained, so what she and the witnesses described was verified. The Baltimore PD had been accused of the same public strip searching w/o probable cause many times. When questioned about the violation of the woman's civil rights, the male officer said, "I turned away when she undressed". Effin' dipshit.
- HARASSMENT/RETALIATION:
New patrol officers were told by training officers to stop people who weren't in violation of any rules or laws. When some new officers objected because they had no cause to do so, the training officers told them, "then make something up." Citizens who objected were regularly retaliated against by police who arrested them and cited their mouths as weapons. Seriously.
- BRUTALITY:
Excessive and undue force was used regularly by police against community members.
There's a whole lot more in the 163 page report, and the Baltimore PD has a laundry list of mandatory systemic and training changes which must be made. The new Chief of Police and the Mayor had already started making some of them before the investigation was complete.
SOURCE: DOJ Report and Stats: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documen...-FINAL.pdf