The Most Harrowing Findings In The DOJ’s Report On Baltimore Police

The Department of Justice released an extensive report Wednesday describing a culture of lawlessness, racism, and secrecy within the Baltimore Police Department. Baltimore policing practices attracted national scrutiny after police killed Freddie Gray last year. Prosecutors dropped charges against the officers involved in Gray’s death after a slew of acquittals, but the police department as a whole is now facing tougher federal oversight known as a consent decree.

The federal crackdown will try to achieve what department leaders themselves could not in recent years. Baltimore has theoretically been walking back its longstanding “zero tolerance” policies toward low-level offenses since about 2010. Leaders specifically instructed officers to shift from arrests to citations for various minor offenses in 2015.

But the DOJ finds those top-down efforts have failed because veteran officers in leadership positions remain committed to the old model of escalation, confrontation, harassment, and physical intimidation. Supervisors routinely cover up misconduct and pressure officers to maintain the old, hardcore mode of policing.

Here are some of the most egregious practices those leaders have allowed to flourish:...
https://thinkprogress.org/doj-report-baltimore-abuses-2c7ce74de9ce#.uqdem1vo5