This weekend, the Baltimore Sun published the column of Anthony Batts, the police commissioner for Baltimore City. Mr. Batts argued in part: “Our reform efforts will very likely see more police officers arrested. We will have more officers who are forced out because their outdated, outmoded views of policing do not match the standards the community expects and demands. I will not apologize for bringing professionalism and integrity to the forefront while eliminating greed, corruption and intolerance from the rank and file. Policing in any environment is difficult on a good day. That does not mean we have, or should ever have, a blank check to treat the public with callous disregard. “
Here are his full comments:
Last week I recognized 60 officers and professional staff at the 2015 Medal Day Ceremony. The valor and courage of these men and women, and a few citizen heroes, stands as a testament to the bravery and dedication of most members of the Baltimore Police Department. It reaffirmed my mission and the reason that I am here.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake hired me for one simple purpose: reforming the Baltimore Police Department and rebuilding relationships with communities across the city. Year after year, the proud men and women of the BPD reduced violent crime. The number of homicides the city experienced declined to historic lows in 2011. The BPD’s strained relationships with communities and scandal after scandal still rocked the organization, however, and served to reinforce a growing perception that the Baltimore Police Department was out of control and the city was no safer. We know this from our own citizen polling for the Baltimore Police Department’s Strategic Plan for Improvement.
The series of scandals and perception of safety did a tremendous disservice to the proud and dedicated officers who were fighting every day to make the city safer. It tarnished the noble history of generations of Baltimoreans who dedicated their lives to the safety of their fellow citizens. In fact, 135 police heroes have given their lives for Baltimore. Their legacy and the legacy of many others working for the greater good should be enshrined in the public’s memory as a representation of hope for the future, not abuse of the past.
The decade before I arrived saw more than 50 officers arrested, according to news reports. The public consciousness is filled with names like William King and Antonio Murray, who were sentenced to hundreds of years in federal prison for robbing drug suspects. One only has to say “towing scandal” for the average citizen to nod their head in memory of more than 40 officers arrested or suspended in connection to a wide-ranging extortion scheme. While many past officer arrests were the result of BPD initiated investigations, many were not. The cycle of scandal, corruption and malfeasance seemed to be continuing without abatement.
Previous police commissioners worked hard to eradicate corruption and restore trust in the department. My mission when I arrived was to continue that work with a renewed sense of purpose and determination. The Strategic Plan for Improvement clearly showed that the department was out of alignment with the community and that wholesale change was needed organization wide. We laid ourselves bare before the public and began the challenging work of rebuilding the reputation of a still proud department and giving a voice to the thousands of men and women engaged in the honorable work of protecting their fellow citizens.
I will defend the good officers and professional staff in this department with every ounce of my being. I fought to bring a historic pay raise; I have fought for new cars, better equipment and updated technology. We have brought in more new training in the last two years than the department had seen in a long time. Some of it is the first of its kind in Maryland, helping officers to have more tools at their disposal by focusing on best practices for officer safety techniques and constitutional policing. Shortly, we will make the details of that training available on our website (http://www.baltimorepolice.org).
We have also revamped our discipline system to make it fairer and faster and publicly announced the details. While we have forced out 72 officers during my tenure, the vast majority of police who make mistakes of the heart — meaning they have no malice and are not attempting to shirk responsibility — are now treated fairly and sent back to work. We have worked to have the lowest suspension numbers in a decade, ensuring that officers do not languish as their careers grind to a halt. We have seen the lowest police involved shootings since 2004, a 54 percent decrease in discourtesy complaints, a 45 percent decrease in excessive force complaints and lawsuits at the lowest levels in years.
Many of the reforms in ethics, training, discipline, equipment, efficiencies, policies and a host of other areas do not make sexy news stories and are difficult to conceptualize. The reforms do work to build the base for a police department that is professional, constitutionally based, in alignment with community expectations, better paid, better equipped and better trained than any other jurisdiction in the state. These are not lofty goals. We are moving toward this reality.
Many officers will be unhappy reading these words. Many want me to outright defend the department and say nothing is wrong with the way this organization engages in police work. For the overwhelming majority that is true. However, when people go on television wearing masks, allege themselves to be police officers and are cloaked in the shadows espousing their own indifference to violence as children are shot, I am troubled. This is not the Baltimore Police Department that I know.
I challenge the leadership of The Vanguard Justice Society, an African American advocacy group for police officers, to stand and project their voice in this African American city, where people who look like them feel treatment is unfair. Speak out against the beating of a resident at a bus stop or the selling of narcotics on the back porch of a police station. Where is the concern over scores of African Americans arrested and college scholarships lost? Don’t allow yourself to be used as a tool of a bygone strategy from times long since past.
Our reform efforts will very likely see more police officers arrested. We will have more officers who are forced out because their outdated, outmoded views of policing do not match the standards the community expects and demands. I will not apologize for bringing professionalism and integrity to the forefront while eliminating greed, corruption and intolerance from the rank and file. Policing in any environment is difficult on a good day. That does not mean we have, or should ever have, a blank check to treat the public with callous disregard.
Continuing these reforms also means that organizations and individuals, who have profited, either materially or through position, will continue to fight against the reforms we are enacting. It means that people will throw mud, call into question my leadership, or lament days gone by. They will attack with innuendo, rumor and supposition. We will respond with fact, with evidence, with the things we have done.
Reform is not easy. It comes with a cost. It is a cost we should be willing to pay for the future of our city.
From last week’s discussion. Apologies to Zaqzaq on my belated response.
Last week I wrote: “I have not seen anywhere that links the misconduct in office charge directly to the false imprisonment. In fact, misconduct in office was in the original charges. So certainly your claim that they were prosecuted “through the charge of misconduct in office illegal arrest instead of the false imprisonment” is in question.”
I watched the press conference and I see you point: she indicated that the misconduct in office was based both on the failure to insure the safety of the person in custody and an illegal arrest. So you are correct on that point.
It doesn’t change my base opinion here – even if you believe that she is wrong to prosecute the officers for making an illegal arrest especially in a gray area of the law – and I probably agree with you here at this point based on what we know – I don’t believe that is justification for the police to fail to do their jobs, so it does not change my underlying commentary.
I think the comment I highlighted from the police commissioner captures my view: “Our reform efforts will very likely see more police officers arrested. We will have more officers who are forced out because their outdated, outmoded views of policing do not match the standards the community expects and demands. I will not apologize for bringing professionalism and integrity to the forefront while eliminating greed, corruption and intolerance from the rank and file. Policing in any environment is difficult on a good day. That does not mean we have, or should ever have, a blank check to treat the public with callous disregard. “
I am pleased to see that the police commissioner acknowledges that the tactics are outdated and outmoded and that it will cause some police officers to have to leave the department. I believe their response to the prosecution from the six is inappropriate and unprofessional.
David,
Thank you for the apology.
You are discounting the impact that this new standard for detentions and arrests imposed by DA Mosby has on the police. You are behaving like an ostrich sticking it’s head in the sand. This is a standard that just simply does not exist anywhere else in the nation. It is contrary to existing law as I understand it. If a reasonable officer would make the same choices as those charged with a crime in the Grey situation concerning the Grey detention and arrest they are immune from civil liability but now in Baltimore they can be charged with a crime if the DA determines that they were wrong. I wonder how many similar detentions and arrests that the DA has charged an officer with a crime in Baltimore? How many times has the DA rejected a case because a detention and arrest identical to that in the Grey case was determined to be illegal? And did they provide this information to the police department? I suspect that the defense will scour police records for similar or identical incidents where the DA has not made the same determination. How many cases over the years were prosecuted where the suspect was detained for flight in a high crime area that led to an arrest?
This is just one of many potential factors leading to the reduced arrest rate in Baltimore. Taking the position that it is just the cops having a tantrum is to simplistic and naive.
” I believe their response to the prosecution from the six is inappropriate and unprofessional.”
Since I apparently have not been paying close enough attention, can you remind me what this response was ?
Basically a work slowdown, decreased arrests.
this is a very powerful statement: “Our reform efforts will very likely see more police officers arrested. We will have more officers who are forced out because their outdated, outmoded views of policing do not match the standards the community expects and demands. I will not apologize for bringing professionalism and integrity to the forefront while eliminating greed, corruption and intolerance from the rank and file. Policing in any environment is difficult on a good day. That does not mean we have, or should ever have, a blank check to treat the public with callous disregard. “
so he is saying – more police will be arrested. this gets us back to the zz argument from last week. i think the answer is they are going to go after more police who commit transgressions on duty. and if the police do not like it, they will be replaced. to which i say finally. why are police officers jobs protected if they refuse to do them or commit misconduct? in the long run that means the police will have to either do their job or find another. good.
DP,
He did not say that they would arrest officers for making detentions and arrests based on the fact pattern in the Grey case. You are misinterpreting the message. He is trying to cover his ass with his employer. He also talks about improved training and equipment.
We get it. Get rid of the bad apples. There have been numerous articles here that have covered this.
But where is the article that covers the city leader who instructed the police to let residents have room to protest and effectively destroy / burn down over 100 businesses? If each business even employs an average of 5 jobs, that’s 500 jobs, plus the multiplier effect. (Those businesses buy products and services from other businesses… they hire painters, carpet cleaners, electricians, caterings companies, etc.)
Where is the article which details the 7 decades of failed liberal leadership in Baltimore?
Did police misconduct cause the astronomic truancy rate in Baltimore schools? Did it cause the shooting of 10 people in Detroit at one block party this weekend?
It seems probable that the Left has succeeded in scrapping the “broken windows policing” / “stop and frisk” in several American cities, and we will continue to see if the Ferguson Effect plays out, or not. Let the progressive police experiment continue.
it’s not a bad apple situation in baltimore – it’s a bad barrel.
“But where is the article that covers the city leader who instructed the police to let residents have room to protest and effectively destroy / burn down over 100 businesses? If each business even employs an average of 5 jobs, that’s 500 jobs, plus the multiplier effect. (Those businesses buy products and services from other businesses… they hire painters, carpet cleaners, electricians, caterings companies, etc.)”
why do you think that’s relevant to the discussion over police conduct?
“Where is the article which details the 7 decades of failed liberal leadership in Baltimore?”
you and i have been through this before – you want to focus on failed liberal policies and ignore failed conservative policies like the war on drugs, mass incarceration, etc.
“Did police misconduct cause the astronomic truancy rate in Baltimore schools? Did it cause the shooting of 10 people in Detroit at one block party this weekend?”
you’re asking the wrong question. did police misconduct prevent the truancy rate? did mass incraceration? the fact that fathers are in prison and then when released can’t get jobs? are you willing to take any introspective look whatsoever or do you simply wish to point your finger at policymakers you don’t like?
It’s relevant because it sure seems like David is beating a dead horse. Not only is the horse dead, it was buried, yet still David brings it back to life, exhumes the body, again and again.
We’ve spent trillions upon trillions of dollars in the so-called War on Poverty, yet we seem to have created the exact opposite results. We have destroyed millions of families, and you seem to want more of the same.
I give it to Tia, at least she has proposed what Charles Murray proposed a decade earlier: just hand the people $2,000-3,00-4,000 a month, and let them make their own decisions. … but the problem with this approach is that we know that many will make poor decisions, and when they are hungry mid month, or homeless mid month, they’ll have their hand out for more, and folks like Tia will argue for more assistance. Further, odds are high we won’t send the government paper pushers / social welfare industry to the unemployment line (as they wold no longer be needed), so there will be little costs savings.
how is the horse dead? the article he reprints came out this weekend. the policies have not been put in place. you were hammering on the crime wave in baltimore, it appears that crime wave is due to negligence by the police not doing their job. so how is this a dead horse?
This is your opinion.
Many feel like Eric Holder / Valerie Jarrett (Barack Obama) and the DOJ have hamstrung police departments with their consent decrees, threats of lawsuits, and micro managing of police work based upon theories of college professor / liberal sociologists who don’t live in the real world. Hence the spike in violent crime.
that’s different from beating a dead horse. here you argue not that the horse is dead, but that it’s the wrong horse. baltimore certainly wasn’t hamstrung by a consent decree. the history there is quite ugly and the police ran amuck. this isn’t a partisan issue. martin o’malley is a democrat and yet pushed the guiliani school of policing.
“Where is the article which details the 7 decades of failed liberal leadership in Baltimore?”
It will be here just as soon as you write it.
Actually, the history of indifference/neglect of Baltimore’s “minority” population has been well documented in Bee pieces, national publications, etc. The ‘causality’ of that to “liberal leadership” is questionable, but could be claimed as coincidental. Certainly, if the ‘liberals’ were in charge for 70 years (no opinion on my part), that would be reasonable fodder for ‘conservatives’. The problems in Baltimore, Detroit, etc., will not be mitigated/resolved by people who embrace “democrat”/”republican” or “liberal vs. conservative”… it will take thinking, caring, and actions, not ideological folk who don’t think, act, nor arguably, care. IMO
I wonder who they are going to hire to replace the officers to be laid off? Will these laid off officers be eligible for pensions, and so tansferred to getting paid for no work being done, thus increasing police dept. costs in Baltimore?
If I graduated from the police academy near the top of my class; would I accept a position with duty in dangerous neighborhoods in Baltimore, where my every word and move is likely to be scrutinized, especially if I’m a white cop in a black neighborhood? (though perhaps this is just as well; I support majority black police in majority black neighborhoods). If I was a black man graduating from the police academy near the top of my class, I might be tempted to choose a less stressful option than patrolling and enforcement in inner-city Baltimore! Though it will be interesting to see who the new hires are.
It is important to note that the corruption arrests (note, not convictions) for officers that were described involved planned crimes by the officers and are distinguished from the Grey case. For example we had a West Sacramento police officer arrested for raping prostitutes. David will correct me if I am wrong, but I seem to recall he was found guilty and received a lengthy prison sentence. I fully support these types of prosecutions. I also support changing tactics and techniques that reduce citizen complaints and improve community relations along with improved training and equipment.
This is not however what happened in the Grey case. The police officers were responding to a request by the DA, made approximately three weeks prior to the incident, to eliminate an outdoor drug market at the location where Grey was arrested. To that end they legally detained and searched Grey form the evidence made public. The DA then in hindsight determines that they committed a crime and charges them claiming the detention and arrest were illegal. Then other officers are charged with crimes because they did not comply with a new seat belt policy implemented mere days before the incident. The real crime is that there was no seat belt policy until April of 2015. I have yet to learn how the officers were informed of this new policy. Are they charged with crimes because it existed and they did not follow it or because they knowingly decided not to follow the new policy. I would really like to hear what they were told and how.
It is to simplistic to claim the reduced arrest rate is because the officers are having a tantrum over these charges. DA Mosby is holding the officers to a new standard involving the decisions to detain and arrest suspects. To ignore this factor in is naive. This new standard is having a serious impact on aggressive policing that resulted in many of the detentions and arrests that increased public safety Baltimore. Now the criminal element is emboldened after the cops were charged and are exploring the new freedom they have to commit crime and are exploiting it.
“DA Mosby is holding the officers to a new standard involving the decisions to detain and arrest suspects. ”
Apparently so is the police commissioner.
No David. He was talking about corruption issues that are different from split second detention and arrest issues. He indicated that over the last ten years 50 cops were charged with a crime. Note that he did not indicate conviction rates. The examples given were clearly planned corruption issues which I support. Why other officers are forced out of the department can vary. He did not specify the reason each officer who was not charged with a crime was forced out. You are making a big leap on this assumption.
And I think you’re drawing distinctions where there really isn’t one. The DA probably overreached on charging the officers with making the illegal arrest, but she walked it back half a step to the misconduct on duty which is based in part on the arrest but also on the general conduct. That’s probably more feasible. If the police are going to fail to do their jobs over that, I don’t see that the officials have much choice at this point.
David,
You have no way of knowing if she recommended the misconduct in office for an illegal arrest or if the grand jury did it on their own. I do not know if either of us know what the difference is between a false imprisonment and misconduct in office for an illegal arrest. Either way she has criminalized the arrest regardless of which charge is used. She also charged them for assault based on the arrest. Two charges based on the detention and arrest. The police officers still have to deal with the possibility that they may be second guessed by the DA concerning the validity of their detentions and arrests. This would logically result in more conservative policing to include fewer police initiated detentions which would result in fewer arrests. And remember the sky rocketing murder rate is primarily black on black killings. The cops are not doing the killing. It is the residents of Baltimore killing each other.
The factors in the reduced arrests are as follows:
1. DA Mosby charging officers for an illegal arrest
2. Low officer moral after being held back during the riots and not being allowed to stop the looting of businesses. They had over 100 officer casualties sitting there and taking it.
3. The need for crowd control when they make service calls. More people running out with cameras getting to close to the officers require more officers for each response resulting in less officers available to make arrests in other cases.
4. Possibility of a union initiated slowdown in officer response time. This could be based on a number of issues to include officer safety issues and an intentional slowdown.