DOWNLOAD VIDEO
The protests and anger in Baltimore over the case of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old man who died April 19 in police custody, has opened up new perspectives on the economic problems in many cities and the tensions between police and the neighborhoods they are charged with keeping safe.
Unlike in other communities, where a lack of diversity among police and local government has been blamed for tensions, minorities are well-represented in Baltimore’s police and elected officials.
But there are still problems with the culture of the police force, which former city council president Lawrence Bell described as “very military.”
Baltimore police commissioner Anthony Bratts acknowledged that the city’s police force had failed to form a strong relationship with the community.
“Where we thought we were doing God’s work, where we’re going out trying to make the community safer, we have made mass arrests, we have locked people up, we have taken people to jail in numbers, and we have obliterated this community,” Batts said.
An investigative report by Baltimore Sun reporter Mark Puente stated that Baltimore police used excessive force against black men and women. Moreover, the department largely ignored complaints against officers, Puente said.
Some people trace Baltimore’s uneasy relationship between citizens and police to the riots that followed the civil rights movement. And in the 1990s, Baltimore prosecuted petty crime in high numbers, which led to an “epidemic” of arrests and bred distrust in the community, Bell said.
Warm up questions
- What do you know about Freddie Gray’s death?
- How have you seen protests portrayed in the news?
Critical thinking questions
- How could an “epidemic” of arrests for low-level crimes affect a community?
- The protests that followed Freddie Gray’s death were largely peaceful, but some protesters last weekend damaged property and vandalized businesses. Why do people sometimes riot during protests? What is the effect of violent acts during a protest?
- How do police form a strong relationship with the community? How can Baltimore take measures to build trust between police and community?
