Justice Department investigation condemns Baltimore Police

Latest

Protest for justice for Freddie Gray who died in police custody in Baltimore, MD. PHOTO/JOSH SISK, JOSHSISK.COM
Protest for justice for Freddie Gray who died in police custody in Baltimore, MD.
PHOTO/JOSH SISK, JOSHSISK.COM

 
BALTIMORE, MD — The Baltimore Police Department has shown the City who is boss.  After “a homocide” was committed on Freddie Grey while in the custody of six Baltimore City police officers, the officers were found innocent in court and awarded back pay.
The US Justice Department has been investigating the Baltimore City Police Department (BCPD) because of hundreds of citizen complaints that they were racist, sexist, violent toward those arrested in handcuffs and gave ‘rough rides’ to prisoners in police vans.  The City has paid millions of dollars to innocent people who were maimed and terrorized by the Baltimore police.
The Justice Department recently released its report that made official that the BCPD violated the rights of citizens every day.  Police leaders filled out arrest forms in advance in which the subject was listed as a ‘Black male.” Police commanders order the arrest of young men without cause, instructing their officers to “make something up.”
Police laughed about violating people’s rights in front of US Justice investigators riding along with them. People were beaten while handcuffed. Women were maced just because they did not move fast enough while under arrest.
The Justice Department ordered many cosmetic changes, but BCPD had the last laugh.
Under the nose of the US Justice Department, the BCPD operated an illegal spying operation that spied on all the people of Baltimore, including the Mayor and City Council.
Baltimore City Police received funds from a wealthy Texas capitalist, who shifted millions of dollars through a Police foundation in Washington, DC, and a “community organization” in Baltimore City.  The foundation took a cut of the cash and passed the rest to the police department as a grant.
The police then purchased surveillance from contractors who formerly worked for the US Army in Iraq.  The contractors flew airplanes above the city and recorded all motion in a 30-mile radius.  This allowed the police to see when the Mayor left her house in the morning or when the District Attorney left her office in the afternoon.  It also allowed them to trace the movements of the Justice Department investigators.  This activity was just recently made public by accident and the people of Baltimore are left to wonder what next?
Dropping the benign mask of “Serve and Protect,” the police stand exposed as the ”watchdogs of private property.” Militarized, divorced from society, striving to become a law unto themselves, their every brutal, illegal act shapes and concretizes an American fascist police state.
We must confront each and every attack on what liberty we have left.  Most of all, we must see that new labor replacing technology has fundamentally changed the world. There is no going back. We must visualize the world of peace and freedom that electronics makes possible and fight for that future.

+ Articles by this author

Free to republish but please credit the People's Tribune. Visit us at www.peoplestribune.org, email peoplestribune@gmail.com, or call 773-486-3551.

The People’s Tribune brings you articles written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Unsigned articles reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: ©2024 peoplestribune.org. Please donate to help us keep bringing you voices of the movement. Click here. We’re all volunteer, no paid staff.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Featured

Students Walk Out Across the Country to Protest Trump’s Election

Read the speech delivered by a student at the student walkout at MSU two days after the Presidential election. Thousands of students nationwide walked out to protest Donald Trump's election and his policies on the same day.

Let’s Join Hands to Resist the Trump Agenda

Thousands of groups and millions of people are beginning to reach out to one another to resist the Trump agenda. Regardless of who we voted for, we the people, have a common interest in seeing to it that all our families are well taken care of, that all children are well educated and have a future, and that we have a society free of climate disaster, racism, bigotry and inequality.

How Democrats Ignoring Gaza Brought Down Their Party

"Many Americans roused to action by their government’s complicity in Gaza’s destruction have no personal connection to Palestine or Israel. Their motive is not ethnic or religious. It is moral."

Undocumented Families Are Fighting for Our Future. Will You Join Us?

'As an undocumented mother, I can’t help but worry for my son’s safety first. As an organizer, my worry turns to resolve.'

Fighting for Climate, Students Walk Out Over Trump

"[The student nationwide] walkouts represent a call to action for both parties," said Sunrise Youth Movement, a group that advocates for political action on climate change.

More from the People's Tribune