African-American residents in Baltimore are routinely subjected to unconstitutional stops, arrests and excessive force by the Baltimore Police Department, according to a scathing federal report released Tuesday.
The 163-page U.S. Justice Department report culminates an investigation launched after the death of black detainee Freddie Gray last year that found the Baltimore Police Department engages in a pattern of conduct that violates either constitutional or federal law.
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"This pattern or practice is driven by systemic deficiencies in BPD's policies, training, supervision and accountability structures that fail to equip officers with the tools they need to police effectively and within the bounds of the federal law," the report said.
The Justice Department's investigation after Gray's death found that the Baltimore Police Department had routinely made unconstitutional stops, searches and arrests. Indeed Gray died following an arrest for which the police never established probable cause.
However, in an interview with teleSUR English, Michael Coleman, a labor organizer with the group United Workers described the report's findings as “not surprising” saying that it was indicative of a larger problem within the institution of law enforcement.
“The findings from the reports have been very consistent with what has been going on throughout the country,” Coleman told teleSUR English on Wednesday.
In its investigation, the Department of Justice found that African-American pedestrians were stopped three times as often as white residents after controlling for the population of the area in which the stops occurred, the report said.
Police have also engaged in a pattern of excessive force when dealing with individuals with mental health disabilities, juveniles and subjects who do not immediately respond to verbal commands, the investigation found.
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Police in Baltimore also have frequently violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by detaining and arresting individuals who engaged in protected speech, the report said.
According to the report, the Baltimore Police Department imposes lenient punishments on officers charged with police misconduct and “lacks meaningful accountability systems to deter misconduct.”
“It seems as if they [Police Officers] can do no harm within the eyes of the justice system, even though there is clear evidence in so many cases not just in Baltimore but throughout our country,” Coleman added.