Baltimore to U.S.: Look into police on civil rights

BALTIMORE -- The mayor of Baltimore on Wednesday called on the Justice Department to conduct a civil-rights investigation into her city's Police Department and see whether there were patterns of abuse or discrimination.

The move comes in the wake of protests over the treatment of Freddie Gray, a black man who was fatally injured in police custody. City Council President Bernard Young and 10 members of the council sent a letter to the department Tuesday asking for a full-scale investigation.

"We all know that Baltimore continues to have a fractured relationship between the police and the community," Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said at a news conference Wednesday.

"We have to have a foundation of trust," she said, "and I believe that we need the assistance of the Department of Justice and the civil-rights investigation to shore up that foundation, which is weak right now in this city."

The Justice Department has been considering investigating Baltimore for years, current and former officials said, but it held off because the city appeared willing to make changes and had invited an earlier, voluntary review.

Last fall, Rawlings-Blake asked for the Justice Department's help in overhauling the Police Department through a program that promotes community policing. The voluntary investigation is likely to result in preliminary findings in the next few weeks. Those findings, while not binding on the department, are expected to chart a course for the department to follow to reduce the use of force.

However, now that the mayor and other city officials have requested a broader review, it is far more likely that the Justice Department will launch a full investigation, officials said.

The mayor said she had told the new U.S. attorney general, Loretta Lynch, in a private meeting Tuesday, that she intended to ask for an investigation into whether there was a "pattern or practice" of policing that produced civil-rights violations. Lynch, she said, "understands the urgency of this request."

A Justice Department spokesman, Dena Iverson, said Wednesday that Lynch was "actively considering that option in light of what she heard from law enforcement, city officials and community, faith and youth leaders in Baltimore yesterday."

The department has wide discretion in deciding whether to conduct such an investigation, how broad to make it and what kinds of remedies to seek. In some cities, such inquiries have led to court-ordered changes in policing and oversight by the Justice Department -- a level of scrutiny that local officials sometimes resist.

In a statement, the president of the police union, Gene Ryan, welcomed the request for assistance, saying officers "have many issues with current policies and procedures of the department."

The call for a civil-rights investigation in Baltimore was considered by some to be an acknowledgement that community members do not trust the police or city government to make the necessary changes.

Young, the City Council president, said he's been warning for months that police won't change unless they're forced to.

"The police commissioner could have said, 'Well, now, I don't want to do that,' and he didn't have to do it," Young said, referring to any changes recommended by the voluntary review of the department. "In my opinion, it was a toothless tiger."

The Rev. C.D. Witherspoon, who leads the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Baltimore, said he's been asking for years for the Justice Department to run the city's police force from Washington.

"If this is just a probe and brings forth recommendations, as they have done in the past, that won't be helpful. If they find things that are potentially problematic, I wonder if they will be willing to put the department under receivership and take the reins," Witherspoon said.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said it's up to Lynch to decide what to do next.

"She has a very good understanding of the way that those law enforcement and prosecutorial enterprises should conduct themselves," Earnest said.

If the Justice Department agrees to open a civil-rights investigation, it will be separate from an inquiry it is conducting into Gray's death. In that case, federal prosecutors are watching the results of the state prosecution and could step in with federal charges if the prosecutors decide they are warranted.

A civil-rights investigation could take a year to complete. A similar Justice Department investigation into the Police Department in Ferguson, Mo., was completed in seven months, which officials called extremely fast.

Rawlings-Blake said she had asked federal officials to investigate, in particular, "if our Police Department has engaged in a pattern of stops, searches or arrests that violate the Fourth Amendment," and what factors "contribute to excessive force or discriminatory policing."

Gray, 25, was arrested April 12 and died from a severe spinal injury a week later; the state's attorney in Baltimore has filed criminal charges against six officers, including those who initially stopped him, asserting that they had no legitimate reason to arrest him.

At least two of the officers have filed motions challenging the prosecutor's assertion that Gray was arrested illegally.

But many people in the city's poor, mostly black neighborhoods have said such baseless stops and searches by the police are a fact of life for them.

Rawlings-Blake listed several steps that have been taken to improve relations between the police and the people of Baltimore, and she noted a sharp decline last year in complaints of excessive force and discourtesy by officers.

Gray's death touched a nerve in the city, prompting mass demonstrations. Violence broke out April 27, when some people set fire to cars and buildings, looted stores and threw rocks and bottles at police officers. The mayor then imposed a curfew, and Gov. Larry Hogan called out the National Guard to help secure the city.

Rawlings-Blake lifted the curfew Sunday. On Wednesday, Hogan lifted a state of emergency in the city and praised the National Guard and the police officers who "quickly brought calm and order back to the city."

But even as life regained its normal rhythms, there were signs that tension continues to simmer.

On Monday, police and demonstrators scuffled at West North Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue, which has become a gathering point for protesters.

Lt. Col. Melvin Russell said police pursued a man who was spotted on surveillance cameras and appeared to have a handgun.

Police said the man was taken into custody after a brief chase, during which a gunshot was heard.

There was a false news report that the police had shot the gunman, prompting anger from the protesters, but Russell said police never fired their weapons and that no one was shot. Trying to calm tempers, the Police Department made its report on the incident public Tuesday through its social-media accounts.

Information for this article was contributed by Stephen Babcock, Richard Perez-Pena, Timothy Williams and Matt Apuzzoof The New York Times; by David Dishneau, Brian Witte, Juliet Linderman, Ben Nuckols, Eric Tucker and staff members of The Associated Press; by Luke Broadwater, Jessica Anderson and Erin Cox of The Baltimore Sun; and by Sarah Parvini of the Los Angeles Times.

A Section on 05/07/2015