Baltimore police officers routinely discriminate against blacks, repeatedly use excessive force and are not adequately held accountable for misconduct, according to a harshly critical Justice Department report being presented Wednesday.
(FOX)- The report, the culmination of a yearlong investigation into one of the country’s largest police forces, also found that officers make large numbers of stops — mostly in poor, black neighborhoods — with dubious justification and unlawfully arrest citizens for speech deemed disrespectful. Physical force is used unnecessarily, including against the mentally disabled, and black pedestrians and drivers are disproportionately searched during stops, the report says.
The Justice Department released a copy of the report in advance of its public announcement at an event Wednesday morning in Baltimore.
The report represents a damning indictment of how the city’s police officers carry out the most fundamental of policing practices, including traffic stops and searches and responding to First Amendment expression. Beyond that, though, it could serve as a blueprint for change: The Justice Department is seeking a court-enforceable consent decree that would force the police agency to commit to improvements to avoid a federal lawsuit.
The Justice Department in recent years has undertaken similar wide-reaching investigations into police in Chicago, Cleveland, Albuquerque and Ferguson, Missouri, among other cities.