Baltimore police face changes after blistering report

A Justice Department report blasting the Baltimore Police Department for a pattern of unconstitutional behavior should help expedite a lengthy, costly and painful reform effort, city and federal officials said Wednesday.

Reforms are already underway, and officers who committed the most egregious behavior have been fired, city officials said.

The report claims officers routinely conducted unlawful stops and used excessive force often targeting black residents in low-income, African-American neighborhoods. Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, said the division and Baltimore police are negotiating a consent decree on proposed reforms.

"Policing that violates the Constitution or federal law severely undermines community trust, and blanket assumptions about certain neighborhoods can lead to resentment against police," she said.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said the report will help provide a "road map" for changes already underway in the department.

"The findings are challenging to hear," she said. "But let me be clear: I never sugarcoat our problems nor will I run away from our most pressing challenges."

She said 26 polices are being revised, and officer training is being improved. She said she expects the changes could cost the city between $5 million and $10 million.

"The city has taken first steps in a long path to reform," she said. "We have a very long journey ahead of us."

Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said some officers whose behavior was outlined in the report have been fired. His department is committed to reform, he said.

"I am very very concerned by some of the information contained in this report," he said. "Without a doubt, we will become a model for the rest of the nation."

The probe was prompted by the April 2015 death of Freddie Gray, an unarmed black man fatally injured while in police custody. Six officers were initially charged in Gray's death, but after three officers were acquitted charges against the rest were dropped.

The report said the police department recognizes community policing is an effective strategy to improve its relationship with the public. But the department needs a broader community policing plan that reaches all districts, the report indicates. The police department is trying to create new organizations rather than build relationships with existing organizations, the study says.

Police representatives are absent from community meetings and some organizations told investigators that police stopped coming to meetings after the sometimes violent protests that followed Freddie Gray's death.

"BPD's failings result from deficient policies, training, oversight and accountability, and policing strategies that do not engage effectively with the community," the study reads. "We are heartened to find both widespread recognition of these challenges and strong interest in reform."

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The report concludes that the relationship between the police department and Baltimore's residents is "broken"  and said that investigators discovered over the course of many interviews that people in impoverished, minority communities often felt "belittled, disbelieved and disrespected" by police officers.

Investigators discovered an "us versus them" mentality in the department, and when they approached one supervisor about community-oriented policing, were told, "I don't pander to the public."

"Indeed, our review of documents and our conversations with residents confirm that distrust is causing individuals to be reluctant to cooperate with police," the report reads.

Gray's death ignited protests in Baltimore across the nation, coming in the middle of a parade of deaths of unarmed black people during police stops or while in police custody.

Wayne Cohen, law professor at George Washington University and former president of the Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington D.C., said the Justice Department report probably will quicken the pace of change in Baltimore.

"This report is not a surprise," Cohen told USA TODAY. "It was clear there were steps that needed to be taken. The Justice Department report should increase the pace of change."