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The People's Findings Regarding Police Misconduct in West Baltimore

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The People's Findings Regarding Police Misconduct in West Baltimore OVER-POLICED, YET UNDERSERVED: BY THE WEST BALTIMORE COMMISSION ON POLICE MISCONDUCT AND THE NO BOUNDARIES COALITION THE PEOPLE’S MARCH 8, 2016 1526 N. FREMONT, BALTIMORE, MD 21217 FINDINGS WWW.NOBOUNDARIESCOALITION.COM [email protected] IN COLLABORATION WITH BUILD AND THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE COUNTY (UMBC) REGARDING POLICE MISCONDUCT IN WEST BALTIMORE THIS REPORT DETAILS STORIES OF POLICE MISCONDUCT TOLD BY WITNESSES AND VICTIMS FROM WEST BALTIMORE AND MAKES RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY CHANGE TO IMPROVE COMMUNITY-POLICE RELATIONSHIPS. Copyright © 2016 No Boundaries Coalition and the West Baltimore Commission on Police Misconduct All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America Main entry under title: Over Policed, Yet Underserved: The People’s Findings Regarding Police Misconduct in West Baltimore Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data 2 NO BOUNDARIES COALITION TABLE OF CONTENTS: 4 INTRODUCTION 8 METHODOLOGY REPORT TEAM: 10 FINDINGS Analysis designed and results drafted by Charles Cange, Researcher at UMBC. 2 0 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS Quantitative and qualitative analysis prepared by Nick Jacobsen (Sociology MA 2 5 APPENDIX Program, UMBC). Transcription support provided by 3 0 EXHIBITS Nimasha Fernando, Kendrick Hudson, and Won Lee (UMBC). 3 1 REFERENCES Interviews conducted by Ray Kelly and Rebecca Nagle of the No Boundaries Coalition. Photography by Carde Cornish. Report and cover design by Zak Bickel. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Thank you to St Peter Claver Church for providing space for commission interviews. Thank you to Sharon Baptist Church for hosting the Public Heaaring. Thank you to the Campaign for Jobs, Safety and Justice for howsting the summary press release. Made by possible by The Open Society Institute Baltimore, The Baltimore Community Foundation, The Fund For Change, and The Catholic Campaign for Human Development. DEDICATION: This report is dedicated to all the victims of police misconduct who are afraid to share their stories. In publishing these collected stories, we also remember the stories that will never be told. WEST BALTIMORE COMMUNITY COMMISSION ON POLICE MISCONDUCT 3 INTRODUCTION Freddie Gray’s Death and the Creation of the Commission THE APRIL 2015 DEATH OF FREDDIE GRAY, a young African-American resident of Baltimore, led to outrage, protests, and unrest at the local and national levels. Mr. Gray died while in the custody of Baltimore City police. A viral video of Gray’s brutal treatment by law enforcement officials opened up local and national conversation about the issue of police misconduct in lower-income, urban African-American neighborhoods. Follow- ing similar events in New York City, Cleveland, and Ferguson, Missouri, in which unarmed African-American men were killed by police, this incident brought attention to a growing divide between police and their communities. In 2013, the No Boundaries Coalition he week after Freddie Gray’s identified improving public safety and T death, Baltimore’s Sand- increasing police accountability as key town-Winchester communi- issues in cwb through a listening cam- ty was in a state of crisis. Sandtown-Win- paign with residents. The No Boundaries chester is the neighborhood where Coalition successfully lobbied for police Freddie Gray lived and where the police foot patrols along Pennsylvania Avenue encounter that led to his death occurred. through an eight-month campaign that On Saturday, April 25, fifteen volunteers included multiple meetings with city from the No Boundaries Coalition con- leadership, letter-writing, and communi- ducted a door-knocking campaign to hear ty organizing. We also advocated for and directly from residents of Sandtown-Win- successfully organized roundtable dis- chester what they needed and what they cussions between patrol officers and resi- wanted to see happen in response to the dents to improve police-community rela- death of Freddie Gray. 250 residents of tionships. We have organized peace walks, Sandtown-Winchester spoke with the No marches, and a National Night Out Block Boundaries Coalition’s volunteers that Party to promote public safety. Beginning day. The decision to create the West Balti- in December 2014, we conducted another more Community Commission on Police listening campaign, in which we asked res- Misconduct arose out of that door-knock- idents about their interactions with police ing campaign. In just that one afternoon, and what they would like to see happen we talked to people who had had family in order to improve police-community members killed by police, people who relationships. Based on the results of our had sustained broken bones in police listening campaign, we drafted legisla- encounters, and people whose house had tion to reform Baltimore City’s Civilian been torn apart during a drug raid—only Review Board. The No Boundaries Coali- to find out that the police had the wrong tion has met with and worked with every address. From the stories we heard that level of the Baltimore Police Department day, we knew we needed to document the (bpd), from cadets and patrol officers prevalence of police misconduct in West to command staff and the Commission- Baltimore. Although the community was er. We have worked with bpd to express well aware of the commonness of police residents’ concerns, plan neighborhood misconduct, people outside of the com- events, advocate change, and improve munity, policymakers, and the general police-community relationships. public needed to be made aware. OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE NO BOUNDARIES COALITION SANDTOWN-WINCHESTER The No Boundaries Coalition is a res- The majority of outreach to possible ident-led advocacy organization build- participants occurred in the Sand- ing an empowered and unified Central town-Winchester neighborhood. Due to West Baltimore (cwb) across the bound- the concentration of our outreach efforts, aries of race, class and neighborhoods. the majority of individuals interviewed Founded in 2010, the No Boundaries for this report are Sandtown-Winchester Coalition advocates safer streets, greater residents. However, everyone who police accountability, more fresh, afford- expressed interest in sharing their story able produce in the neighborhood, and was interviewed. increasing opportunities for young peo- Sandtown-Winchester is a neighbor- ple. The No Boundaries Coalition works hood of approximately 9,000 residents. in eight neighborhoods in Central West The Sandtown neighborhood is located Baltimore (ZIP code 21217). near downtown Baltimore, in ZIP code INTRODUCTION ALTHOUGH THE COMMUNITY WAS WELL 21217. This 72-block neighborhood is part of “Old AWARE OF THE COMMONNESS OF POLICE West Baltimore,” a historically Black area of Balti- more with a rich history of arts, culture, and civil MISCONDUCT, PEOPLE OUTSIDE OF THE rights activism. Performers such as Billie Holliday COMMUNITY, POLICYMAKERS, AND THE and Diana Ross performed at venues along the his- GENERAL PUBLIC NEEDED TO BE MADE AWARE. toric Pennsylvania Avenue, often called the “Harlem of the South.” “The Avenue” was known as the heart of Baltimore’s Entertainment scene during the time of prohibition through the civil rights movement. In the second half of the 20th century, Sandtown by the 1980s and 1990s, were primarily with traf- experienced economic depression, housing aban- ficking gray- and black-market goods. donment, increased crime, and, with the decline of Baltimore’s industrial sector in the 1990’s, middle CONTEMPORARY POLICING AND THE WARS class flight to the surrounding suburbs. ON DRUGS, CRIME AND GANGS AIMS OF THIS REPORT The multiplication and diffusion of stereotypes about crime and drug use fostered White demands This report has several goals: one, document for expansive prison policies directed toward harsh community recollections of specific incidents retribution and neutralization. The assertion that of police misconduct in West Baltimore. Second, drug use was the “most important component and describe recent changes (2005-2015) in law enforce- cause of street crime,” supported by sensational- ment practice that have produced new strategies, ized media coverage of inner city violence, linked procedures, and techniques of policing in West Bal- America’s ‘drug problem’ to all of society’s ills, cul- timore. Lastly, reflect on ways to improve police tivating a “crisis mentality” among voters.5,6 Con- and community relations, including returning to sistent with this framing, the nation’s War on Drugs, an emphasis on community policing. War on Crime, and War on Gangs were focused primarily upon low-level dealers and users in Afri- ORIGINS OF ZERO TOLERANCE POLICING can-American neighborhoods. An emerging pattern of police misconduct has REDEVELOPMENT AND PREFERENTIAL led to frustrations in many impoverished, inner- COMMUNITY POLICING city communities in the United States. This frus- tration has helped fuel protests in cities across the Capital and population flight to the suburbs United States since the summer of 2014. Moreover, prompted a coincidental shift in Baltimore’s mode this frustration is traceable to the same set of inter- of governance, from a managerial city to an entre- related socio-economic, political, and discursive preneurial city.7 Local business leaders formed an shifts that unfolded throughout the country from association, the Greater Baltimore Committee, to the late-twentieth century to the present. Baltimore pressure local government into implementing a is in many ways emblematic of these shifts because large-scale urban renewal
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