FOR THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE RESPONSE Puneet Cheema, Esq. Trial Attorney TO Civil Rights Division REQUEST U.S. Department of Justice 601 D Street NW FOR Washington, DC 20579 MONITOR [email protected] FOR THE CITY OF BALTIMORE APPLICATIONS Erin Sher Smyth Purchasing Agent for Baltimore City Consent Decree Entered 231 E. Baltimore Street 3rd Floor April 7, 2017 Baltimore, MD 21202 Regarding the Police [email protected] Department of Baltimore City PROPOSAL CONTACT Charles N. Curlett, Jr., Esq. Baltimore Monitor Project Submitted June 8, 2017 c/o Levin & Curlett LLC 300 E. Lombard Street Suite 1510 Baltimore, MD 21202 (410) 685-4444 T (410) 685-2222 F [email protected] Table of Contents I. Executive Summary................................................................................1 II. Scope of Work...........................................................................................11 III. Personnel and Current Time Commitments.....................20 IV. Qualifications, Prior Experience and References.........31 V. Budget............................................................................................................41 VI. Collaboration and Cost Effectiveness..................................42 VII. Potential Conflicts of Interest....................................................43 Appendices A. Curricula Vitae and Resumes B. Maryland Data Analysis Center Budget Proposal C. Examples of Non-Confidential Work Product I. Executive Summary The Baltimore Monitor Project (alternatively, the “BMP” or “Team”) respectfully submits this application to serve as Independent Monitor of the Baltimore Police Department (the “Monitor”) in response to the Request for Monitor Applications, pursuant to the Consent Decree Entered April 7, 2017 Regarding the Police Department of Baltimore City (the “RFA”). A CITY ON THE RISE Baltimore is a world-class city. Its rich cultural diversity and traditions, internationally renowned education and business institutions, location on the second-largest seaport in the Mid-Atlantic, and significant influence on U.S. history and heritage all combine to make Baltimore a great American city. Developers are investing in Baltimore’s urban core, resulting in new construction and development of residential and commercial spaces throughout the City’s landscape. Arts and cultural festivals, like Light City Baltimore, Artscape, and the African American Festival showcase Baltimore’s diverse and vibrant arts and cultural community while uniting residents from across the City’s collection of neighborhoods. Baltimore remains an established center for healthcare, medical research, and the biosciences. Baltimore’s economy is surging. Not only does Baltimore lead the state of Maryland in economic growth, but a recent study also concluded that Baltimore ranks among the top U.S. cities for job seekers with the City reporting both a large number of job openings and a high and rising median household income. 1 CONFRONTING OUR HISTORY 2 Today’s Baltimore reflects a City on the Rise, but systemic discrimination and pivotal events in the City’s history have produced social and economic challenges for many Baltimore residents. Redlining, the lending practice through which banks denied mortgage applications in certain Baltimore neighborhoods based in large measure on their racial composition, excluded many African American families from homeownership. Additionally, the enforcement of restrictive covenants and racially- targeted subprime lending have contributed to a historically segregated Baltimore – one in which many of the City’s African American residents are concentrated in marginalized communities. __________________________ 1 Gina Hall and Jonathan Munshaw, Baltimore Ranks Among Best Cities for Job Seekers, BALTIMORE BUSINESS JOURNAL, March 10, 2017, available at http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2017/03/10/baltimore-ranks-among-best-cities-for-job-seekers.html. 2 DOWNTOWN PARTNERSHIP, 2016 STATE OF DOWNTOWN BALTIMORE REPORT (2016), available at http://cdn.s3- media.wbal.com/Media/2017/03/29/46007454-bdad-4024-8af3-2ccabd084542/original.pdf - 1 - The 1968 riots exacerbated the effects of decades of housing discrimination in Baltimore. This moment of civil unrest in the City’s history accelerated urban depopulation. In the wake of the 1968 riots, investors and many white city-dwellers, who had once provided much of the economic capital to support urban businesses, relocated to the suburbs. Commerce within Baltimore’s African American and poor communities suffered dramatically as a result. Unemployment and poverty remain disproportionately high in these communities. The 1968 riots also provided a basis for imposing new law-and-order policing and criminal justice policies that drove up the incarceration rate to high levels. The law-and-order agenda gave rise to criminal justice strategies such as zero-tolerance policing, the increased use of military technology by local law enforcement, and an over-reliance on incarceration. These policing and criminal justice tactics shifted the focus away from integrating Baltimore’s racially and economically segregated neighborhoods and instead reinforced already entrenched divisions around race and class. The death of Freddie Gray in police custody in 2015 and the civil unrest that ensued focused attention on the problems that systemic discrimination has created in the 47 years since the 1968 riots. These problems include racial inequality, limited social and economic mobility, and a fractured relationship between the Baltimore Police Department (“BPD”) and the predominantly African American community it serves. This broken relationship has resulted from longstanding distrust and anger over years of interactions between BPD and African American residents that have too often been characterized by the use of excessive force, disrespectful treatment, and arbitrary and harassing enforcement actions. The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) detailed these experiences of Baltimore residents in its August 10, 2016 Investigation of the Baltimore City Police Department (the “Report”). The Report concluded, based on first-hand accounts supported by objective data that “BPD engages in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the Constitution or federal law.” The Report serves as a sobering account of the painstaking work ahead to reform the BPD. The Report also provides the necessary framework for the Consent Decree entered on April 7, 2017 (the “Consent Decree”). While acknowledging the efforts that BPD has already undertaken to reform its practices, the Consent Decree provides the Baltimore community with a powerful tool for bringing about the positive transformation of policing in this City. - 2 - AN INVESTMENT IN CONSTITUTIONAL POLICING The Baltimore Monitor Project welcomes the opportunity to join with the Baltimore community, BPD, the City, and DOJ (collectively, the “Parties”) in transforming BPD into a well-trained and well-resourced agency that protects the civil liberties and constitutional rights of all Baltimore residents while effectively ensuring the public safety. The Baltimore Monitor Project is comprised of a diverse group of Baltimore- based judges, attorneys, academics, community activists, criminologists, statisticians, social justice advocates, and thought leaders. Each Team member brings professional, real-world experience with the multifaceted, interdisciplinary, and complex issues impacting criminal justice and policing reform in Baltimore. Members of our team have presided over criminal and civil trials involving BPD officers and Baltimore residents; defended and prosecuted Baltimore residents charged with crimes; held hearings, drafted reports, recommended legislative reforms concerning police/community relations; served as professors at colleges and universities in Baltimore teaching, researching, and writing extensively on topics including constitutional law, race relations, and juvenile and adult criminal justice; implemented and managed data analysis systems designed to improve the effectiveness and accountability of City agencies; and organized Baltimore community members around conversations about diversity and inclusion Drawing on our collective understanding of the circumstances that brought Baltimore to this moment, the members of the BMP believe firmly that the successful implementation of the Consent Decree will require a monitoring team that embraces as its guiding principles three core themes: Community. Accountability. Independence. - 3 - COMMUNITY The BMP believes that implementation of the Consent Decree must be both driven and led by the Baltimore community. This principle reflects the fact that true policing reform will be measured not just by statistics and data but, more importantly, by whether residents of Baltimore actually experience fundamental improvements in their interactions with BPD. Because we are Baltimore-based and keenly aware of the history that has produced the challenges in policing in this City, the members of the BMP are uniquely situated to engage with stakeholders from across Baltimore’s communities to build consensus and generate buy-in for effective police practices that protect both the community and constitutional rights. ACCOUNTABILITY The fundamental goal of police reform is accountability. Each of the reforms set forth in the Consent Decree require BPD to be more accountable to the people of Baltimore. They include enhanced transparency and community oversight,