The Baltimore Police Department is not simply guilty of several, isolated instances of “false arrests,” but of a “larger pattern” of illegally arresting citizens, a lawyer representing the NAACP argued in federal court Monday.

“The things that happened [are] part of a larger pattern of practice that has been in place for many years,” said attorney Mitchell Karlan, who represents the Maryland National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which is suing the police department over its alleged arrest policies. “This is a pattern of practice that has been promulgated from the top.”