I nvestigating the arrest policy of city police will be part of soon-to-be Mayor Sheila Dixon?s agenda, she said recently. All Baltimore citizens and visitors to Charm City should applaud the City Council president for that.
Of the average of 253 people arrested each day in the city, 47 are not charged, according statistics from the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
In 2005, city police arrested about 100,000 people. Of those, 20 percent were released from Central Booking without charges and another 24 percent saw their charges dropped in court.
That is a lot of people who now carry an arrest record, something potential employers and landlords do not favor, regardless of whether charges were dropped.
The NAACP and American Civil Liberties Union are suing the city over the arrests, calling them illegal.
And a grand jury, comprised of 22 citizens from a cross section of city neighborhoods and political views, said in Marchthat cutting the arrest rate in half would be one of the key ways to build trust between Baltimore City Police and the community.
That makes sense. If police do not make legitimate arrests, why should a community trust them? The good news is the number of people arrested but not charged dropped 6 percent in the three months ending in September compared to the same time last year.
Current Mayor, and Governor-elect, Martin O?Malley, has repeatedly denied police must meet “arrest quotas” and stands by department tactics.
In an interview before the election he said, “Officers are asked to enforce the law and their standard is probable cause. Prosecutors have another standard and that standard is beyond reasonable doubt.”
That?s true, but the lawsuit and the grand jury recommendation speak to widespread questioning of arrest policies.
Reviewing them could only help to build trust between the city?s citizens and the police.
The fact that Dixon understands this says she holds public opinion in high regard. It also shows a willingness to work with state?s attorney Patricia Jessamy, with whom O?Malley often sparred over arrest rates.
In the city with the 12th highest violent crime rate in the nation, the last people who need to be fighting are those in charge of protecting public safety.
