Did the police officer who arrested and handcuffed 7-year-old Gerard Mungo Jr. earlier this week for allegedly riding a dirt bike in Baltimore City lose all sense of proportion? Since when does a child need to be handcuffed, brought to a police station and interrogated like a hardened criminal for behavior that, while illegal, certainly presented no immediate public danger?
Is this how the police department builds trust with the community?
Trust is not a commodity in abundant supply between the community and the police. Circuit Judge Joseph McCurdy Jr. in 2005 instructed 22 grand jurors to spend four months studying ways Baltimore City police could strengthen the bond with those whose safety they are to protect.
One recommendation jurors gave to strengthen it in their March 2006 report was to increase hours for training and studying laws so that police better understand how to define and practice procedures.
The still unidentified officer obviously did not get the word. More troubling is that he called a supervisor, who did not suggest an alternative response to arresting and booking the child. Shouldn?t those who reach advisory positions have a clear grasp of appropriate procedure?
Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm said the appropriate response would have been to confiscate the dirt bike or to find a parent. Why did no one who responded to the arrest get that? Forget procedure, did common sense take flight along with proportionality?
There is no reason to doubt, as his mother, Lakisa Dinkins, told The Examiner, “This has changed his life. He will never be the same.” Hopefully it is an isolated incident.
But the fact that a higher-up on the command chain offered such poor advice suggests a more pervasive ignorance of proper procedure ? and when to modify it ? throughout the department.
The police must not shoulder all of the blame, however. If he was riding the dirt bike as police allege, his mother must take some of the responsibility. As Hamm said, “Dirt bikes pose a serious risk to both the people who ride them and to pedestrians, several of whom have been killed by dirt bikes over the past few years.” That?s why it is illegal to ride them in the city. And the police, like teachers, need parents to help them do their jobs properly. Young Gerard should not have been on the bike. Period.
But the excess enforcement used to arrest the behavior in no way corresponded to the offense and must not be allowed to happen again. Now would be an excellent time for Hamm and Mayor Sheila Dixon to review the grand jury report and act on its recommendations ? before the next child ends up handcuffed to a station bench.
