After Baltimore’s deadliest month since 1972, city Councilman Carl Stokes said he is about “two steps away” from looking to replace the current police commissioner, CNN reported.
Forty-two people were killed in May after the death of Freddie Gray and the violence is not slowing under Police Commissioner Anthony Batts, CNN reported.
“What I would welcome is that we had a leader, a commander, who knew what the hell was going on with his troops because he has lost the confidence and respect of the police officers on the street,” Stokes told CNN. “He has lost the streets entirely, in terms of the criminals out there …”
CNN talked to two anonymous Baltimore police officers who said officers are more concerned about going to jail than being shot after six officers were arrested and charged in Gray’s death. The 25-year-old suffered a fatal injury to his spine while in police custody. As a result, some officers now are less likely to approach a suspect for fear of not being supported by the police force and the city, the officers said.
“Even though you have reasonable suspicion, nine out of 10 times, that officer is going to keep on driving,” one of the officers said according to CNN.
One of the officers said their colleagues still respond to calls with the “same amount of vigor” as they had before Gray’s death, but that the “proactive, self-initiated policing has stopped” and police have gone into a “total reactive mode.”
“Ultimately, it does a disservice to the law-abiding citizens. It does a disservice to the business owners. It does a disservice to everybody except the criminal element,” the second officer told CNN.
Lt. Kenneth Butler, head of the Vanguard Justice Society, a police union, told CNN that the officers feel “betrayed” and no longer trust Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s administration to defend them.
“‘Am I going to receive backup from this administration, this police commissioner, if someone complained? And it’s controversial, it may look bad on television — am I going to receive backup from this administration? That’s the biggest concern,” Butler said.
Despite the chaos in Baltimore, some people point out the oath officers swear before taking the job.
“It is unfair, it is unconscionable that there would be some members of the police department, and I’m not saying every man and woman, but there are too many who have made a decision that they are not going to live up to their oath,” Stokes said.
The Justice Department has started an investigation into Baltimore police practices as well as one into Gray’s death.
