Regardless of the positions of the city of Baltimore, the police department, and the State’s Attorney’s office, both cases have shined a new light on a city and its police, which had vowed to clean up its act in an agreement with the Federal Government; an agreement that appears to have already been broken.
“Even before the cameras were implemented, there were people in law enforcement who were very nervous about what these cameras might capture,” Charles Robinson, a Maryland Public Television reporter, told The Final Call. “And what these videos have shown is the underside of police activity.”
“The Baltimore City States Attorney’s Office referred two officers to Internal Affairs as we had questions concerning their Body Worn Camera videos,” said Melba Saunders, a Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office spokeswoman, in a statement. “Before we blanketly characterize their behavior as deceptive and or a credibility issue, we referred the matter to the Internal Affairs Division of the Baltimore Police Department.”
Unfortunately, the statement by Ms. Saunders offers little to no solace for Baltimore residents who are acutely aware that even with body cams in place, being treated unfairly, or even victimized by the police, is still a daily reality.
“There are major integrity issues within the Baltimore police department,” Rev. C.D. Witherspoon of Faith Church Baltimore, told The Final Call. “I was somewhat overjoyed and elated that we were able to get these acts on camera because we’ve heard many times from many people that these situations take place. When I think about Michael Brown or Eric Garner, we as Black people know that even when there is footage, oftentimes, the criminal justice system still fails us. But these videos set a good precedent for there to be visual depictions of what we’ve been talking about for so long—not just in Baltimore, but across the country in dealing with issues of police brutality.”
Andrew Muhammad, student Fruit of Islam captain of Mosque No. 6 in Baltimore, told The Final Call that the residents of Baltimore City wanted the body cams put in place so there would be actual proof of police misusing and abusing their power.
“The community wanted the cameras, but when they see situations like this, it continues to breed distrust,” Mr. Muhammad said. “What these officers have done is made the situation between the police and the community worse with the planting of these drugs. As much as I try to look at things from both sides—the law enforcement side and the civilian side—this situation just isn’t right and I understand why the city is in uproar about it.”
The Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s office has either dropped or is in agreement to drop 41 felony gun and drug cases involving the officers present during the arrest of Ms. Collins, with 55 more being reviewed at present. All told, as many as 123 cases are currently being looked at to ensure that there aren’t more cases similar to the ones that have been made public recently.
Article Appeared @http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/National_News_2/article_103760.shtml