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The fallout from the gun task force scandal has been substantial. Baltimore state’s attorney has dropped at least 125 criminal cases related to the task force a

The fallout from the gun task force scandal has been substantial. Baltimore state’s attorney has dropped at least 125 criminal cases related to the task force and continues to investigate others. The public defender’s office estimates that the number of tainted cases is likely closer to 3,000.

nyolfen 9y ago
really just incredible. how do you reform something so broken? a clean sweep? bring in the feds?
- arkitaip 9y ago
  They haven't been able to reform the Baltimore Police for decades. They need an external org under federal control with the task of weeding out, prosecuting and controlling the police.
- Gibbon1 9y ago
  I've tried rolling that over, some smaller corrupt police departments the town will close the department and lay everyone off and contract with the county sheriffs or a neighboring city.
  - rossdavidh 9y ago
    In the 19th century, the state of New York had to do something like that with New York City. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Police_riot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Police_riot
    - nsnick 9y ago
      They should probably consider doing that again.
- pstuart 9y ago
  > how do you reform something so broken? a clean sweep? bring in the feds? Both.
- ars 9y ago
  Probably the state, not the feds.
- peterwwillis 9y ago
  The problem is a systemic issue, it goes way farther than the police. The population distribution of Baltimore is based on a practice of redlining, where banks, real estate owners, and others conspired to literally confine black people to certain areas and restrict access to services. Though the original practice is now abolished, neighborhood boundaries and lack of access have not changed, and there are new forms of redlining (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining#Current_issues https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining#Current_issues). This is one of the many reasons that there continues to be a quasi-segregation, endemic racism, and poverty in the city. To me, the answer is quite clear: the government needs to break up the city. They need to force banks to give loans to people to provide businesses and services to African Americans. They need to break up neighborhoods so that there is a more even distribution of rich, middle class and poor, and less ethnic separation (Sandtown-Winchester, the neighborhood Freddie Gray was from, is 99% black). They need to provide better access to transportation throughout the city so people can get to jobs, schools, and social services without additional incumbents. They need to redirect the giant tax breaks going to local giants like Under Armor and use it to fund school lunches, increased teaching facilities/teachers, job education programs, and after school activities. There's a lot of shit that needs to be done to reduce the level of poverty, drugs, and violent crime. Once that is done, and with increased wages, hopefully the police won't feel the need to take advantage of a broken society and vulnerable population.
- jdavis703 9y ago
  Camden shut down it's police department, and last year had the lowest murder rate in decades: http://www.nj.com/camden/index.ssf/2018/01/camdens_2017_murder_rate_was_the_lowest_in_decades.html#incart_river_home http://www.nj.com/camden/index.ssf/2018/01/camdens_2017_murd.... As engineers when a system is severaly broken, we know the answer can be to turn it off (e.g. in the case of a bad malware infection). The same can apply to other complex systems too.
  - YokoZar 9y ago
    It wasn't clear from the article, but the context I found was that the Camden County Police Department took over policing from the Camden City force on May 1, 2013. Cities often have multiple options for who "owns" local policing - county level police, county level sheriff's office, contracting out to a neighboring town, or even state police.
    - DrScump 9y ago
      It's often financial -- a larger force can be "sublet" more cheaply than running your own. Heck, even Cupertino, CA (home of Apple) does that.
Floegipoky 9y ago
Related: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/23/nyregion/new-york-city-agrees-to-settlement-over-summonses-that-were-dismissed.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/23/nyregion/new-york-city-ag... > New York City has agreed to pay up to $75 million to settle a federal class-action lawsuit that accused its Police Department of issuing hundreds of thousands of criminal summonses that were later found to be without legal justification, according to a signed copy of the proposed deal filed on Monday.

nyolfen 9y ago

really just incredible. how do you reform something so broken? a clean sweep? bring in the feds?

arkitaip 9y ago
They haven't been able to reform the Baltimore Police for decades. They need an external org under federal control with the task of weeding out, prosecuting and controlling the police.
Gibbon1 9y ago
I've tried rolling that over, some smaller corrupt police departments the town will close the department and lay everyone off and contract with the county sheriffs or a neighboring city.
- rossdavidh 9y ago
  In the 19th century, the state of New York had to do something like that with New York City. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Police_riot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Police_riot
  - nsnick 9y ago
    They should probably consider doing that again.
pstuart 9y ago
> how do you reform something so broken? a clean sweep? bring in the feds? Both.
ars 9y ago
Probably the state, not the feds.
peterwwillis 9y ago
The problem is a systemic issue, it goes way farther than the police. The population distribution of Baltimore is based on a practice of redlining, where banks, real estate owners, and others conspired to literally confine black people to certain areas and restrict access to services. Though the original practice is now abolished, neighborhood boundaries and lack of access have not changed, and there are new forms of redlining (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining#Current_issues https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining#Current_issues). This is one of the many reasons that there continues to be a quasi-segregation, endemic racism, and poverty in the city. To me, the answer is quite clear: the government needs to break up the city. They need to force banks to give loans to people to provide businesses and services to African Americans. They need to break up neighborhoods so that there is a more even distribution of rich, middle class and poor, and less ethnic separation (Sandtown-Winchester, the neighborhood Freddie Gray was from, is 99% black). They need to provide better access to transportation throughout the city so people can get to jobs, schools, and social services without additional incumbents. They need to redirect the giant tax breaks going to local giants like Under Armor and use it to fund school lunches, increased teaching facilities/teachers, job education programs, and after school activities. There's a lot of shit that needs to be done to reduce the level of poverty, drugs, and violent crime. Once that is done, and with increased wages, hopefully the police won't feel the need to take advantage of a broken society and vulnerable population.
jdavis703 9y ago
Camden shut down it's police department, and last year had the lowest murder rate in decades: http://www.nj.com/camden/index.ssf/2018/01/camdens_2017_murder_rate_was_the_lowest_in_decades.html#incart_river_home http://www.nj.com/camden/index.ssf/2018/01/camdens_2017_murd.... As engineers when a system is severaly broken, we know the answer can be to turn it off (e.g. in the case of a bad malware infection). The same can apply to other complex systems too.
- YokoZar 9y ago
  It wasn't clear from the article, but the context I found was that the Camden County Police Department took over policing from the Camden City force on May 1, 2013. Cities often have multiple options for who "owns" local policing - county level police, county level sheriff's office, contracting out to a neighboring town, or even state police.
  - DrScump 9y ago
    It's often financial -- a larger force can be "sublet" more cheaply than running your own. Heck, even Cupertino, CA (home of Apple) does that.

Floegipoky 9y ago

Related: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/23/nyregion/new-york-city-agrees-to-settlement-over-summonses-that-were-dismissed.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/23/nyregion/new-york-city-ag... > New York City has agreed to pay up to $75 million to settle a federal class-action lawsuit that accused its Police Department of issuing hundreds of thousands of criminal summonses that were later found to be without legal justification, according to a signed copy of the proposed deal filed on Monday.