City could be high for year – police boss
A crime wave in Baltimore has left its streets awash with so many looted prescription drugs that the city could be high for a year, its police chief has said.
Anthony Batts, the police commissioner, revealed that 27 chemists were robbed during riots in April, 10 more than previously reported.
‘‘There’s enough narcotics on the streets of Baltimore to keep it intoxicated for a year. That amount of drugs has thrown off the balance between gangs in the city.’’
The revelations came as Batts asked the federal authorities for more agents and prosecutors to help the city cope with a surge in violent crime.
Baltimore recorded 43 homicides in May, the highest monthly figure in more than 40 years. Nonfatal shootings have risen by 82 per cent compared with last year.
The unrest was provoked by the case of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who was fatally injured in police custody and died on April 19. On April 27, just hours after Gray’s funeral, rioters attacked police, burned buildings and looted dozens of businesses.
The arrest and indictment of the six officers involved put a stop to the mass demonstrations, but the effects of those turbulent weeks remain.
Batts said that more than 175,000 doses of looted narcotics flooded the city after the riots, and that the number only accounted for the 60 per cent of chemists who had managed to report their losses. Two methadone clinics were also robbed during the unrest, he reported.
‘‘Individuals are getting high to a greater degree and at a greater pace than any time before. Criminals are selling those stolen drugs, there are turf wars happening, which are leading to violence and shootings in our city,’’ the police boss said.
Gary Tuggle, of the Drug Enforcement Agency, said that the drugs were a significant factor in Baltimore’s crime wave.
‘‘I think that part of it is connected to turf battles between gangs and independent dealers,’’ he said.
‘‘You also have a new source, a new inventory of drugs on the street.’’
The six police officers indicted in the death of Gray are due to
drug appear in court on July 2 for arraignment. The most serious charge, levelled against the driver of the police van where the unrestrained man sustained a broken neck, carries a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.