Judge sees path forward for police
Consent decree monitor says he sees some signs of progress
The federal judge enforcing Baltimore’s policing consent decree noted ongoing challenges, such as the city’s “torrid, unrelenting pace” of violence, but said Thursday that he sees “some evidence of progress” on instituting reforms.
U.S. District Court Judge James K. Bredar’s sounded cautiously optimistic during the latest public hearing on the consent decree as city, police and U.S. Justice Department officials discussed continuing efforts to reform the Baltimore Police Department.
The city and the Justice Department reached the consent agreement two years ago, after a DOJ investigation found the police department routinely violated residents’ constitutional rights, especially in minority neighborhoods. The city is expected to take years to fulfill all its obligations.
Thursday’s hearing is the second attended by Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison since he was hired in February. Harrison said he sees great potential for the department despite troubles that include officers being arrested and convicted for violent crimes in state and federal courts.
“It is not the most troubled police department in America,” Harrison said. “We are going to be the gold standard, we just have to begin to believe in ourselves, make our citizens believe in us, and then go and get it done.”
City Solicitor Andre Davis said the department is on a positive path.
“This is Harrison’s department now. It’s the best police department we’ve had in the city in a long time,” Davis said. “As bad as things are — we’ve got a long way to go — the improvements are just palpable.”
Bredar previously has expressed concern, particularly about the department’s constant turnover of commissioners and senior leadership. And he continued addressing problem areas during Thursday’s hearing. But Bredar also pointed to a recent smudge on the department’s reputation — the arrest of Sgt. Ethan Newberg on charges he assaulted and falsely detained an innocent man out of spite — as a sign of hope for the future.
Footage from Newberg’s body-worn camera depicts an interaction in which a junior officer can be heard trying to intervene and calm the loud street dispute. The unnamed officer tells his superior, Newberg, to relax.
“It was a positive moment for me, the first green shoots of spring, a hint of howthe leaders of this reform initiative imagine all officers will respond to similar drama,” Bredar said.
Still, the judge did not downplay realities facing the department.
Bredar referred to the recent shooting at a methadone clinic in which a police officer was shot and a gunman killed. Before confronting police, the gunman shot and killed a lab worker at the clinic, police have said. Just days later Deputy Commissioner Daniel Murphy, who oversees the department’s compliance with the consent decree, and his wife were held up at gunpoint.
“All is not well in the City of Baltimore,” he said, though he did mention that Murphy returned to work immediately after the robbery.
Murphy said outside the courthouse that the incident has not discouraged him.
“It was certainly a difficult incident, but I’m committed to the work ahead,” Murphy said. “We’re here because there’s tremendous need for change in this city, and we’re here to transform this police department.”
Bredar also addressed the department’s continuing failure to police itself. He mentioned 12 internal affairs cases in which officers faced discipline after internal investigations upheld allegations of misconduct or violations of department policy. But the cases were thrown out recently by a circuit court judge because investigators failed to file internal charges before a one-year deadline.
Ken Thompson of the independent monitoring team said misconduct investigations “must dramatically reform,” adding that internal affairs has “a long way to go before it can be said to be functioning properly.”
Bredar expressed frustration that the position of deputy commissioner in charge of the department’s Public Integrity Bureau, which includes internal affairs, remains unfilled.
Harrison said a new hire is “imminent.” The department is also close to hiring an academic director of the police academy, and Harrison plans to hire a chief financial officer and a technology chief soon.
The hires are a part of a broader re-structuring Harrison has been pushing since he took the job this winter.
Harrison has publicized his plan for 120 new micro-zones to increase police presence in the most difficult and crime-ridden areas, something that drew skepticism from the judge.
When Bredar questioned the feasibility of the plan, Harrison responded that the department historically has “been staffing according to the geography,” and not to crime trends. That will change, the commissioner said.
“You better be ready to educate the politicians,” when an area doesn’t have officers assigned because they’re at a micro-zone, the judge responded. “It’s going test your communication. One thing people do well in this city is fight” and find reasons for things not to work.
Sen. Bill Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat who attended the hearing, said he’s pleased to see a comprehensive crime plan and encouraged by Harrison’s steady leadership, but that he would like to see see “violence reduction happen at a faster pace.”