Baltimore chief: Pause won’t stall change

Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said Tuesday morning that his department plans to move forward with efforts to overhaul its practices despite a Justice Department request to postpone its agreement with the city for 90 days.

“We have to continue to stress the necessity of constitutional policing in Baltimore and break the culture of zero-tolerance policing brought to the city many years ago,” Davis said.

The Justice Department asked a federal judge Monday night to delay a public hearing on Baltimore’s tentative police agreement as the government performs a wider review of such pacts nationwide.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered the review to ensure the pacts are in line with President Donald Trump’s administration’s goals of promoting officer safety and morale while fighting violent crime, according to a two-page memo released Monday. The announcement from Sessions calls into question whether the agreements will stay in place, possibly upending a key legacy of former President Barack Obama’s administration.

The Baltimore Police Department announced it had worked out a tentative consent decree with the Justice Department just days before Trump took office. The agreement still requires approval from a federal judge.

Learning about the requested delay was a “punch in the gut,” Davis said at a news conference Tuesday morning.

Davis said the city will continue with the overhaul “no matter what.” But the consent decree is crucial to ensure the Police Department receives necessary funding to improve training and technology for officers, implement change in a timely manner, and hold leaders accountable, he said.

“The Police Department is absolutely dedicated to the consent decree process,” Davis said. “It will make us better, make the city better, and make our relationship with the community better.”