that have focused on freddie gray s death, but on the ongoing structural challenges that we see in the relationship between law enforcement and community. the attorney general expressed her support for seeing through the work that the justice department had already begun, indicating that her resources, her staff, her support would be here for the long term but there were also some other conversations that we wanted to have about our ongoing concern about what we re continuing to see in communities across the city. and what is that? you asked for a pattern in practice investigation, what do you want to see? well the pattern of practice investigation says that we have reason and reason for pause and cause to look at structural and systemic incidences and continuing practices that violate the constitutional rights of citizens of baltimore. this is not just a matter of freddie gray s death. it is a matter of freddie gray s death being another in a long line of issues that we see
a pattern or practice of stops, searches, or arrests that violate the fourth amendment. i am asking that they investigate what systemic changes or systemic changes exist within our excuse me challenges that exist within our police department that can contribute to excessive force and discriminatory policing. at the end of this process, i will hold those accountable if change is not made. we cannot be timid in addressing this problem, and i m a mayor that does not shy away from our city s big challenges. at no other time in our city s recent history has any administration brought this level of resources to the table to change our police department. while the past few days have been some of our dark estest the city has ever seen we ve also seen a resilience that sets
so we could become a safer city but also a better city. did ms. lynch say commit to doing this investigation? they have to do a review. i m making the request. they ll do their evaluation and get back to us. she understands the urgency of this request and i do not believe they will delay an answer. as you announce this review into police practices, one of the officers in the gray case is saying that he did not do anything wrong in stopping gray because he says that gray s knife was illegal. what do you make of those reports and have you seen evidence or pictures of the knife? i made it very clear that my goal was to make sure that my police department did everything that they needed to do to ensure that we got the information, all of the investigative material to the state s attorney so she could make that determination.
community. and recent events continue to demonstrate the need to press forward with these reforms. we have to get it right. failure is not an option. in order to achieve the kind of sustainable and significant reform that we want to see, that i want to see, that the citizens want to see in baltimore, i m requesting the department of justice conduct a federal pattern or practice investigation into the baltimore city police department. the department of justice has employed these investigations in communities across our nation to reform serious patterns and practices of excessive force, bias policing and other unconstitutional practices by law enforcement. such an investigation is essential if we are going to build on the foundation of reforms that we have instituted over the past few years. i m asking the department of justice to investigate if our police department has engaged in
in our conversations, it was clear that for me i needed to look for any and all resources that i could bring to my city to make sure that we get this right for the community. we have to have a police department that believes wholeheartedly in community policing working in partnership with the police to have safer communities, and in order to do that, we have to find a way toward that foundation of trust. this relationship can t go anywhere without that trust relationship. and that s why i made the request for a pattern and practice review, civil rights review, so we could start to get to healing, so we could become a safer city, but also a better city. did ms. lynch say the pattern and practice investigation? they have to do a review. i m making the request and they ll do their evaluation and get back to us.