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In Baltimore, Brazen Officers Took Every Chance to Rob and Cheat

nytimes.com

11–20 of 222 posts

Re: In Baltimore, Brazen Officers Took Every Chance to Rob and Cheat

#11
post #6
post #5

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.

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

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.

Re: In Baltimore, Brazen Officers Took Every Chance to Rob and Cheat

#13
post #9

So I guess "The Wire" was basically a documentary?

The situation sounds much more like The Shield. The Wire was focused on institutional problems. It was more interested in the tragedy that incentives in the police force and city government were such that barely an iota of thought was ever given as to how to actually fix the problems of the city. Instead most work was expended in public relations efforts, cooking the books and ass covering. There was one storyline in…

Yeah, main character(s) of the Wire were "good police" which is what caused many of them to self destruct trying to get actual police work done in a setting where politics was more important than justice.

These guys don't exactly sound like good police: "The unit, whose purpose was to get guns off the street, even stole and sold guns."

Re: In Baltimore, Brazen Officers Took Every Chance to Rob and Cheat

#14
post #6
post #5

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.

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

> how do you reform something so broken? a clean sweep? bring in the feds?

Both.

Re: In Baltimore, Brazen Officers Took Every Chance to Rob and Cheat

#15
post #11
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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.

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

Re: In Baltimore, Brazen Officers Took Every Chance to Rob and Cheat

#17
post #7

So I guess "The Wire" was basically a documentary?

Yes it basically is based on true stories. I live in Baltimore, I should say just lived, because I just moved out. The city is every bit as corrupt, dangerous, and malicious as it's made out to be. Don't want anything further to do with this city. And the folks here were delirious thinking that Amazon was going to set up HQ2.

I've always liked Baltimore, but I never lived there. I used to visit every year when I lived up North, but since moving to Richmond, I haven't been up at all. I kind of miss the weird grittiness it has.

Re: In Baltimore, Brazen Officers Took Every Chance to Rob and Cheat

#18
The article doesn't mention how Detective Sean Suiter was shot in the head the day before he was to testify for the grand jury against the task force officers.

FWIW, this was not news to the residents of Baltimore. They have been talking about this for over 25 years. Anyone who listened could hear about it. Nobody really gave a shit.

A friend of mine grew up in East Baltimore. They would sit outside on their stoop, because the parents didn't want them inside, and there was no place to play outside other than in the street - no playgrounds, no trees, no parks, no back yards. Sometimes cops would roll up on their corner, get out, and question them about what they were doing. "We're sitting." They were told to empty their pockets. If they had any money on them, the police would confiscate it and drive off.

Re: "one of the most startling police corruption scandals in a generation" - they aren't mentioning how Baltimore City Detention Center was literally controlled entirely by the Black Guerrilla Mafia for 20 years. 44 employees and inmates were arrested in a sting operation a few years ago.

Or how the city's police used aerial and other surveillance methods (thanks, FBI) to tap and track mobile phones without a warrant or court order.

Other recent controversies involve the wrongful death of Freddie Gray, planting drugs on a suspect on camera, and a US Justice Department report condemning the BCPD for "violating the constitutional rights of citizens, using excessive force, and discriminating against African Americans".

Re: In Baltimore, Brazen Officers Took Every Chance to Rob and Cheat

#20
The first two federal officers involved in a Bitcoin-related investigation (Silk Road) stole the money and tried to cover it up. Which shows just how bad US law enforcement culture is. People like this can, and should be, filtered out.

At some point I hope to see a #MeBlue social campaign by good cops to out bad cops.

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