NOW IT’S THE POLICE WHO PROTEST IN BALTIMORE

By Thomas Taschinger

Beaumont Enterprise
May 31, 2015

If you think that things couldn't get any worse in Baltimore after the riots last month following Freddie Gray's death, guess again. Police have responded to the indictment of six officers in that case and the resultant chaos by pulling back. Arrests are way down, with bookings decreasing by 50 percent. Cops are either angry over the indictments or afraid of making another arrest that could end up on the front page. So consciously or unconsciously, they are standing aside instead of charging in.

Not too coincidentally, crime is up. By this weekend the city will probably exceed 40 murders for the month of May, its worst 30-day span in 15 years.

"Usually, you can't walk up and down the street drinking or smoking weed," said Donnail "Dreads" Lee to the AP. He lives in the Gilmor Homes, the public housing complex where Freddie Gray was chased down. "Now, people are everywhere smoking weed, and police just ride by, look at you, and keep going. There used to be police on every corner. I don't think they'll be back this summer."

It's a mess, and it won't change soon. And this is in a city that some say never recovered from the 1968 riots that closed many mom-and-pop businesses and sent middle-class residents fleeing to the suburbs.

Let's start by making it clear that nothing excuses police brutality - ever. Officers should use no more force than necessary to make an arrest - and preferably none at all. Police who cross the line should absolutely be held accountable. That's not politics, it's justice.

But the reality is that a lot of police work is inherently violent. It can be so in a small country town, and it can be more so in a gritty urban environment. Cops know this, and so does anyone who did a ride-along or saw a nasty arrest being made. Heck, you can watch TV shows like "Cops" or "Alaskan State Troopers" and see this from the comfort of your living room.

Some people submit calmly to arrest. Good for them - that's the quickest way to get booked in and bonded out.

Other people don't go quietly. They run and resist. They must be chased down, neutralized and handcuffed, sometimes while squirming or resisting vigorously. Some are mentally unbalanced or high on drugs and really can't react in a rational way. Some are dangerous career criminals who can hurt the cop trying to arrest them.

Police may not know which kind of person they're dealing with until the try to put the cuffs on. If they're not firm enough, they could get hurt. If they overreact, they could face charges. It's a tough needle to thread, and they must make split-second decisions that could be criticized later.

So it's no surprise that police in Baltimore are backing off. They feel stuck in a no-win situation, so they stay in their cars more and get out on the streets less. To make things worse, public anger hasn't abated either. Police Commissioner Anthony Batts told the AP, "Our officers tell me that when officers pull up, they have 30 to 50 people surrounding them at any time."

The result is the exact opposite of the proactive police work needed to fight crime effectively. It's been replaced by a reactive approach that often leads to no questioning of suspects, no confrontations and therefore no arrests.

But criminals aren't backing off. They're rushing into the vacuum and will keep pushing forward as long as they can. And they don't play by any rules.

The real losers are, of course, the law-abiding people of Baltimore, the silent majority in any neighborhood, rich or poor. They need cops to be cops again. Let's hope that happens while Baltimore can still be saved.