Just one month after the death of Freddie Gray occurred, Baltimore had the highest number of killings in a single month since the early 1970s.
The explanation that the Baltimore Police Department gives for this landmark statistic is that its officers are afraid to use force due to fear of ridicule or charges being filed against them.
Freddie’s death, which sparked highly publicized and racially charged riots within Baltimore, was the product of police brutality and occurred nearly a day after he arrived in the emergency room with an almost completely severed spine.
His spine was believed to have been injured as a result of his arresting officer’s conscious decision to drive dangerously while transporting him, as a means of “roughing him up a little.” Subsequently, the six officers involved in his death were indicted on criminal charges, some facing up to thirty years in prison.
Freddie’s death was the third of its kind following the deaths of two other young African American males, Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, at the hands of the police.
The growing fear of police officers being targeted in Baltimore because of their arrest tactics is an especially alarming issue, considering the fact that the Federal Bureau of Investigation ranked Baltimore as having the fifth highest homicide rate in the country in 2014.
The chances that there is no correlation between Freddie Gray’s controversial death back in April and May’s record-breaking murder month are astronomical. When asked to comment on the unusually high amount of killings (42) that occurred in May, officers admitted to using less extreme methods of apprehending suspects who are likely armed including refusing to engage in foot chases when criminals flee the scene of a crime.
Many officers have also stated that they believe that some Baltimore residents are now taking advantage of the police force’s sensitivity to the situation by using this time to act on personal vendettas and killing those that pose conflict to them while convenience is a factor.
What these events seem to say is that America wants a less active police force; that is, many Americans have lost faith in the authorities’ abilities to handle criminal disputes fairly and effectively.
A single decision by an officer in a life-threatening situation can mean the difference between protecting the city and starting a national crisis, and I think that we should step back and let them focus on making the right decisions instead of watching closely and waiting for them to make the wrong ones.
Deaths like Freddie’s are obviously not accidents and those responsible should face consequences, but we need to let the police do their jobs since they are the only ones who can do them. If force is necessary to arrest a violent criminal, then it needs to be exerted so that the perpetrators are off the streets and behind bars. If there is foul play involved, we need to trust that justice will be served to parties at fault.
We need to treat police-related deaths on a case-by-case basis rather than condemning all instances of police force because of a few major events.
One Baltimore police officer stated to CNN that they have given the public the less aggressive police force that they desire and now citizens are starting to realize that maybe that isn’t what’s best for them.
I think that the more the crime rate increases, the more the public will once again value the police department and realize that a few bad cops don’t make for an entirely corrupt department.
Whether or not this is actually the cause for the recent increase in homicides in Baltimore, we don’t need to be giving those in charge of our safety a reason to quit doing their jobs. However, one thing is for sure: if something isn’t done about it, a deadly future is in store for Baltimore.
Mark Sandefur is a junior civil engineering and public policy major from Madison, Mississippi.
