Murders are on the rise in Baltimore and arrests by police are down. One possible reason: Cops are making fewer arrests, part of a deliberate work slowdown after six police officers were arrested for Freddie Gray, Jr.’s death in police custody.
In May, Baltimore experienced 43 murders, the deadliest month in the city in 40 years. Arrests are down 50 percent.
This week, another shooting happened near Dajanai Myers’ home.
“It’s not surprising anymore to see police tape or to see a body in the street. “It’s not surprising, because it happens all the time,” Myers told CBS News.
The Baltimore police union issued a statement saying officers are “under siege” and “more afraid of going to jail for doing their jobs properly than they are of getting shot on duty.”
Six officers were charged in the death of Freddie Gray. But police point out in the riots that followed his funeral, more than 150 officers were hurt.
This is a troubling trend where police officers sworn to protect and serve are seemingly intentionally backing off from making arrests in Black communities in Baltimore.
Some community activists argue, correctly, that excessive use of force by police and police-related deaths involving young African American men are driving the surge the violent crimes.
But there is a sad reality that Black America must also confront: Some of our Black young men are gang-bangers who are shooting each other with impunity and these young men need to be arrested and locked up.
Does the media – like Fox News — disproportionately seize on stories about Black on Black crime? Yes. But we must also accept the fact that young men are killing each other everyday and that has absolutely nothing to do with police abuse and misconduct.
Still, the violence continues and law enforcement experts and community activists have no idea when it will end.
“It’s extremely frustrating,” Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake told reporters. “It is disheartening, but I am still resolved to continue to reduce violent crime in our city.”
Sadly, Baltimore is part of a national pattern of rising crime in America where gun violence is spiraling out of control.
Rising Body Count In Baltimore Proves We Have To Face Our Own Problems was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
