BALTIMORE, MD – A Central West Baltimore resident-led advocacy organization, The No Boundaries Coalition, is releasing a report on police misconduct in West Baltimore. The 25 page report chronicles 57 incidents of police misconduct told by 39 witnesses, and ends in the group’s recommendations for policy change. Stories include incidents of physical assault, verbal disrespect, police non-response to emergency calls, corruption and harassment.
The report will be released during a press conference on Tuesday March 8th at 5:30pm at Upton Triangle Park at Pennsylvania Ave and Fremont (rain location St Peter Claver church, 1526 N Fremont). The park sits 5 blocks from the site of civil unrest in Baltimore this past April following the death of the 25-year-old Sandtown resident Freddie Gray while in police custody.
Nearly a year later, many of the questions Gray’s death and subsequent unrest brought up for Baltimore City are still unanswered. The six officers indicted over the incident are still waiting delayed trials, the city is in the middle of an intensely competitive and crowded Mayoral race, state lawmakers are considering measures that could improve police accountability and the Department Of Justice is in the middle of its investigation into the Baltimore City Police Department.
At the press conference, community members who have witnessed or experienced police misconduct will tell their personal stories. Copies of the report will be available to press and the general public. Leaders from the No Boundaries Coalition will explain the report’s methodology and policy recommendations.
“We hope that our findings will influence policy makers to increase civilian oversight of the Baltimore City Police Department,” says Rebecca Nagle, Director of the No Boundaries Coalition. “Far from this being an isolated incident, we found that police misconduct was all too common for West Baltimore residents.”
The West Baltimore Community Commission on Police Misconduct engaged in an intensive fact-finding mission starting in May of 2015. The effort was overseen by a local lawyer with 28 years of experience investigating human rights abuses. The report was created in partnership with Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD) and University of Maryland.
The No Boundaries Coalition released a 4-page Executive Summary of the report this past Tuesday March 1 in Annapolis, MD calling on the state legislature to amend bills affecting the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights and the Baltimore Civilian Review Board. The full report will also include recommendations for the Baltimore Police Department and the Department of Justice's Consent Decree.
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The No Boundaries Coalition is a resident-led advocacy group building a unified and empowered Central West Baltimore (zip code 21217) across the boundaries of race, class and neighborhoods. In the past year, the No Boundaries Coalition has listened to over 1,137 Central West Baltimore residents about what feels urgent to them and what they would like to see change in their neighborhood. Out of that listening, the coalition is working to improve public safety, increase police accountability, increase access to fresh, healthy and affordable foods and increase opportunities for young people.
