Goose wrote:

Sure would be nice to know how that man got his neck broken, who is being held accountable, and how they are going keep it from happening again

Of course. 



 

Let's get back to what started this topic. The mayor and the statement that she made. A lot of people jumped on this and it was a statement that could be taken incorrectly (and was) by many in the media. Her subsequent statements corrected any misunderstanding of what her intent was. I like her. She seems like a well reasoned indivudual. I wish her well and all of the people who have to deal with and live with the current situation in Baltimore. 

Does anyone have a different opinion of her (which is what started this whole topic) ? 


 

Just Fred wrote:

Ok, we could 'drop the hammer' as some of you suggest.  But, Baltimore has been simmering for a long time over the issue of police brutality.  The city has paid out almost 6 million dollars to victims of police brutality over the last couple of years.

Unfortunately, the media focuses on the violence associated with out-of-control protesters.  The gut reaction is to counter the violence with violence ................ send in the troops!  Ok, in the short term it might work, but the causes and roots of the cancer have to be addressed.  It seems Baltimore was a powder keg for some time and this incident lit the fuse.

When things calm down, the people of the city will have to address the tough questions, get to the bottom of the problem and seek solutions otherwise the antagonistic relationship between the police force and the citizenry will erupt again.

Fred mentioned the $6 million paid out between 2011 and 2014. Here is the Baltimore Sun article profiling many of those cases. Certainly the Baltimore PD needs to be broken down to its core and rebuilt from the ground up. 

And we can talk all day about all of the things that create the pressure that end up leading to events like these. The cycle of poverty. Poor schools. Lack of opportunity. A chasm between the police and the community. Drugs. The lack of cohesive family units. A general feeling of hopelessness among the poor and black in our inner cities.

That said, when I am talking about dropping the hammer, I'm strictly talking about stopping the riots in thier tracks. Baltimore is a city of about 600,000 residents. A few thousand of them are causing the mayhem. The mayor and rest of the city government have an obligation to the overwheming majority of those not rioting to keep them and thier property safe. And in my opinion, the mayor failed miserably in her response. In both of her press conferences last night, there was far too much emoting and not nearly enough tactical discussion about how they were going to stop it. 

Compare that to the Maryland state police commissioner and the General from the MD national guard who succinctly laid out what they were going to do, how they were going to do, and the results they hoped to acheive.

And as far as comparing this to Ferguson, I think they are very different. The Ferguson protests were initiallly both peaceful and fairly contained. The Feguson PD and St. Louis County police showed an agressive stance. I'd argue they were the instigators that turned the protests violent.

In this case, the police knew ahead of time of the distinct chance of violence following the funeral. They had a right to get aggressive early and im my opinion held back too long to try and get things under control.

The police could have also used more parents like this mom helping out.


 

Goose wrote:

Yes. In Post # 2 I expressed my opinion before the thread wandered into burning buildings and other related matters

And do you believe her current stance of now using escalled protective forces is correct ?  I do. Once it escalated to what we are seeing now (which IS part of the topic of the mayor and her dealing with the situation ) I believe she had no choice. 

Perhaps you have another course of action at this point ? 




 

Goose wrote:

The initial protests in Baltimore were peaceful as well.

Yes they were and the Baltimore police, on advice and consent of the mayor, gave the protestors ample time and space to have their voices heard.

And then Saturday night some elements of the protestors starting ratcheting up the rhetoric and things starting getting testy.

And everyone knew Freddie Grey's funeral was taking place yesterday and the police had said their were credible threats of violence. It just seems to me that the city goverment could have been more proactive than they were.