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The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the nation's oldest civil rights organization, is disappointed by the decision by President Trump's Department of Justice not to bring civil rights charges against the six Baltimore Police officers who were associated with the arrest and death of Freddie Gray. The NAACP, as well as its Maryland State Conference and Baltimore City Branch, issued the following statement:
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the nation's oldest civil rights organization, is disappointed by the decision by President Trump's Department of Justice not to bring civil rights charges against the six Baltimore Police officers who were associated with the arrest and death of Freddie Gray. The NAACP, as well as its Maryland State Conference and Baltimore City Branch, issued the following statement:
"The Department of Justice let Freddie Gray's family, Baltimore residents, and the entire nation down by deciding not to charge the police officers involved with Freddie Gray's death. While we aren't surprised by the DOJ's decision - especially considering President Trump's statement that police officers should not be 'too nice' when transporting those held in police custody - we had hoped that the case would have turned out differently," said Ngozi Ndulue, Senior Director of Criminal Justice Programs at the NAACP. "The Justice Department had a real chance to demonstrate its commitment to police accountability. Instead, the DOJ's decision reiterates what we already know--the threat of federal charges against individual officers is insufficient to ensure constitutional policing. Without meaningful avenues for police accountability, the status quo prevails; communities of color are vulnerable to civil rights violations from disreputable police officers with little repercussion."
"The way the Justice Department is handling this case illustrates a deliberate weakening of civil rights enforcement under Attorney General Jeff Sessions. This decision by the DOJ highlights the need for national, state and local policing reforms to ensure that officers are held accountable if they violate constitutional rights. The NAACP will continue to fight for this step forward and advocate for the anti-racial profiling bills for which we have long championed," said Gerald Stansbury, President of the NAACP Maryland State Conference.
"The fact that we're living in a country where the death of a young man can go unanswered is heartbreaking. Our tax dollars in Baltimore are supposed to ensure our law enforcement 'protects and serves' not 'hunts and catches,'" said Tessa Hill-Aston, President of the Baltimore City Branch of the NAACP. "I have great respect for the Baltimore Police Department - and I know many of them personally - but I am disgusted by the actions taken by the individual police officers who were involved with Mr. Gray's death and further outraged by the DOJ's decision not to press charges against the accused officers. This case is part of a much bigger narrative about the value of Black lives and the willingness of our justice system to actually seek justice for Black families."
The Department of Justice said on Tuesday that it will not bring federal charges against the six police officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray.
AP reports:
The officers were charged by [Maryland] state prosecutors after Gray's neck was broken in the back of a police transport wagon in April of 2015. The 25-year-old was handcuffed and shackled at the time, but he was unrestrained by a seat belt.
Three officers were acquitted at trial. Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby dropped the remaining state cases.
The Gray family's attorney, Billy Murphy, says the Justice Department informed him on Tuesday that no charges would be filed.
Five officers face internal disciplinary trials, scheduled to begin Oct. 30.
The investigation into Gray's death has been ongoing since 2015.
A report released by the Justice Department last year in the aftermath of Gray's death found that the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) "routinely conducted unlawful stops and used excessive force, disproportionately targeting black residents."
In a statement on Tuesday reacting to the news, Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said: "We know that spines do not break without cause, and the DOJ and BPD's credibility to make change a reality in Baltimore hinges not just on their ability to institute much needed reforms to police training, policies, and practices, but also on their success in bringing to justice officers who abuse their power and take the lives of innocent residents."
"The onus is now on the BPD to hold these officers accountable at their disciplinary trials this fall and winter," Ifill concluded. "Baltimore will be watching."
Since January, the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) has been using small aircrafts to spy on residents for as much as 10 hours a day, without informing the public, in a project financed by a private donor and facilitated by a private company, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
The BPD, Bloomberg's Monte Reel wrote, has been using aerial surveillance to investigate "all sorts of crimes, from property thefts to shootings." The cameras capture an area of roughly 30 square miles and transmit images to analysts on the ground, while footage gets automatically saved to hard drives for later review.
The technology comes from a company called Persistent Surveillance Systems. Its president, Ross McNutt, developed a similar tool for the Pentagon while working for the U.S. Air Force in 2006. Over time, he modified the technology for commercial use. McNutt eventually pitched the service to the BPD after his company had faltered in finding a department for a long-term contract. He opened his office in Baltimore in January, above a parking garage, denoted only by a piece of paper taped to his door that reads, "Community Support Program."
The Cessna used for the surveillance project circled overhead crowds of protesters chanting for justice after the death of 25-year-old black Baltimore resident Freddie Gray, whose spine was severed in police custody, on the day the verdict came in not guilty for Caesar Goodson--the only officer involved in Gray's death facing a murder charge.
Reel described the day of June 23, when it became clear that a protest over Goodson's verdict would not break out: McNutt became "frustrated," Reel wrote. "He wanted to please the cops."
The BPD became the first police department to contract with McNutt, but it was not the first to test drive the technology. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's office approved a nine-day trial run in 2012 in Compton, California, a majority-black city near Los Angeles, but would not sign a contract over concerns about image quality. The secret program led to outcry from residents, as well as the mayor, when they finally found out about their constant surveillance--a year later.
"There is nothing worse than believing you are being observed by a third party unnecessarily," Compton Mayor Aja Brown told the Los Angeles Times in 2014.
After Compton came Dayton, Ohio, as McNutt improved the technology. Finally, Bloomberg reports, there was Baltimore:
[In 2015] McNutt got an e-mail on behalf of Texas-based philanthropists Laura and John Arnold. John is a former Enron trader whose hedge fund, Centaurus Advisors, made billions before he retired in 2012. Since then, the Arnolds have funded a variety of hot-button causes, including advocating for public pension rollbacks and charter schools. The Arnolds told McNutt that if he could find a city that would allow the company to fly for several months, they would donate the money to keep the plane in the air. McNutt had met the lieutenant in charge of Baltimore's ground-based camera system on the trade-show circuit, and they'd become friendly. "We settled in on Baltimore because it was ready, it was willing, and it was just post-Freddie Gray," McNutt says. The Arnolds donated the money to the Baltimore Community Foundation, a nonprofit that administers donations to a wide range of local civic causes.
Reel's revelations come as the city is already grappling with a damning report from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) which found "systemic deficiencies" at the BPD that included explicitly discriminatory directives, such as orders to "arrest all the black hoodies" in a certain neighborhood, and a pattern of targeting black and minority residents for unwarranted stops and searches.
And just a week ago, a coalition of civil rights groups filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that said the BPD's unlicensed use of a different surveillance technology known as the Stingray, which tricks mobile devices into connecting with it by mimicking a cell phone tower, is racially discriminatory and willfully impedes emergency calls.
Despite all this, according to Reel, the rest of the city, from officials to residents, was not even aware that they were being spied on from the air.
Reel concludes: "McNutt says he's sure his system can withstand a public unveiling and that the more people know about what his cameras can--and can't--do, the fewer worries they'll have. But the police ultimately decide who and what should be tracked. In a city that's struggled to convince residents that its police can be trusted, the arguments are now Baltimore's to make."