Baltimore police 'to face civil rights investigation'
NEWS DESK (DİHA) - The US Justice Department is preparing to announce a civil rights investigation into the Baltimore police department as early as Friday following unrest over the death in custody of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, a person familiar with the matter has said.
Baltimore’s mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, on Wednesday asked the Justice Department to investigate the policing practices of the entire city police force. She said she requested the investigation examine whether police had engaged in “a pattern or practice of stops, searches or arrests that violate the fourth amendment” and whether any forces exist within the department that “can contribute to excessive force and discriminatory policing”.
Her request followed the unrest that roiled the city after the death of Grey from severe injuries sustained in police custody. Baltimore had already been participating in a voluntary Justice Department review. The attorney general, Loretta Lynch, told a Senate subcommittee on Thursday that more may need to be done.
In her first appearance before Congress since being sworn in last week, Lynch said she was in the process of considering the request for a full-fledged civil rights investigation. Rawlings-Blake initially appeared determined to fix the department’s problems herself, but later said she would accept outside help to repair a breakdown in public trust in a city rocked by riots sparked by the death of Gray. Six police officers have been charged by Baltimore’s top prosecutor.
The civil rights investigation, similar to ones undertaken in cities including Ferguson, Missouri, and Cleveland, will examine the policing patterns and practices of the entire police department. It is far broader in scope than a separate Justice Department investigation that aims to determine whether Gray’s civil rights were violated.
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