Report says Baltimore police were ordered to allow looting and ‘chaos’

[brooklynite]

Source: The Guardian

Baltimore police officers were ordered by their commissioner to allow rioters the space to destroy and loot property during a spate of unrest in the city following the death in custody of 25 year-old Freddie Gray in April, according to a partisan review by the city’s powerful police union.

On Wednesday, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge Three published its scathing assessment (pdf) of police and city management during the unrest, which left 19 buildings and 144 vehicles burned, concluding the rioting was “without question, preventable” and argued police commanders “failed to meet professional standards on all levels”.

“As a result, chaos and lawlessness ensued,” the report states.

The observations prompted immediate criticism from Baltimore’s mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who accused the union of relying on “baseless and false information” to reach its conclusions.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/08/report-says-baltimore-police-were-ordered-to-allow-looting-and-chaos

[irisblue]

1. well then...

no keep on...
sons of the devil

[bigworld]

2. They tried to make the protesters look bad

by leaving police cars as bait, unprotected, knowing that a couple knuckleheads would break into them and alight them-- and ensuring that news coverage would show the burning police cars all night long.

They did this in Ferguson as well.

[jonno99]

3. Who are "they" - and why would they want to display "burning police cars"? nt

[Joe Chi Minh]

11. They are called 'agents provocateurs'*. Why else, but to demnise the protesters?

Though I've read, 'provocative agents'. If it caught on, it would make more sense that using the French term, although 'provoking agents' would be better. The police themselves often have a few of their number, obviously in 'plain clothes', acting in that capacity, to discredit protesters.

[randys1]

4. I know someone here at DU who suggested the police were involved with the on fire police

car in Ferguson or the unrest itself, he had that comment HIDDEN

so be careful

I thought it was ABSURD to hide that on a liberal message board, but beware


(dont recall now if it was a car on fire or just vandalized, whatever)

[Saviolo]

9. Not only that

... but there is widespread theory that it was done for the G20 in Toronto, as well.

http://backofthebook.ca/2010/06/28/the-g20-were-the-burning-police-cars-bait-cars/3413/

And even picked up by the national paper the Globe and Mail:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/why-were-police-cruisers-left-to-burn-at-g20-summit/article572789/

[7962]

5. The mayor admitted it, then backtracked.

Everyone remembers her speech when she said it.

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. And teh Police Commissioner just got fired!

he Baltimore mayor fired the city's police commissioner, Anthony Batts, Wednesday afternoon.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake did not give a reason. The decision came Wednesday after the release of a police union report, which investigated police action in response to the Freddie Gray protests. The report found officers had little to no training in policing riots and that police response was "inadequate in many areas." Additionally, it found that the "credible threat" of gang members looking to "take out" law enforcement officers was an unconfirmed rumor.

https://news.vice.com/article/baltimore-police-commissioner-anthony-batts-fired?utm_source=vicenewstwitter

[Comrade Grumpy]

7. Look in the mirror, cops. You only get away with thuggery for so long.

[Dont call me Shirley]

8. K & R

[awoke_in_2003]

10. And AA church burnings...

get almost no mention in the media.

[bemildred]

12. Baltimore mayor fires police chief

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has fired the city’s police commissioner, Anthony W. Batts.

“Over the past three years Officer Batts has served our city with distinction,” Rawlings-Blake told reporters at a news conference Wednesday. “He helped modernize our police force. He helped put more cops on the street during peak periods of crime.

“But as we have seen in recent weeks, too many continue to die on our streets,” she added. “We need a change.”

The Baltimore Police Department has come under fire in recent weeks for the 144 homicides committed in the city during the first six months of the year — a 48 percent increase from the same period last year. About half of those homicides have occurred since riots rocked the city after the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray while in police custody.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/baltimore-mayor-fires-police-chief-119856.html

[seveneyes]

13. "we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well"

Didn't Baltimore’s mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake make that statement?