Batts: Police having trouble policing West Baltimore By Justin George and Justin Fenton, The Baltimore Sun,
Police are struggling to stop violence in West Baltimore, where officers have been routinely surrounded by dozens of people, video cameras and hostility while doing basic police work since the death of Freddie Gray, Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts said Wednesday..
The Western District, the site of Gray's arrest and the epicenter of the protests and rioting that followed his death, has seen the majority of the city's recent shootings and homicides, which are coming faster than they have in eight years.
In response, Batts said, police are taking measures to re-establish relationships with West Baltimore neighborhoods still angry over Gray's death April 19, Batts said.
Police have sent in commanders from other districts with experience and contacts in West Baltimore. Backup officers are being sent to routine calls to help protect officers.
Commissioner Batts: 'I never gave a stand down order' ò
"There was no one in my command who gave a stand down order," said Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts disputing a rumor that he gave a stand down order during riots in Baltimore city. (Kevin Richardson)
"Officers tell me and their supervisors, any time they pull up to respond to a call, they have 30 to 50 people surrounding them," Batts said. "We have to send in multiple units just to do basic police work, which says we have to work on community engagement."
The comments were Batts' first on the state of his embattled agency and the surge in shootings and homicides that began about the time Gray was arrested and fatally injured.
In a 35-minute discussion with reporters, the commissioner also touched on his handling of the riots that immediately followed Gray's death. He said officers responded to an unprecedented situation with extreme bravery but also some hesitation, and said the agency has much to learn in the days ahead.
At least 19 people were shot Tuesday and Wednesday, pushing the city's nonfatal shootings more than 70 percent above the count at the same point last year. Baltimore's 98 homicides this year are 42 percent higher than the same time last year.
In the Western District — an area of three square miles — 22 people have been killed this year, compared with 21 all of last year. Nonfatal shootings in West Baltimore are up 175 percent, according to the latest police data.
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