fbpx

Opinion: Tough-On-Crime Strategies Like Those Proposed For Baltimore Don’t Work In Corrupt Police Departments

Opinion: Tough-On-Crime Strategies Like Those Proposed For Baltimore Don’t Work In Corrupt Police Departments

Opinion: tough-on-crime strategies like those proposed for Baltimore don’t work in corrupt police departments, according to political organizer Dayvon Love. Baltimore police walk near a mural depicting Freddie Gray after prosecutors dropped remaining charges against the three Baltimore police officers who were still awaiting trial in Gray’ death, in Baltimore, July 27, 2016. The decision by prosecutors comes after a judge had already acquitted three of the six officers charged in the case. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

Baltimore-based political organizer Dayvon Love, the Director of Public Policy for Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, a grassroots think-tank that advances the public policy interests of Black people, doesn’t think tough-on-crime strategies like those proposed for Baltimore by Governor Larry Hogan will ever work in corrupt police departments. And Love has written more than a couple of opinion pieces expressing just this.

In The Baltimore Sun, Love recently wrote that a move by the Maryland government to fund 25 new prosecutors to prosecute crime in Baltimore City will not make a real dent in crime when there is a “central flaw in the public safety ecosystem. That flaw is the long-standing culture of corruption within law enforcement.” The policies are also being pushed by Maryland’s longtime Senate president Mike Miller.

Love went on to talk about his own work to push for change in the police force. 

“For the past several years, I have been advocating for police accountability measures in the legislature, and they have been met with tremendous pushback from Annapolis leadership. While the emphasis on addressing police misconduct and brutality was a primary focus of my advocacy for police reform legislation, the continued reluctance to deal seriously with the culture of corruption has made the police department an extremely unreliable institution to address public safety,” he wrote.

According to Love, cracking down and issuing harder sentencing really won’t change the crime stats when the police department remains corrupt. And in the end, the Brown and Black communities are hit hardest as these tough-on-crime policies tend to focus on those communities. 

“Instead, we will see tougher sentences, more prosecutions and more Black and Brown bodies behind bars,” he wrote, noting that the policies of Miller have tended to hard people of color.

Love said this sentiment of Miller’s goes way back to 1989 when he once said in 1989: “Baltimore is a goddamn ghetto… It is s**t … It is a war zone. I mean it’s crack… these dime bags of PCP…” This type of language was echoed by President Donald Trump last year when he called Baltimore a “rat and rodent-infested mess.” 

Love isn’t merely complaining he also offered solutions.

“An actual public safety strategy that would have a real impact in Baltimore should include police reform measures that root out police corruption that leads to ineffective policing. It would also include more resources for witness protection so that people feel safe coming forward to put away people who are harming the community. Finally, it should also include holistic anti-violence programs that are now extremely underfunded,” he suggested.