Baltimore Rising Page #10

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to get their story together,

to gather information,

to gather facts is transparent.

- If he was committed...

if he committed a crime,

he could sit back and say,

"I'm not saying anything."

- But the officer

has the same right

because he has

a Fifth Amendment right,

and if he says no,

he then can say,

"Hey, I want a lawyer,"

just like this citizen.

But the difference is,

this citizen is not going

to walk out...

If you think

you have probable cause,

he's not gonna walk out

this police station.

The officer is.

- Yeah, well, you...

- That's the difference.

- Now, the thing about it is,

that's an extremely

broad stroke again,

because you're talking

about all cases

where an officer may have

been accused of something.

- So we... I'm a retired

homicide detective.

- Yeah... right, yeah, yeah.

- You can't run games

around me.

- Law Enforcement Officers'

Bill of Rights, in this state,

protects officers

when they fail to protect us,

creating barriers to gaining

access to information,

prohibiting interrogation.

Even if somebody's blood

has been painted

on the pavement,

the officer caught red-handed

cannot be demanded

to make a statement

for ten whole days.

God created the heavens

and the Earth in less.

- There is no problem

that the LEOBR works,

has worked, continues to work.

Uh, and...

we feel remiss

to be here today.

- I was a bit taken aback

by your initial comment.

I don't know what

the problem is, exactly,

but it's very clear, I think,

to virtually everybody,

there is a problem.

- I've heard very clearly

from my constituents.

They feel that officers

are playing

by a different set of rules.

- We know that

we can't honestly

have community policing

if we don't have

community members

have-have an ability

to be engaged

in the process at every level.

- You know, I think

a lot of the conversation

has been around

community-police relations.

And I think this framework

is a problematic framework

in thinking about

what the issue is,

because we're not talking about

community-police relations.

We're talking about the ability

for civilians to-to work

collaboratively,

on an equal playing field,

in the industry

of law enforcement.

And citizens have a right

to be able to have

substantive say

in the nature of how

law enforcement's administered

in their communities.

- We don't need that.

- We're opposed to citizens

judging police officers

in ba... on a basis

of misconduct.

Understanding the law

is not the issue.

It's understanding the job.

- What happened, cuzzo?

- Uh, a car had, um...

a car sped the van,

a nigga jumped out, shot it up.

- Melvin Russell is the first

and only cop

I have ever trusted.

He asked me if

I could do anything

to help him

with the murder rate.

I'm like, "I can't do the

police's job for them,

"but what I can do is keep

"the people who

haven't done anything

out of the line of fire."

- Okay, got it.

Belmont and Bloomingdale.

- All right.

- You know, that crew?

Here, take it with you.

Just don't let anybody...

Just put it in your pocket.

- Uh-huh.

- Hey, cuzzo!

If I can get the police

to lay off of my boys...

all of them... and get

these dudes to, um...

put their guns down.

The murder rate goes down,

more jobs are created.

A lot of things happen.

- So good afternoon, family.

Let me just say this:

I am very excited about

this component

of what we do in the Community

Collaboration Division, right?

And that is being the bridge

between the ex-offender

and the jobs

that are out there.

And so our next stop is

in West Baltimore,

and we're gonna set up shop

in that Sandtown-Winchester,

Gilmor community.

- One city.

- One purpose.

- One city!

- One purpose!

One purpose.

We're starting a job program

around the neighborhood

for convicted felons,

at-risk youth, gang-affiliated,

just got out of jail...

all of that.

- Okay.

- We're trying to plug

dudes back in,

but whoever you see

in the program

that's interested in going...

remember, felons...

mostly the felons, people

trying to get some work...

- Oh, you know I got

five of those.

- Yeah, so you know

who I'm talking about.

Contrary to popular belief,

man, like,

I get off of work at 4:00.

Me and the brother be out

doing this

till, like, 11:
30, 12:00

at night sometimes,

on a daily basis.

- We do this on the daily!

- A lot of people

think this is my actual job,

so...

- This is not a game.

This is not for anybody

trying to try another system

and still have one foot

out there and one foot in here.

This is for those

that are serious.

- You're going to be trained

at something

that most people have to

go to school

five and six years for,

'cause nobody... outside of us...

believes in us.

- Decisive "not guilty" verdict

in the high-profile trial

of Officer Edward Nero.

Tonight, Officer Nero is

a free man,

after a judge cleared him

of all charges

in the arrest

and subsequent death

of Freddie Gray.

- The judge wouldn't even

convict him

on misdemeanor charges.

And I felt as though

he's not gonna convict them

anyway,

because he's one of them.

- There are

a lot of people here

on the streets

that are quite upset

with this acquittal...

quite upset that, as of now,

nobody has been punished

for the death of Freddie Gray.

- Motherfuckers want to gather

around here because

a man was found

not guilty, man.

Get the f*** out of here, man.

- There's a whole city

full of f***ing sh*t

going on right now,

and y'all on this corner?

- Right!

- Somebody getting killed,

ran the f*** over...

that's where the news at.

Ain't sh*t happening over here.

There's nothing happening here.

As long as y'all here

in this capacity,

you are bringing

the wrong kind of attention.

That's my job.

You're welcome.

- I'm showing you

that it's not over.

It's a simple...

No justice, no peace!

Jail killer police!

No justice, no peace!

- Whose streets?

- Our streets!

- Whose city?

- Our city!

- Whose city?

- Our city!

- Whose streets?

- Our streets!

- The protest makes an impact

in the community,

but there are no... I feel like

there's no concrete strategy

attached to it.

Like, the visual is there.

People are being engaged

in a political process,

but that political process

isn't being used

to anything greater than

just this:

People standing on a corner.

- Like, this type of

environment is what, like...

like, it lets a lot of people

know that that's not right,

'cause people are just numb

to it, so they don't...

- No, it does something.

I'm just saying

it's not

the most productive option.

This protest is gonna happen,

it's gonna disperse,

and that's gonna be it.

The work is so hard

because a lot of people expect

all of these organizers to

be the heroes and the leaders

who are going to lead us

out of this, right?

And it's like, we need to

be shutting that narrative down

as well, because it's like...

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