Let me say this - Choosing between O'Malley and Sanders

[JonLP24]

18. From David Simon?

Believe O'Malley over David Simon? I'm not sure what the article says (but I'm certainly going to read it) but you can't expect David Simon to say anything else but the truth. I trust him way, way more than I can trust ANY politician.

His record on policing is quite clear though

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The tensions date back at least to 1980, when the N.A.A.C.P. called for a federal investigation into police brutality, and continued into the past decade with a crime-fighting strategy known as “zero-tolerance policing” that led to mass arrests. Since 2010, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, just one Baltimore police officer has been prosecuted for killing a civilian: an off-duty officer who was convicted of shooting a Marine Corps veteran outside a bar.

“This is part of a decades-long, growing frustration over the extent to which police in Baltimore have adopted a highly militarized approach to policing residents of our city,” said Sonia Kumar, a staff lawyer with the A.C.L.U. of Maryland, which brought a 2006 lawsuit to change some police practices here.

On Friday, the police said Mr. Gray should have received medical treatment immediately at the scene of the arrest, and confirmed he was riding in a van unbuckled, a violation of department policy.

“Over the years, we have had a number of incidents that have tarnished this badge and the reputation of this department,” said Police Commissioner Anthony Batts, adding, “I have been a reform commissioner.”

<snip>

Civil rights advocates and some elected officials here trace the tensions to “zero-tolerance policing,” a crime-fighting strategy championed by Martin O’Malley, the former governor and a potential Democratic candidate for president, when he was the mayor of Baltimore from 1999 to 2007. Aides of Mr. O’Malley note that on his watch, the number of annual homicides dropped below 300 per year for the first time in more than a decade, and that violent crime in Baltimore dropped by 41 percent. Steve Kearney, a top aide to Mr. O’Malley when he was the mayor, described the policies as “appropriate for the time.”

But zero-tolerance policing led to mass arrests of people for small infractions, as well as intense “community frustration,” Ms. Kumar of the A.C.L.U. said. “Countless innocent people,” she added, “were getting caught up in this dragnet style of policing.”

In 2006, the A.C.L.U and the N.A.A.C.P. sued Baltimore, alleging a broad pattern of abuse. The city settled in 2010 for $870,000 and publicly abandoned zero-tolerance policing. But people here say tensions persist.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/25/us/baltimores-broken-relationship-with-police.html?_r=0

African-American actors and his assistant director were swept under this 100,000+ arrest dragnet in 2005 (the governor election was in '06).

When it comes to "bad math" this is probably more specific


Homicide Rate, Police Procedures Questioned
Mayor Will Not Ask For Independent Audit

BALTIMORE —A recent incident may indicate how far Baltimore police will go in questioning not the suspect, but the victim of a possible crime. This comes amid questions about the city's homicide rate for 2005.

Last year, the Baltimore City Police Department reported 269 homicides, but the State Medical Examiner's Office, which handles victims of homicides statewide, reported 275.

WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team lead investigative reporter Jayne Miller reported the medical examiner reported a raw homicide number at 288. But 13 of those are cases don't count against the city's total.

<snip>

The latest questions come one day following the 11 News I-Team's report turning up criminal incidents in the city that have gone unreported.

One instance includes a fight in Baltimore's Cherry Hill neighborhood that was declared unfounded because, according to the police commissioner, the two assault victims refused to cooperate.

Another incident includes a shooting last November in south Baltimore that officers did not write up -- even though police located and interviewed the intended target. Instead, it was lumped in with a robbery from the same night a short distance away, but that report makes no mention of the shooting.

Then, there's a complaint from a Baltimore woman in last month. Miller said she called police when she came home from an evening out to report that her belongings in her apartment had been moved around.

Miller reported the first officers to respond wrote a burglary report, but some time later a lieutenant stepped in to question the woman.

She described that questioning as "being drilled like the Spanish inquisition." She deemed the topic as something very private: her mental health.

<snip>

On Tuesday, the mayor said he wouldn't object to an independent audit of the city's crime numbers now, but he will not be the one asking for it.

"No, I'm not asking for an independent audit. The, uh, no I'm not asking for one," O'Malley said.

"Do you intend to ask for an independent audit?" Miller asked the mayor.

"No, I don't. But I know political opponents always ask for one in an election year. We audit internally all the time," O'Malley said.

http://www.wbaltv.com/Homicide-Rate-Police-Procedures-Questioned/8885162