Posted on 06/04/2015 8:53:15 AM PDT by BradtotheBone
BALTIMORE (Reuters) - Baltimore police are seeking more federal help in the face of a sharp upturn in murders fueled by drug turf wars, Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said on Wednesday.
The deadly surge has come as police tactics have come under criticism following the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died in April from injuries in police custody.
Batts said that 27 pharmacies and two methadone clinics had been broken into since rioting, arson and looting erupted on April 27 hours after Gray's funeral.
"There's enough narcotics on the streets of Baltimore to keep it intoxicated for a year," he said at a news conference flanked by federal and state police officials.
"That amount of drugs has thrown off the balance" between gangs in the city, he said.
Baltimore posted 43 murders in May, the highest monthly total since 1972. Batts said he was requesting more federal agents and prosecutors to help fight the upturn in crime.
Batts said that in the last week officers had served 14 warrants assisted by federal agents and state police, and a task force of local, state and federal officers had arrested 83 people with open warrants.
Batts said one man had been arrested for the shooting deaths of a 27-year-old man and a 9-year-old boy over the May 23-25 Memorial Day weekend.
Six officers have been charged in the Gray case, and the U.S. Justice Department is investigating the Baltimore police over the use of force. Batts said the International Association of Chiefs of Police, a professional group, would investigate the Gray case as well.
Baltimore police were "in a stage of frustration and anger" over the charges and the unrest, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Same old, same old. Incompetent nincompoops IN GOVERNMENT, royally screw things up to the point where they need to BEG TAXPAYERS for MORE GOVERNMENT!
Frankly, I’m surprised it took them this many weeks!
1. Space to Destroy
2. Tell the police to stand down
And you wonder what went wrong...
sounds so Rudy ish....
Sorry, but I have zero sympathy for Bawlmer. You elected The Entitled, then neutered your cops. You wanted to give thugs their space. NOW DEAL WITH IT.
This whole thing was a setup to create an American Gestapo, the FedGov running local police in Democrap-controlled enclaves.
The Obama-Holder Plan is working perfectly.
The mayor sided with the thugs and threw the PD under the bus, they can deal with the consequences.
So - the utter irresponsibility and incompetence of the Baltimore city government comes out of my wallet - why?
Fill in the blank with any thing you can think of and it will likely be true.
They caused this and the taxpayers have to be punished
Its post apocalyptic there now. Just waiting for the gangs to start driving stripped down cars and motorcycles, wearing funnier looking clothes, face paint, and helmets festooned with feathers.
Is this on top of the 20 million for which they already asked?
Realizing some questions should not be asked...
Why would Congress ever approve funding as long as DoJ is considering its course of action?
EZ payments deducted from welfare checks.
One f my sons asked why the blacks were rioting in Baltimore (when we were watching live coverage); I told him it was because they could steal what they wanted and they knew white people would fix everything the next day. The following morning, while he was putting on his shoes for school in front of the TV, as if on cue a white tow truck driver was towing away one of the burned cars.
Once white people stop cleaning up after them (and certainly avoid paying for it), then this will stop.
bump
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.