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Baltimore mayor: New riot gear before Freddie Gray verdict

Priority after April riots, when officers were not equipped with enough shields or body armor and 160 were injured

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By Justin George
The Baltimore Sun

BALTIMORE — Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Wednesday that police will be equipped with new riot gear before verdicts in the Freddie Gray murder trial come down.

The pledge was made after Rawlings-Blake acknowledged that officers were not equipped with enough shields or body armor during the April riots when 160 officers were injured.

“We hope to never have such unrest again in our city but if we do, we need to make sure our officers are equipped for whatever situation they encounter,” Rawlings-Blake said during a news conference at City Hall. “Specifically, I want to make sure our officers are prepared should there be additional unrest following the verdicts in the Freddie Gray case.”

Gray’s death on April 19 after he was injured in a police transport van launched the city into unrest including citywide riots that resulted in more than 380 businesses reporting damage and 61 buildings sustaining fire damage. Six officers involved in the detention, arrest or transport of Gray have been charged with various crimes. All have pleaded not guilty.

Over the last two months, officers have said Rawlings-Blake, Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts and his command staff ordered them to not engage looters and rock throwers. They say that order left them vulnerable to attacks and also condoned the destruction that occurred.

Batts and his top commanders say there were multiple times officers were told to “hold the line” but the orders were given for officer safety because there was not enough back up or support for officers to engage mobs.

Commanders said officers were sometimes asked to forego arresting looters and arsonists conducting property damage because they were about to be redeployed to locations where officers or civilians had reported injuries or attacks.

Rawlings-Blake said no order was given asking officers to stand down and passively watch buildings get raided.

“It’s important to understand that they weren’t allowed to be looted,” Rawlings-Blake said. “The officers were given tactical instructions to help ensure that they were safe as well as to deal with the situation. Unless you have enough officers to fully deal with the siltation, they’re not going to be sent into a situation where they can’t fully engage.”

She reiterated that she never told officers to allow the looting to go on.

“I want to be very clear, that no such order was given from me or the mayor’s office,” Rawlings-Blake said. “I would never tell our police officers to engage in any activity that increased the dangers that they already face every day. Nor would I tell our police officers to allow the destruction of our city.”

She said the city is taking corrective actions to make sure officers are better prepared “should we confront a similar challenge in the future.”

All of police’s riot equipment is being inventoried and tested. Rawlings-Blake said some shields that had never been used in a tactical situation failed, and she said they will be replaced. Many officers have said they didn’t have shields while few had available “turtle gear” or body armor.

Rawlings-Blake said a system of regular review of equipment has been instituted.

“We owe it to them and to the safety of our city to make sure they are properly equipped for whatever they encounter,” she said.

She said police are also installing working video cameras that have the capability to record in every police transport van.

The police transport van that carried Gray had a video camera installed but it was broken, police have said. Even if it functioned, police say, the camera did not record but only allowed the driver to check on prisoners in the van’s holding area while driving.

Copyright 2015 The Baltimore Sun

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