Baltimore police are seeking federal assistance to combat a surging crime rate as the city deals with the aftermath of the death of Freddie Gray in police custody, an incident that sparked days of intense protests.
Police commissioner Anthony Batts said on Wednesday that the department had requested more federal agents and prosecutors to be dispatched to Baltimore after the city recorded 43 murders in May, the highest murder rate in the city since 1972.
“We understand fully the concern over the recent violence,” Batts said. “Nothing is more important than the sanctity of human life within this city.”
Batts said the city’s police department was “in a stage of frustration and anger” because of this unrest and the charges against six officers over Gray’s death.
Gray, 25, died in April after suffering a spinal injury while in police custody. His death sparked demonstrations that included rioting and looting. In May, Baltimore state attorney Marilyn Mosby charged six police officers in the case.
Batts said that during and since the looting and protests, 27 pharmacies and two methadone clinics had been broken into.
“There’s enough narcotics on the streets of Baltimore to keep it intoxicated for a year,” he said.
Batts said that increase had thrown the city off-balance. He also linked the violence to turf wars between drug dealers.
“Criminals are selling those stolen drugs,” Batts said. “There are turf wars that are leading to violence and shootings in our city.”
Batts’s announcement came on the same day Baltimore police released new statistics about how many officers have been fired for misconduct since the commissioner started work in September 2012. The numbers were released following conflicting reports about how many people had been terminated.
In March, a spokesperson for Batts told the Baltimore Sun 25 people had been fired. In April, Batts said 50 employees had been terminated for misconduct. On Wednesday, the department said: “There have been a total of 72 forced separations from the agency.”
“The forced separations assist in building trust both in the community and within the department,” Baltimore police said in a statement on Wednesday.
