Last week, Baltimore residents have been suspicious that the city’s police department has held back, allowing crime to run rampant — but the department’s morale is at a low point, according one of its officers.
On Friday, a Baltimore officer spoke to CNN’s Anderson Cooper and said that he and his fellow officers are afraid for each other’s safety and are experiencing epic low levels of morale.
The officer, who wanted to stay anonymous, said that morale was “the worst of the worst I’ve ever seen in my career.”
He also insisted that proactive policing is no longer being practiced in Baltimore and officers go in pairs to “have each other’s backs” for their own safety.
The officer continued telling CNN that the department’s upper command staff will have to resign before things can get better.
Crime has exploded in Baltimore since the Freddie Gray riots. As the long Memorial Day weekend began, 11 shootings had already occurred from Friday afternoon into Saturday.
As a result of the growing crime in Baltimore, many have voiced suspicions that the police department is withdrawing and allowing crime to rage unopposed. But last Wednesday, Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts insisted that the rumors are untrue.
“Our officers are not holding back,” Batts said last week. “They are experiencing groups of people showing up when officers show up to calls in [Western District]… The issues in the Western District are larger than the police dept. We are going to sit down with the community and find out their needs.”
On Thursday, May 21, six Baltimore officers were indicted for the death of Freddie Gray. The officers will be arraigned on July 2.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter: @warnerthuston. Email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.