Baltimore Officer: Violence ‘Going to Get Worse,’ Cop Slowdown ‘Direct Result’ Of Gray Indictments

An anonymous Baltimore police officer stated that the violence in the city “is definitely going to get worse” and that the lack of “proactive policing” is “definitely a direct result” of the Freddie Gray indictments on Tuesday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel.

He said, “After the protests, it seems like the citizens would appreciate a lack of police presence, and that’s exactly what they’re getting, no proactive policing right now.”

The officer added, “When you go out on the street, you trust that your command staff and those you work with will support you. The point is the tip of the spear needs the most assurance that, you know, your department, your citizens, and your mayor and city council have your back.” And that the slowdown was “definitely a direct result” of the indictment of six officers in the death of Freddie Gray. He continued, “when you have officers out there proactively targeting, trying to get violent criminals off the street, trying to reduce drug activity, trying to get armed offenders off the street, and those that are doing their jobs get indicted for murder, you couldn’t help but have repercussions where police are afraid to go out there and work, that they are apprehensive.”

He concluded that the violence “is definitely going to get worse. … I would reckon to say that this is going to be a fairly routine occurrence, double-digit shootings, high homicide rates over the course of the next three months.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett