Baltimore Police Department has been under intense public scrutiny following the murder of Freddie Gray by Baltimore Police Officers. All charges against the officers were eventually dropped but the Baltimore Police Department is back in the headlines for their latest scandal.
Recently, a group of Baltimore cops were accused of selling confiscated drugs, robbing drug dealers, and much more.
Detective Marcus Taylor, was found with a fake gun in his patrol car. During interrogation, one of his team members explained why. Detective Maurice Ward, one of the officers implicated in the corruption charges said that his sergeant, Wayne Jenkins, told his team members to carry toy guns in case they found themselves in a situation where an unarmed suspect was shot and they needed to plant evidence.
In April of 2016, a 13-year-old boy was shot by Baltimore police and a replica gun was found on the scene. With the recent revelations, many are questioning the validity of evidence presented by Baltimore police officers.
HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO STRUCTURAL RACISM
African Americans make up only 13% of the population but are 35% of the unarmed people that were killed by police in 2017.
Many times, the police blame their deadly response on the actions of their victims but if police officers are manufacturing evidence, the public may never know the truth behind hundreds of fatal police shootings.
According to the report, “Mapping Police Violence”, most unarmed people killed by police in 2017 were people of color. Black people were more likely to be killed by police, more likely to be unarmed, and less likely to be threatening someone when killed.
12 –year-old Tamir Rice was killed by a police officer who said he thought Rice had a weapon. The weapon turned out to be a toy gun but now that we have uncovered this deplorable police tactic, more questions are being raised.
This is not the first time cops have been caught planting evidence. Another Baltimore officer, Richard A. Pinheiro , was charged with misconduct and fabricating evidence after his body camera caught him planting drugs in a nearby field.
For more on this see, ” Baltimore Cops Kept Toy Guns to Plant Just in Case They Shot an Unarmed Person“.
