( Day 7 of #BmoreFerguson | Day 502 of #TyroneWest )
The following events are occurring Tuesday, December 2, 2014…
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at 9:30 AM, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s “Working Study Group” on Body Cameras for the Baltimore Police Department will be held at the University of Maryland’s School of Law. This will be the group’s second meeting, and the first time the Mayor has publicly announced the meeting. We encourage all community members who are able to do so, to attend this meeting and take notes / film, and then share your thoughts with Baltimore Bloc.
Despite claiming that she wants Baltimore Police to wear body cameras, the Mayor is preparing to veto a bill that was recently passed by the City Council that would require them to do so. Her excuse has been that the Baltimore Police have yet to conduct a comprehensive study on how best implement the technology; therefore nothing can be done until her research group finishes their project.
Baltimore Bloc released an open letter on November 8 declaring their support for body cameras on the condition that all officers, especially those with a history of violence or misconduct (“Violent Repeat Officers”) and those officers in the Special Enforcement Section, more commonly known as “The Knockers” or “The Jumpout Boys.” In addition to that, Baltimore Bloc also demanded that an independent 3rd party store the data collected.
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at 3:00 PM, the Baltimore City Council’s Public Safety Committee will hold their Quarterly Oversight Hearing of the Baltimore Police Department, in the Council Chambers at City Hall.
Police Commissioner Anthony Batts and his command staff will speak before Councilman Warren Branch, Chairman of the Public Safety Committee, and other councilmembers.
As Baltimore Bloc has observed on several occasions before, there has been very little community participation at the Quarterly Oversight Hearings. As the entire nation focuses on issues of police brutality and accountability in the wake of Mike Brown’s murder by a Ferguson, MO police officer and the failure of the grand jury to indict his killer, Baltimore Bloc calls on the citizens of Baltimore to attend this hearing and work toward an end to police brutality and for a fully-accountable police department here at home.
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(Videos are from “Quarterly Oversight Hearing” on April 3, 2014)
Police Commissioner Batts
PFK BOOM
Duane “Shorty” Davis
Tiffany McAllister
Tony Simmons
Shaka Zulu
For more info on the movement to end police brutality and mass incarceration in Baltimore and beyond, follow the Baltimore Bloc on Twitter and Facebook.
The Baltimore Eclipse 