why is it that the only time these impacted communities (black, brown & immigrants) see some of these officers are when they are being harassed and arrested? When I lived in a predominately white neighborhood here in Frederick you never saw police out and about. However, now moving and living in a more diverse community you are seen daily? Patrolling our streets, having 6 cop cars pulled up (one of which containing a K9...I know you are all aware of the history between the black community and k9 usage) in our neighborhood to remove 1 individual who was unarmed and not resisting? This does not make us feel safer. It makes us feel surveillanced at a much higher rate than our local white communities.
48% of their calls for service resulted from them choosing to approach someone. That they only made a few arrests and that there were less than 300 violent crimes, makes it more, not less likely that they are harassing citizens on the basis of bias. In addition, those are the reports that they filed. With their own supervisors banned by their contract unable to view their body cameras without reasons other than checking on officer performance, how can we even trust that data, especially with CALEA, the accrediting agency, receiving a $5,000 payment from them in the budget!?
According to our own Frederick county data, the 2 million + tourists to Frederick City and County would be an additional 35,000 individuals a week present in Frederick County, which would mean less than that each day. But even taking the full 35,000, that is about 13% of the population total of the county. So even if all of them were black, there is still an existing racial disparity, unless A/Chief Grossman is claiming we are being invaded by a large contingent of criminal black folks on a regular basis. If my math is somehow incorrect, please demonstrate specifically how.
In 2008 a partially-deaf young black man named Jarrel Gray was killed after Rudy Torres tased him twice, including once when he was already on the ground. Why are we still allowing our police to use these deadly weapons 12 years later when we know they can be fatal? How many deaths will it take before their use is discontinued?
Will you commit to outlawing dangerous and illegitimate use of chokeholds, tear gas, and military gear? Will you commit to defunding the police AND reinvesting in our communities?