Baltimore Police have a rape problem. Tell the DOJ to hold them accountable.
Sign the Petition
* denotes required fields
YOU WILL RECEIVE PERIODIC UPDATES FROM COLOROFCHANGE.ORG. YOU MAY UNSUBSCRIBE AT ANY TIME.
Baltimore Police have a rape problem. Tell the DOJ to hold them accountable.
“Conniving little whore.” That’s what a Baltimore prosecutor called a rape survivor to which a Baltimore police officer replied--“Lmao! I feel the same.”
Baltimore police’s mistreatment of rape survivors is the one of the worst of any police department in the nation. A Department of Justice report found that the department “seriously and systematically” under-investigates sexual assault in addition to rampant and violent systemic racism. Officers were even discovered coercing women to hand over sexual favors--which is by all definitions, rape.
Yet, the Justice Department has been forking over MILLIONS of dollars in reward grants. In the next few weeks, the DOJ will be negotiating a consent decree with Baltimore Police in order to force them to make reforms addressing the horrific concerns in this report. But the DOJ can’t expect Baltimore Police to take these demands seriously if it continues granting them award money. Consent decrees often drag on for years, while the police department continues its misconduct. If the DOJ is serious about ensuring this kind of terror never again happens on their dime, they’ll freeze all grant funds and won’t award new grants until Baltimore Police meet the reform demands laid out in the consent decree.
The DOJ is requesting community input for the next few weeks--we don’t have much time to make sure Baltimore police are truly held accountable. Will you sign the petition?
Below is the letter we will send to Attorney General Loretta Lynch on your behalf:
Dear Attorney General Loretta Lynch,
Along with people across the world, I was horrified reading the results of the Justice Department's investigation of the Baltimore Police Department. It's a great step towards holding Baltimore police accountable for years of misconduct--but it's not enough.
History has shown us that placing police departments under consent decree and ensuring they make the reforms agreed upon can take years, even decades, to accomplish. Baton Rouge Police Department has been under consent decree for 36 years.
The kind of rampant disregard for sexual assault survivors and violent racism that Baltimore police have shown is something we can't wait years and years to fix. This is why I am writing to ask that you hold back federal grant funding and refuse to award new grants to the Baltimore Police Department until they are in compliance with their consent decree. Freezing federal grants will give the consent decree the teeth it needs to actually be successful. The people of Baltimore are counting on you to make sure that the atrocities occurring in Baltimore city don't continue on your dime.
Thank you,
[Your name]