BALTIMORE (AP) - A harshly critical Justice Department report says Baltimore police officers routinely discriminate against blacks, use excessive force and are not adequately disciplined for misconduct.
The report being issued Wednesday represents a damning indictment of how the city's police officers carry out the most fundamental of policing practices, including traffic stops and searches and responding to First Amendment expression.
The Justice Department is seeking a court-enforceable consent decree to force the police agency to commit to improving its procedures in order to avoid a lawsuit.
The federal investigation was launched after the April 2015 death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man whose neck was broken while he was handcuffed and shackled but left unrestrained in the back of a police van.
