'You Can't Put A Band-Aid' On Baltimore Police, Consent Decree Monitor Says Rebuild Needed
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — From planting evidence, to overtime schemes to the infamous Gun Trace Task Force, it's no secret Baltimore City Police have been ravaged by corruption over the years.
"There's a culture and has been a culture of corruption in this department for a very long time," said Kenneth Thompson, Monitor for Baltimore Consent Decree.
2019 marks two years of the Baltimore Consent Decree- which will focus on the training of stops and searches along with the use of force.
"You can't put a Band-aid on this. you have to rebuild department from the bottom up," Thompson said.
The House of Delegates Judiciary Committee was briefed Thursday in Annapolis on its status, and Monitor Kenneth Thompson was not holding back.
"The Baltimore Police Department is a dysfunctional organization, highly dysfunctional,"
Thompson continued to highlight old policies and a department that is largely understaffed, along with trust issues that he says are still being felt.
"You've got 300 murders every year for the last few years, how do you expect to solve those crimes unless you get information from the public, and public won't give information to police if they don't trust them," Thompson said.
This, along with an internal affairs department that he says lacks accountability.
"The accountability systems, internal affairs, is a reflection of how poor the rest of the department is but I'd multiple that by 10," Thompson said.
The aim is a complete overhaul that could take years.
"Substantial work is going to have to be done and this is not a quick fix," Thompson said.
Baltimore City FOP President put out a tweet addressing Thompson's comments Thursday saying:
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