Baltimore City State’s attorney, 35-year old Marilyn Mosby, the so-called “hip-hop state’s attorney,” so far has an 0-2 record regarding her prosecution of police officers charged with various inappropriate behaviors in connection with the arrest and transport of Freddie Gray, an African American man who died in police custody. That non-conviction record has increased the already loud criticism she has been receiving daily from those who think she rushed to judgement in indicting the officers in the first place. That criticism has included a strong call not only for her to resign, but for her to drop the charges against the remaining officers indicted.
So far, she has shown no intention to do either. And, though district and state attorneys are routinely evaluated by their conviction rates, that may not be the most relevant way to assess Mrs. Mosby’s work here.
The city of Baltimore had a chronic problem involving police relations with the community long before Mrs. Mosby was elected in 2014 and sworn into office January 8, 2015. In fact, as part of her election campaign, Mrs. Mosby had promised to restore the community’s trust in Baltimore law enforcement. Between 2011-2015, Baltimore had paid an average of $1.2 million dollars a year to settle cases in which citizens accused local police of misconduct and brutality, and had already passed that total in 2015 before the Freddie Gray case.
The Freddie Gray case cost the city another $6.4 million paid to Mr. Gray’s family to insure the family did not sue the city for a lot more.
Mrs. Mosby also, for the first time, indicted active police officers for criminal conduct in the arrest and death of Mr. Gray. What consequences can be seen from that decision?
Beyond the knee-jerk criticism and the now-constant threats on her and her family’s lives, Mrs. Mosby’s indictments have increased actions to reform the Baltimore police department, including the purchase of modern police transport vans which can safely carry prisoners, the exposure of deficient police procedures (a new departmental policy requiring officers to seat-belt detainees has now been promulgated), and an end to the idea commonly accepted among Baltimore police that they can do no wrong. If there are no consequences for bad behavior, it will surely continue unabated. Whether convictions follow the indictments or not, police accountability has increased.
It is a fact that for 2016, the number of citizen complaints against police in the city have declined sharply. Mrs. Mosby’s intention to give her constituents more of a feeling that equal justice before the law is possible, and it is due them, has also moved forward. That is a selling point for her actions that cannot be overstated. It is what Baltimore citizens, and African Americans elsewhere, have sought for a very long time.
The decision to indict the officers also put pressure on the Maryland state legislature to pass laws which will improve police hiring and training procedures, which will modernize the disciplinary policies for law enforcement personnel, and which will mandate police body cameras and other reforms.
Mrs. Mosby took some bold steps in indicting six police officers, and that’s what real leaders must do—make the tough calls in spite of noise and criticism to the contrary. As one saying goes, if there is no serious criticism of an action, then that action was not serious.
For Baltimore and for other places in America, we need more millennials to step up to the plate as Mrs. Mosby has done. Trying to be silent, or trying to simply merge in in places where one will not be seen or noticed, will not suffice given the problems we now have and will continue to have for the foreseeable future. You must step up.
Go on, sister…..Show the way.
Professor David L. Horne is founder and executive director of PAPPEI, the Pan African Public Policy and Ethical Institute, which is a new 501(c)(3) pending community-based organization or non-governmental organization (NGO). It is the stepparent organization for the California Black Think Tank which still operates and which meets every fourth Friday
