On October 1, 2016, Baltimore Action Legal Team (BALT) will host the first ever Lightning BALT at Coppin State University. In collaboration with Out For Justice, Black Worker Center and Coppin State University’s Urban Studies Program, the daylong workshop provides a space for Baltimore residents, community activists, and legal workers to come together to develop a collective action plan focused on how to improve access to quality jobs and uproot sentencing disparities in Baltimore. The event is free and open to the public. 

Today the Baltimore Action Legal Team (BALT) released a list of comprehensive recommendations for the consent decree between the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division (DOJ) and the Baltimore Police Department (BPD).

BALT maintains that many areas of reform are needed, but we have directed comment and recommendations on the following critical areas: 1) unconstitutional stops, frisks, searches, and arrests; 2) the current and historical role of BPD in the greater system of structural racism; 3) infringement on individuals’ rights of free speech and assembly; 4) gender bias in policing; and 5) implementation of a community-led monitoring system over BPD and the Consent Decree. 

BALT believes that the consent decree must specifically and separately address the circumstances of young people in Baltimore. For that reason, we created a separate document that contains our demands for juveniles in Baltimore. 

Baltimore, MD - The Baltimore Action Legal Team (BALT) is devastated to learn that the Baltimore State’s Attorney has dropped all of the remaining charges against the police officers who killed Freddie Gray.                           

“Freddie was walking down the street, doing nothing wrong, when he had the misfortune of meeting the gaze of Lt. Brian Rice. It should offend and terrify every resident of Baltimore that in 2016 the act of locking eyes with a white police officer cost Freddie his life.” said Iman Freeman of BALT. “On top of that, today we learned that no one will be held accountable for his murder.”

In announcing the decision, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said that Baltimore Police Department (BPD) displayed “consistent bias” at “every stage” of the investigation. Police Commissioner Kevin Davis continues to preside over a police department that is not doing enough to end police brutality. Today marks three months almost to the day since plain clothes police shot a 13-year-old child who was running away from police while holding a toy. BPD still has not released the results of its investigation into the shooting of a child or taken any action to punish the officer.

 Baltimore, MD – Yesterday, Baltimore Police arrested 65 peaceful protesters including legal observers, bystanders, and 10 children. After their arrest, more than 30 people spent more than seven hours trapped inside police vans with their hands painfully cuffed behind them in violation of police procedure and international human rights standards. One protester passed out and vomited inside the wagon.

     “The targeted arrests of peaceful protestors and Legal Observers is a shameful tactic that demonstrates that the Baltimore Police Department’s goal was not to uphold the law, but to silence dissent. Any person who favors freedom should be outraged by these arrests and the treatment protesters received,” said Jenny Egan, Baltimore Action Legal Team.