By Justin George
The Baltimore Sun
BALTIMORE — The Baltimore police union on Wednesday launched an investigation into how police and firefighters were deployed during the riots that rocked the city in late April.
Union President Gene Ryan said “in the spirit of full transparency and cooperation” union members have asked the police department for access to all department communication tapes, text messages from command staff and emails between police commanders and City Hall leaders and employees. The union is using the state’s public information act to try to acquire the records from April 27 — the day riots and looting broke out across the city — to May 4.
“We urge that City Hall immediately release this information to the public; however, once our review is completed we will release the findings to the Baltimore Police Department, City Hall, and the public with the hope that there will be many lessons learned, misconceptions resolved, and future planning improved,” Ryan said in a statement.
About 130 officers were injured during the Baltimore riots. Officers have criticized police’s response saying they did not have proper riot gear to protect themselves and that a commander issued a “stand down” order during the violence that may have endangered the safey of officers.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts said none of his command staff issued such an order, and he said officers reacted bravely during the riots — though he acknowledged some hesitation in police’s reaction to the unrest. He said the hesitation was due to police facing an unprecedented situation, and he said the department continues to learn from the events.
Late last month, Batts spoke to union members and apologized because he said he had not followed his intuition to train officers enough in “Mobile Field Force” tactics or crowd control and how to react to large disorderly groups, police said.
“From my day one I walked in officer safety has been job one for me,” Batts told union members in a private meeting, according to a transcript of his comments. “But I got my guys hurt and I got to own that and I stand tall behind that. That won’t happen again in this organization. I feel you, I understand you and I know you feel like you’re out there by yourself. I will not let you be out there by yourself and I understand.
“And so we will not ever be put in this position again. We can get out of this, I can lead you out of this, we can be successful as a whole. And again I would like to apologize to every man and woman in this room, to the men and women who wear that uniform. To this organization as a whole because my guys got hurt out there and I mean that with my heart.”
Copyright 2015 The Baltimore Sun