DeKalb County’s top cop is in Baltimore to provide his expertise to the riot-ridden city that has become this year’s Ferguson.
Public Safety Director Cedric Alexander flew to Baltimore on Tuesday to advise police on their riot response as tensions have erupted over the death of Freddie Gray, 25, while in police custody on April 19. The response to the rioting about the death of an African-American man has been criticized as both too heavy-handed and as too permissive.
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said the city “gave those who wished to destroy, space to do that.”
The rioting destroyed a grocery store in an extremely poor neighborhood. Alexander also noted the loss of two pharmacies, telling Channel 2 Action News that the destruction of the community was “insane.”
“You can’t destroy a community — any community, certainly a community that you live in,” Alexander told Channel 2. “Now your grandmother can’t go for her hypertension medication.”
Alexander heads the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement (NOBLE), which specializes in civil unrest. Last year, he consulted with Ferguson, Mo., officials after rioting over an officer killed unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown. In majority-black Ferguson, the power structure and police force is dominated by whites. There, Alexander told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he advised developing a racial mix of police reflecting the community.
In Baltimore, Alexander will face a conflict in which the mayor, police commissioner and deputy police commissioner for patrol are black, as are reportedly more than 40 percent of the officers.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed also weighed in on the rioting, saying he texted with Rawlings-Blake on Monday night after rioters had taken control of part of the city.
Reed said Atlanta's "robust protest traditions" would not erupt into violence because of the city's longtime links to activists. During protests last year over police shootings of African-Americans in Ferguson and around the nation, most protesters were vociferous but civil — although there were some issues.
The Atlanta police are ready in case Baltimore sparks protests here, Reed said, but peaceful demonstrators were having their space to protest.
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