The independent monitor will provide technical guidance to Baltimore Police Department (BPD) and monitor the implementation of the Consent Decree to ensure lawful and effective policing, procedural justice, and community engagement.
All applications to monitor the BPD Consent Decree are online now, and the City of Baltimore and the Department of Justice are asking for public comment. Below is a link to a story about the process, which mentions the Baxter, Baker application, which I am proud to say Planet Perspective and Diversity MBA, whom I am affiliated, have partnered.
Baxter, Baker application was one of five reviewed randomly from the total pool of 26 applications by a Baltimore news source. The story provides a link to the Baxter, Bakerapplication.
The public has until July 17, 2017 to submit comments and recommendations, after which, the city will narrow the pool down to a set of finalists that the public can again provide input.
Comments and recommendations can be sent to Baltimore.Consent.Decree@usdoj.gov or by US Postal Service mail to Puneet Cheema, United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Special Litigation Section, 950 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20530.
The Baxter, Baker team consists of Baltimore and national experts in law enforcement, community engagement, diversity and inclusion, and constitutional policing. They have three nationally-recognized police chiefs; nearly 300 years of combined experience in law enforcement; commanding officers and supervisors who held leadership roles in at least ten police departments throughout the United States, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and the Department of Homeland Security; a Baltimore-based law firm, which assigned partners with decades of experience in the Baltimore community, working with the police, protecting civil rights, and promoting diversity and inclusion; experts in workplace diversity and inclusion; data collection expertise from a Baltimore institution that has been working with BPD and other City agencies for more than a decade; and Maryland and Baltimore non-profit organizations dedicated to helping young people and ensuring justice for all Marylanders.
Just as Baltimore is diverse, the Baxter, Baker team is diverse. More than 80% of the team members, including the proposed Monitor and Deputy Monitor are African-American, Latino, or Asian-American. Approximately 56% of the team members are men, and approximately 44% are women.
The Baxter, Baker team recognizes that police officers are the most visible representatives of government in a civil society. With the power and authority that police officers are entrusted, the public must have faith and trust that a police officer is making critical split-second decisions based solely on the objective facts of that particular encounter and not on conscious or unconscious biases or other impermissible motivations.
Link to all applications is:
