Baltimore Mayor Strikes Down "Ferguson Effect", Talks Freddie Gray

Baltimore Mayor Strikes Down “Ferguson Effect”, Talks Freddie Gray Settlement

Today, a judge banged his gavel on a decision to have the officers charged with the death of Freddie Gray to stand trial in the city of Baltimore.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake spoke to MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell about the decision.

“It will be helpful, as we work to heal our city, that the public knows that jurors will be selected from the peers of the officers who work in the city, as well as Freddie Gray,” Rawlings-Blake said of the decision.

Mayor Rawlings-Blake went on to clap back at Lt. Gene Ryan, president of the Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police, who believes that such settlements compromise the relationship between cops and community.

“The focus should be on this trial, on the criminal cases, and we’ve put the civil part of it behind us,” the mayor said. “It was important for me that we focus on the work that we’re doing with the Department of Justice.”

“We want to focus on that, reforming the police department, improving the relationship between the community and the police. And I didn’t think it would be helped by having a protracted federal case”

While her gun was still smoking, the Mayor shot down the ridiculous idea called the “Ferguson Effect” that purports that #BlackLivesMatter and protests of the like, have led to an increase in crime because they, in essence, make police fear for their jobs if they are forced to shoot an unarmed black man or woman “suspect”.

“The fact that it’s happening all over, you know, I think that it shows to me that this is not about Freddie Gray,” the mayor said. “This is a national trend in increased homicides that needs a national response.” Addressing gang violence, gun and drug control are better places to start looking for answers, she added.

The mayor ain’t f***in’ with the BS logic of a few idiot cops or irresponsible “journalists”.

Image via MSNBC