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Attorney General to Launch Probe of Baltimore Police Department. Aired 10:00-10:30a ET.

Aired May 08, 2015 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: And now we have a third investigation. This is going to be more invasive. This is going to take a look at the pattern of arrests and whether or not there is something that the Baltimore police are doing wrong, and whether or not they are discriminating against African-Americans, whether or not they have a pattern of policing that is -- that relies on excessive force.

[10:00:10] All of these things, of course, come into play in the Freddie Gray case, Carol.

COSTELLO: I know you sat down and talked with Commissioner Batts. Is he fall or this?

PEREZ: You know, I didn't asked him whether or not he was for this at the time the mayor had not come out and ask and request to this investigation. I do know that he says that he knows they have problems. He knows that they have - as you recall, he said we are part of the problem. He's referring to the police department.

So he knows that they have to work on fixing training, providing more equipment for his officers, and trying to get them into the community there so that not the only interaction that takes place between the African-American community and the police is a negative one. He's trying to get them to volunteer in some of these neighborhoods so that the young people don't only encounter police again when they are being arrested. That there is some other positive interaction with the police department there, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Evan Perez, thanks so much. And when the attorney general stands behind that podium, to begin speaking, of course, we'll take you back live to Baltimore. But I have to take you just outside of New York City this morning.

There's a massive crowd of 30,000 mourners, they are streaming toward a long island church to remember Officer Brian Moore. The 25- year-old NYPD officer was gunned down over the weekend as he sat in an unmarked police car. By all accounts Moore was an exceptional police officer. He was barely out of his teens when he joined the New York City Police Department. And less than five years the officer racked up more than 150 arrests and he was awarded two exceptional service medals recognizing his dedication. CNN's Jean Casarez is outside of the church where the funeral is about to begin. Good morning, Jean. JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. That funeral is

about to start in just one hour. But just a couple minutes ago two NYPD helicopters flew very low information over this catholic church here in Long Island, St. James Roman Catholic Church. More and more officers are arriving. Officers are actually standing and lining the street where the coffin is believed to come down and has not happened yet to come to the church for the funeral.

But there are so many lay people here besides the officers from around the country. JetBlue has offered free flights for officers to come and honor this fallen officer. Now, Officer Brian was extremely young. He was 25 years old. He had been on the force only almost five years. And Brian Moore was just on patrol with the anti-crime division. Saw someone grasping into their waistband and called out and asked what are you doing? He didn't shoot. He didn't even have his gun armed on that officer we believe. And what happened was the man did have a gun. Turned around and shot him. So, ironically an officer who didn't shoot when someone it appeared as though was reaching for a weapon and he ends up to be dead.

But today they are honoring this young man who comes from a long family history of officers. His father, his uncle, his cousins were all law enforcement and now they all have to mourn their fallen young officer, Brian Moore, 25 years old. That funeral set to begin in less than an hour now.

COSTELLO: All right, Jean Casarez reporting live for us this morning. Thank you so much. And as those thousands of officers prepare to mourn one of their fallen colleague, I want to talk more about it with CNN law enforcement analyst and former assistant director of the FBI, Tom Fuentes and Lieutenant Christopher Collie. Lieutenant Collie is the unit commander of background and recruiting for the DeKalb County Police Department in Georgia.

Tom I want to start with you, representatives from all across the country have come to pay their last respects to this young officer. You were a beat cop for several years. Tell us why it's important for officers to collectively grieve.

TOM FUENTES, LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Carol, it's normal for this to happen. And I've been in these police funeral processions over the last 40 years. And it happens there's more than 100 police officers a year killed in the line of duty each year. But this year and in the past six to 12 months, it's been especially worrisome for street cops that they're being targeted or if not definitely like the last two New York City police officers killed in December where the individual from a Baltimore street gang said he was going to New York to put wings on pigs and he put that out on social media. This one they don't know if it's revenge or racially motivated on the part of the shooter. But what they do know is that they want some degree of respect and not to constantly hear on television that every time a cop says someone was reaching in their waistband, furthered movements we asked them to show their hands and they didn't do it, that this happens. This is what police officers face every day on the street.

[10:05:00]Now, if this guy would have pulled out a pack of cigarettes or something or a mobile phone and the officer might have jumped just a little bit early and shot him, we would be having riots in New York right now. But this is how close of a call it is for street cops and if they don't get it just right, they die.

COSTELLO: Lieutenant Colley, Officer Moore was just 25 years old. He was just starting out. He was eager to do his job well. You recruit young officers. What do you tell them?

CHRISTOPHER COLLIE, DEKALB COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, they know coming into the job that it's inherently a dangerous position. Not very many jobs in America you have to wear bulletproof vests for that very reason alone they know what they're getting into. As far as what we tell them, you know, they have excellent training here in DeKalb. Rely on your training just watch each other's back and be aware of your surroundings at all-time especially during this climate we're in.

COSTELLO: Lieutenant, has it become difficult to recruit officers?

COLLIE: Well, we just started hiring again here in DeKalb in March. Our numbers are little low compared to what they have been. It's a little early to tell if it's a direct reflection of what's going on currently. You know, the officers - they want to be police officers. Usually from an early age you know, it's a calling that's what they want to do. So we really haven't had to twist anybody's arm so to speak to get into law enforcement. They usually search us out because it's something that they wanted to do. They want to give back to their communities and they want to you know, to just be able to help people in any way that they can.

COSTELLO: But it's been a little, it's been a little rough lately would you say?

COLLIE: It has. And like I said, it's a little hard to say you know, whether or not because of what's going on has affected our numbers. But it's certainly in the thoughts and minds of those that are applying.

COSTELLO: Tom, what would you tell a young person who wants to be a police officer who is trying to decide whether or not to take that kind of job?

FUENTES: I get that question all the time from young men and women about careers in law enforcement, becoming a police officer or federal agent. And in all of those cases almost it's because it's a calling to them like it was to me and so many hundreds of thousands of others that they want to go on the job. They want to do good things as a police officer or law enforcement officer and they don't expect to go out and be racist or be in a position to do something bad. They welcome the opportunity. I have to tell you, police blogs right now are sending messages back and forth where people are saying tell your kids not to be cops. Do something safe like join the NFL. You know, that's what's happening now.

People are saying this is tipping too far and that there needs to be a narrative of what do we really expect our police officers to do on the street? Yes, individuals are out there that have had 20 years of neglect by society and have come up and they're undereducated or not even high school graduates. Can't get jobs. Can't get anything. And they're on those street corners at midnight, 1:00 in the morning, what do police officers do when they do something bad or they commit a crime? Should they not arrest? Should they not run after people anymore? Where they run away? Just let them go. Should they not look and check if they have weapons. Let that go.

And the caution for society and for these communities specifically is be careful what you ask for. Most police officers are out there trying to take guns away from people because they are killing your kids. They're killing people in your community. If you want the police to back off and be kinder and gentler, the price that's going to be paid isn't going to be the police officers. It's going to be members of the community losing their sons and daughters on the streets which is happening right now in Baltimore now six times a week.

COSTELLO: Lieutenant, how do you feel about what Tom just said? In light of the attorney general, she's going to start this review of the Baltimore City Police Department. What do you think?

COLLIE: Well, like I said, I think it falls back on training. We welcome - if something were to happen in DeKalb, I think we've got the - we have excellent training to train our officers and it's a tough situation with current events and in light of everything. It's difficult for the officers because you can't afford to have that pause, you know, with everything going on. It takes a split second. One way or another, the officer's life or the suspect's life. It just happens that quick. And when the officers start to think about it too much and there's a pause, I mean, it puts the officer in danger.

COSTELLO: All right. Lieutenant Chris Collie, Tom Fuentes, thanks to both of you. I appreciate it.

All right. An emotional day on long Island, New York. Let's take another look live as tens of thousands of brothers and sisters in blue prepare to pay respects to fallen Officer Brian Moore killed in the line of duty. I'll be right back.

[10:10:00](COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right. Let's head back to Washington D.C. Attorney General Loretta Lynch talking about an investigation into the Baltimore City Police Department. Let's listen.

LORETTA LYNCH, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Had given rise to a serious erosion of trust. In order to address this issue, I have been asked by city officials and community leaders to augment our approach to the situation with a court enforcement model. I spent the last few days with my team considering which of the justice department's tools for police reform best meets the current needs of the Baltimore police department and the broader Baltimore community.

Today, the department of justice is opening an investigation into whether the Baltimore police department has engaged in a pattern or practice of violations of the constitution or federal law. This investigation will begin immediately and will focus on allegations that Baltimore police department officers use excessive force including deadly force, conduct unlawful searches, seizures and arrests, and engage in discriminatory policing.

The cops office will continue to work with the Baltimore police department and the collaborative reform process will now convert to the provision of technical assistance to the Baltimore Police Department. Now, some may ask how this differs from our current work with Baltimore Police Department and the answer is rather than examining whether the police department violated good policies, we will now examine whether they violated the constitution and the community's civil rights.

This approach has been welcomed by the Baltimore city fraternal order of police. I want to thank them for their support and their partnership as we move forward. In the coming days, civil rights division attorneys and investigators conducting the investigation and the police experts who will assist them will be engaging with community members and with law enforcement. We will examine policies, practices and available data. And at the conclusion of our investigation, we will issue a report of our findings. If unconstitutional policies or practices are found, we will seek a court enforceable agreement to address those issues.

We will also continue to move forward to improve policing in Baltimore even as the pattern of practice investigation is under way. Our goal is to work with the community, public officials, and law enforcement alike to create a stronger, better Baltimore. The Department of Justice civil rights division has conducted dozens of these pattern of practice investigations to date and we've seen from our work in jurisdictions across the country that communities that have gone through this process are experiencing improved policing practices and increased trust between the police and the community.

In fact, I encourage other cities to study our past recommendations and see whether they can be applied in their own communities. Ultimately this process is meant to ensure that officers are being provided with the tools that they need including training, policy guidance and equipment to be more effective to partner with civilians and to strengthen public safety. Now, for many people across the country, the tragic death of Mr. Freddie Gray and the unfortunate violence that did occur has come to personify the city as if that alone is Baltimore.

But earlier this week I visited with members of the community who took to the streets in the days following the unrest to pick up trash, to clear away debris and they are Baltimore. I visited with elected officials who were determined to help the neighborhoods that they love come back stronger and more united and they are Baltimore. I visited youth leaders who believe that there is a brighter day ahead and they are Baltimore, too. And I also visited with law enforcement officers that worked 16 days without a break and they were focused not on themselves or even their own safety but on protecting the people who live in their community. They, too, are Baltimore. Now, none of us have any illusions that reform is easy. The

challenges that we face and the Baltimore faces now did not arise in a day and change will not come overnight. It will take time and sustained effort.

[10:15:00] The people that I met in Baltimore from the protesters to the public officials to the officers including one who had been injured amidst the violence, all were saying to me ultimately the same thing. I love my city. I want to make it better. And that is why I'm optimistic about this process. That's why I am actually hopeful about the days and weeks to come and that is why I'm confident that as a result of this investigation and the hard work that is still ahead and make no mistake about it, it is hard work.

All members of the Baltimore community, residents and law enforcement alike, will create a stronger, safer and more united city together. Thank you for your time and your attention. At this time I would like to open it up for a few questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Part of the request itself that came from the city, what have you seen or heard from residents of Baltimore that led you to believe that the ongoing justice department review would need to be augmented is a progress on sufficient, are problems deeper than you perhaps initially understood? Can you talk a little bit about why the justice department believes that it is not sufficient?

LYNCH: Certainly, and let me say at the outset that we believe very strongly in the collaborative reform process and it has helped numerous communities and police departments across the country. But for collaborative reform to ultimately be effective, we really need to have a three-part base of support. Police engagement, elected official engagement and community engagement and the ability to have faith in the process.

Obviously we have all seen events change in Baltimore and become much more intense over a very short period of time. It was clear to a number of people looking at this situation that the community's rather frayed trust to use an understatement was even worse and has in effect been severed in terms of the relationship with the police department. So we felt that that was one factor in viewing whether or not we would literally be able to use collaborative reform to actually make the changes that we need.

Also, as we look more at the issues facing the police department itself in terms of the needs that they have and in terms of the issues the residents were raising, they essentially were much more serious and they were more intense than when we began the collaborative review process. So we felt the best thing to do was to conduct an investigation to see whether or not these issues rose to the level of federal civil rights violations and if so, have the best model in which to address them, which in our view is a court enforceable agreement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Senator Mulkowski yesterday made reference to a fractured trust between police and communities around the country, not only in Baltimore. I wonder from your standpoint how serious that fracture is nationally?

LYNCH: Well, you know, we've had a number of situations that have highlighted this fracture in various communities in different parts of the countries, cities of all sizes issues ranging from people being harmed or unfortunate deaths in custody. I think we see it when it occurs. I think that the issue really goes beyond just the interaction between the police and the community. We're talking about generations not only of mistrust but generations of communities that feel very separated from government overall.

And so you were talking about situations where there's a flash point occurrence that coalesces years of frustration and anger and that's what I think you saw in Baltimore when there was an unfortunate night of violence. I think you see it in other cities around the country as well. You can't look at a city and predict what's going to happen. You can't look at a city and analyze it and certainly we're not looking to do that. We hope that our work both through collaborative reform and past investigations, other cities can look at their own environments and decide what issues they see and whether or not some of the work that's been done in the past can be brought to bear and help them as well. I actually pointed to the gentleman right behind you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will the department release their findings that folks have found in collaborative review or will that be folded into pattern of practice?

LYNCH: The information is going to be folded into the pattern of practice investigation. Typically, however, when we do a collaborative reform effort with a police department, that usually does report, does end in a report that is made public. Because we're now going to fold it into an investigation, we actually will not be having that collaborative reform report. There will be however a report at the end of the pattern of practice investigation that will draw on that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This violence took place as you were coming into office. As you saw it unfold, what was your reaction? What did you think?

[10:20:00] LYNCH: I have to say I watched it as did most people through the prism of my television screen but have seen similar incidents across the country. I would have to say my first reaction was profound sadness. It truly was. It was profound sadness for the loss of life, for the erosion of trust, for the sadness and the despair that the community was feeling. For the frustration that I know the police officers were feeling also as they tried to encourage peaceful protests but then had to deal with violence. So I would say my first reaction was profound sadness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The FBI director and secretary of homeland security are having a teleconference today with the nation's police to talk about this growing concern over ISIS social media. How much of a concern is that? How urgent a concern is that for the justice department? LYNCH: You know, as we look into our national security cases, we

have attempted to see which tools those who would seek to do Americans harm utilize. And so I think social media is one we've seen be used in cases that result in my old district we've seen social media used as a recruitment tool and means of disseminating information. It's an area that we try to stay on top of. But I would say it's part of the full panoply of things that what we look at to as we try to determine who is essentially trying to do us harm.

I will apologize for not knowing everyone's name right away otherwise I wouldn't point to you in this manner. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Garland police department said they didn't have sufficient information that a threat was headed their way. Proliferation of this ISIS inspired individuals in the united states, how are you working to make sure that local officials are looped into the threat you guys what you are looking at in the federal level?

LYNCH: Well, what I can tell you is that, when information is determined to generate a threat to any police department, we do provide them with as much information as we can. I think in this situation you saw there was an individual who had come under scrutiny before but had not been very active in the immediate past. And so the information that was provided was probably more limited than the Garland police would have liked or hoped to have seen. I know all efforts were made to provide them with information and in fact they were tremendously helpful in the results of the case and the results of the shooting that occurred.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As you know, a lot of states and localities are looking to you and your department to help heal that fractured trust between police and communities. That said, you only have so many resources to conduct these cops reviews and pattern of practice investigations. Do you need more attorneys and investigators? Do you need the law to be changed to change the legal standard under which you can bring these civil rights cases?

LYNCH: Well, you know, as I was on the hill yesterday at my first appropriations hearing and of course we always ask for increased resources to handle the cases that we have and the ones that we anticipate coming down the pike. But to the larger issue raised by your question, which is communities looking for help and resources. The department of justice is here to help. We do try to be a resource.

But the reality is we cannot litigate our way out of this problem. It's not the department's intention to engage in an investigation or review of every police department across the country. It's rather our goal and our profound hope that the work that we have done will be a base for communities to look at and to build upon as they determine what issues exist in their communities. We now have a very solid body of reports, both collaborative reform and pattern of practice investigations.

And I will say that one of the things I'm most pleased about over recent years has been the development that many of our investigations are begun very cooperatively in conjunction with law enforcement and elected officials. They reach out to us for assistance. They are not in the adversarial mode. We do have a few may result in court action but by in large most of them have been under the environment of working very, very well with police and with community officials.

So our hope is that other jurisdictions, cities large and small, can look at these reports and say are these the issues that I face? What did the justice department see there? What does my police department do that may look like this or may be a model for better behavior than this? One things that we try to do through the cops process before we even get to collaborate reform or an investigation is pair police departments up with their peers who have had successful work particularly with police community relations.

We have a whole range of services that we try to offer from technical assistance to providing expert advice. Our goal is to be a resource and a guide but not to be the hand reaching in to every police department because we truly do believe that communities, cities, police departments, they know their cities best. They know what those issues and those problems are. We want to help them reach better solutions.

[10:25:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, Eric Tucker with associated press. Much has been made about the different racial dynamics when you talk about Baltimore city versus Ferguson and in Ferguson you had a police department that had very few number of minorities. Obviously the situation in Baltimore is very different. To what extent based on that racial dynamic are you anticipating that the problems in Baltimore will be different and perhaps less race based in nature than what we encountered in Ferguson?

LYNCH: I think regardless of the racial ethnic makeup of any city, every city is different. Every police department is different. They all present different issues. I think that policing is an extremely challenging profession at this time no matter where you are. I think the issues facing Baltimore certainly do - some people express them in racial tones. More in tones of community leaders feeling frustrated, feeling pain.

Police department leaders feeling frustrated at not being able to protect their city. So there's really was a very strong commonalty in what I heard in Baltimore that crossed races, that crossed professions and crossed groups. So I think every city is different. I don't want to prejudge or put that particular prism on any particular city.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A senator yesterday asked that grant money provided to agencies be tied to ethnic bias training. Is that something that you'll actively consider?

LYNCH: No, we have actually a wide range of programs for the state and local enforcement and many of those grants are specifically for training purposes. Many provide equipment and do other things. So our approach has always been that rather than conditioning getting a grant on a particular program, we work with the jurisdiction to really focus on the specific need that they have and then basically give them access to the training that they need. The training for every department really is different. The requirements and needs are different for every department. But we're always considering ways to make our grant programs more efficient.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What more should the federal government be doing to deal with is using social media in unprecedented ways? What more should the federal government do on the pro-active level?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think what I can say at this point is we're certainly using all of the tools available to us to determine how social media is being used. But as always we have to balance that with every individual's right to free speech, with privacy rights. Those are very important concerns. And so we have to balance that also with making sure that what we do does not interfere with the free flow of information for all law abiding citizens for example. So, I'm not able to give you specific details of what the government is focusing on now but to say that we're focusing on that as an issue. It's not a new issue. We've seen social media being used in a number of cases. It's an expansion of how the Internet has been used frankly for several years now both in recruitment and radicalization of young people to join terrorist groups.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll take one more question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you explain to people why they shouldn't be concerned that the federal government was flying surveillance place over Baltimore during the protests?

LYNCH: I did see that report. I think that someone came to me and said something about where you flying drones over Baltimore? I thought I don't have drones. Leaving that aside - not particularly no. It's actually not an uncommon practice for police helicopters to fly over to try to figure out where are people moving to or where might violence be breaking out and provide information down to the field similar to officers on the ground providing surveillance reports as well. So I don't think it was a new occurrence. I think you see it in any number of cities. It was for the limited purpose of finding out where were pockets of violence and what could be done about that. You'll have to be the last one, John?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The other day when the mayor was talking about asking you about the investigation, she was also touting a 46% drop in complaints about use of force and 54% reduction in reports of officers being discourteous. Is that any indication that things are already getting better in the foundation for you or is that kind of delineate?

LYNCH: All of the data will factor in our investigation. It's premature to say what that data means.