baltimore on edge after a night of rioting. residents in some areas are cleaning up today. while the city's mayor is accused of taking too long to call in the national guard as the looters were taking charge. >> there's always going to be airline chair quarterbacks that have never sat in my seat that see things differently. this isn't the first emergency i've had to deal with. >> as of last count, 200 under arrest 140 vehicles including police cars were set on fire. 15 buildings were burned including businesses and em months. one was a senior housing and community center nearly complete d. >> it hurt my heart because the church has been in love with the community and the community of the church. we sought to invest in each other. >> right now the governor larry hogan is speaking. let's go to him. >> making the city safe protecting our innocent citizens and their property. we also talked about longer term

issues and how this may be the start of an ongoing dialogue with community leaders to see what we can do to address them longer term issues and problems. the vast majority of the people in baltimore who were protesting did so in a peaceful way. yesterday unfortunately a smaller group of people acted out in a violent way. we see these as two entirely different groups. criminal activity will not be tolerated. we're going to insure we bring whatever resources that are necessary, whatever assets that are necessary as much man power as necessary to let the citizens of baltimore know that their neighborhoods are going to be safe. they're not going to be in danger. their property will be protected. we're not going to have another repeat of what happened last night. it's not going to happen

tonight. i want to thank the faith leaders for their involvement. all throughout this they've been preaching peace. they've been saying that violence isn't helping the situation. the people who have legitimate concerns and frustrations about the ongoing investigation with respect to what happened to freddie gray are not served well by these violent acts. this violence isn't accomplishing isn't. it's counter productive. we're going to get baltimore back on track and make sure our neighborhoods are safe again. be happy to answer questions you might have. >> could you explain to folks how states of emergencies work when your declaration was prepared? what happened the next 48 hours? do you have to wait for the mayor to ask for it? >> as you know the violence

started at 3:00 yesterday afternoon. we had prior to that taken preliminary action to prepare the state if in fact violence did take place, if the city did call and ask for assistance. we already activated our emergency command center as of last saturday. i had already talked to national guard, been in communication with the white house. we had been in ongoing communication on a daily basis with the mayor. this violence started 3:00 yesterday afternoon. we were in constant communication. around 6:00 the mayor said we were requested to bring in the national guard and declare a state of emergency. we did so immediately because we prepared the order a week before. we already had called up the national guard had been put on alert. they were ready to act. the emergency command center was activated. we had representatives from

every state agency. we had called local police, fire, other services from around the state. it was 30 seconds before we completely activated all resources we had to bear. it's been now less than 24 hours. you see we have a couple thousand more people on the streets in baltimore. to my knowledge there's been no incidents this morning. we're concerned about what might happen this evening. we're continuing to bring more people in from around the state and country. we're going to put as much manpower and as many resources as we can to make sure that we do not have that kind of situation tonight. >> you said you did nothing until the mayor contacted you? >> what i told you was we were working all week and had prepared national guard, called up assets activated the emergency command center. when the mayor requested, we brought them in. >> so 3:00 and 6:00 yesterday

you could do nothing? >> we did quite a bit, but we waited until the mayor asked for us to come in. we didn't think it was appropriate to come in and take over the city without the request of the mayor. >> who is ultimately to blame? >> i don't want to place any blame. i want to focus on -- our response has been incredible. we acted instantaneously. i'm proud of the effort by the state and local partners working together [ inaudible question ] >> our folks are in talks with the federal government. we're going to make sure we provide assistance from federal state local level. we toured businesses burned and looted. we met with citizens who lost their homes. we've talked -- we had a cabinet meeting before the community

leader meeting. our insurance commissioner has activated a response for those that have insurance. we contacted small business association for those that do not have insurance. whatever resources are necessary there the federal, state, local level we'll provide. >> can you talk about what you see as immediate needs in the community in the next 48 to 72 hours? >> the immediate need is restore calm and peace to the city. make people feel safe. i think we're well on our way to getting that accomplished. there are no more fires burning, no more looting going on. you see a tremendous presence on the streets now which we didn't see yesterday. there's issues like emergency housing we're providing from the department of human resources and housing agency. we've activated 2,000 volunteers through the from initiatives around the state.

we're asking for volunteers and donations. we've been in communication with other states to bring in resources. governor christie in new jersey has agreed to send in 150 new jersey state troopers and a lot of assets to help us. the guard is calling up another thousand who will be here by tonight. we're going to make sure that the city is brought back to peace. >> how many assets are here now? >> we've got a couple thousand new police officers and guard on the street currently. it's going to continue to grow. we'll put as many as we need. >> governor some of these community groups last week asked you for long term help for the systemic problems in problem such as jobs and housing programs. what are you going to do to help the programs in baltimore? >> we sent the lieutenant governor former city councilman to meet with those groups. we met with the groups today. we talked about those issues. i expressed to them my number one concern is jobs. that's what i've been focused

on. creating more jobs and more opportunities in baltimore city is a top priority of our administration. today, the focus is on the emergency actions that need to take place. tomorrow we work on how to work together to create jobs and opportunities. >> what can you do to convince businesses to come back to baltimore after what happened yesterday? >> it's not going to be easy. >> governor did you call the mayor, or did she call you? >> i called 2 mayor multiple times yesterday. >> between 3:00 and 6:00? >> yeah. >> who's ultimately responsible you or the mayor or baltimore? >> the mayor had the baltimore city police on the ground. quite frankly they were overwhelmed. all the other boots on the ground came from us. >> [ inaudible question ] >> sure it is a concern. this is not the baltimore that

we know and love. this is certainly not putting us in very good light. it doesn't help with tourism, doesn't help bringing in businesses. we're going to be stronger after this is over with. it's very unfortunate and sad. we're going to do everything we can to move on from here. >> can you talk about the -- whether there were conversations about the mayor about ferguson what might have been learned from ferguson. whether you decided to pull back on bringing in troops because of what might have been learned in ferguson. >> those are questions you should probably direct to the mayor. i didn't have discussions about ferguson or why she was holding back. we were ready to get moving forward as soon as she made that decision, we got to work. >> are there damage estimates at this point? a number of businesses and homes have been damaged or destroyed. >> our insurance commissioner activated a team to come in and work on those assessments and

made it a priority. i don't have assessment at this point. >> thank you very much. >> thank you everybody. >> governor larry hogan of maryland saying that the baltimore police were overwhelmed. he said there was a three hour gap from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. once the rioting started before the mayor asked for the national guard to come in. he said that was up to her. they were ready and had the crisis center ready. he did say he doesn't know why she did not ask for it earlier, why she was holding back. today schools, some shopping malls, tourist attractions like the national aquarium and city courts are closed. troops are in the streets. tonight's orioles game at camden yards has been postponed. after the night rocked by chaos and accusations of failure by the leaders, elijah joins me now. congressman, thank you very much. tell me what you're hearing from

people there. you and faith leaders trying to calm things down. how did this get so out of control? >> i think the people were very upset with the police. there was already a distrust with our police department. of course seeing african-american men being sat down unarnlmed by police all over the country has not helped matters. in this instance police said they arrested this young man without incident and without force. he ended up with a crushed spinal cord and then died. people were upset about that. we had young people very upset a that went out. a group of people mourning his death yesterday. i was at the funeral and spoke. it was a very respectful

service. the next thing you know folks went over to one of our malls. this is a mall that employees 95% african-american people and began to not honor the requests of the gray family not to have any protest whatsoever. we have some people mourning a death, trying to find answers, but then we have another group of people that decided they wanted to take advantage of a situation. they had an opportunity to commit crimes and they've done that. what i'm saying to them is that protest is one thing. when you get past peaceful protest and begin to take opportunities to commit crimes then you distract from what we're trying to accomplish here. that is looking into the police department addressing those issues. you also cause people to not be em pathetic to things you're

concerned about. and you put other people in danger. my message to my fellow residents is that look we will get to the bottom of this police issues. we're going to do that. at the same time if you want to demonstrate, demonstrate peacefully. if you decide that you want to take advantage of this situation here in baltimore, and you want to take the opportunity to commit a crime, rest assured that you will be arrested. period. and -- wait a minute and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. >> one of the issues raised today is why the mayor waited three hours once the rioting start odd to call the governor for help. that the police were not proactive enough when the cvs started being burned. >> i can tell you it's easy for people to sit back in their living rooms and do tuesday

morning quarterbacking but the mayor had a difficult job. on one hand she's got a police department that's distrusted by the public. that's number one. and she has a funeral that's just ended. on the other hand she's trying to make sure she does nothing to cause the problem to make it worse. they were walking a thin line. again, it's easy for people to sit back and judge. i think she used her best judgment trying to make sure a situation did not get worse. let me be clear. this is our town. under armor has a slogan protect this house. i promise you we will protect this house. >> i want to show and we appreciate your context because you're right. the funeral was taking place. how would it have appeared if

she called up the national guard as the funeral was taking place. the family asked for peace and calm. i want to play something you said in your eulogy yesterday. >> i've often said our children are the living messages we send to a future we will never see. but now our children are sending us to a future they will never see. there's something wrong with that picture. >> which is to say there's something wrong with the picture the way the police operated in baltimore. i know the federal government is investigating. that is the next step is it not? >> again, we've got to be looking at this police department from top to bottom. everything from parking tickets up to indictments for murder. whatever they do we need to look at it. andrea it needs to be a ferguson type patterns and practices type of investigation. they're already in baltimore

looking at it from a policing standpoint. they're also looking at it from a civil rights standpoint/criminal. now they need to do a ferguson study. let me tell you what that will do. that will let us know all the things we're doing right, all the things we're doing wrong. it will get skeletons or whatever they may be out of the closet so we can effectively address these issues. that's part of what the public wants. they want to know their police department is transparent, that a they're honest and doing their job based on regulations and rules. >> elijah thanks to much. wanted to play a little bit of this interview that you did. >> why did you come out here with your broom?

>> to clean this -- to clean up. >> why? >> because i didn't want all of this to look a mess. i want this to look like it never burned down. i want them to rebuild this so it can look the way it was. >> joining me now from baltimore. baltimore is a city we all know and love. a city of different neighborhoods and contrast street to street. >> it absolutely is. i think this child, only 8 years old, andrea does say in a child's words and voice what so many people have said to me. i am in east baltimore now. i travelled to west baltimore where the cvs is located. along the way i stopped to talk to people they say this is not what they wanted. they did not wanted pockets of violence erupt. they did not want to see the smoke rising from what's left of this senior citizen community center back here.

they're as upset as anybody about what happened in their community last night. they're really hoping it does not happen again. >> another person you spoke to a woman and a mother. i wanted to play this as well. >> it's really displaced anger when you grow up in an area like baltimore city, highly impoverish impoverished more than 100 students receive free lunch. it's anger. instead of killing they decided to loot. that's how they showed frustration with what's going on today. >> the census data from baltimore is so dramatic. two blocks from john hopkins, one of the most endowed campus you have people living on $16,000 a year. >> that's absolutely correct. living on $16,000 a year and would consider themselves lucky because they have jobs.

what i heard from people here today was they were saying to me there are a lot of people here who don't have hope. they don't have education, ged's, opportunity to go to college. some have prison records and as a result can't get jobs. if you don't have all of that, you're out of hope. what happened last night they said to me was manifestation of hopelessness erupting. as the congressman said the protests provided an opportunity for that anger and frustration to erupt. that's what we saw happening. people are saying they want to take it back. people walked out on their streets and neighborhoods too. they didn't wait for sanitation crews to come clean things up. they brought their own brooms shovels, plastic bags and did it themselves. they want to say this is their home, where they live. they want to take ownership. they also want -- they said the leadership in this city to understand there's a great need to make sure more of the

children here are educated. educated in a way to later get jobs that the.gov governor says they're going to try to make certain they bring to the city of baltimore. right now people are saying they're not prepared to be hired for those jobs. they're extremely frustrating. >> thank you for your reporting from baltimore. we're monitoring president obama's joint conference with japan's prime minister. they're in the rose garden. he's expected to take questions. we don't know if he'll address baltimore. we'll bring that to you when it happens. kathleen joins us now. you lived in baltimore 30 years, know the neighborhoods we. you were in charge of crime control in the area. what needs to be done? how in the community known for urban renewal, inner harbor, aquarium, camden yards, john

hopkins. why do you have the worst poverty in america? >> that's a great question. first of all, i think as you can see from what the governor said peace in the next two to three days you've got to do. as elijah cummings pointed out, you need to top to bottom look at what's going on in the police department. what i saw when i was lieutenant governor we made an effort to make sure the community and police could work together. workshops together having the police in the neighborhood really strong policing programs so you could build the trust between the community and police. police without trust of the community can't do their job. they can't reduce crime because nobody will trust them to tell them what's going on. when that breaks down order breaks down. a good lifestyle breaks down. that's number one. then there's the much deeper question you raised which is how do you create jobs?

in sand town where mr. gray came from there was 52% unemployment rate. that's unacceptable. what you have to do is make sure that people have a job. if it's going to be a government program, go with. that if you're going to get the private sector involved do that. say number one, get people to have a job. with job you have hope. with job, you can say to everybody i'm a person. i'm a man. i have something to offer. but if you don't have a job, then you don't. >> you were law enforcement expert. you noted when governor hogan was speaking about the help from new jersey governor christie sending state troopers. the state troopers are not the ones that would be the best. >> yes. i think police are trained differently. ting best police to work in the city are police that know about working in the city. state troopers usually work on the highways and do that kind of

work which you want when you're going to bring peace to a city, people accustomed to working in the community, talking and listening to people. one of the trainings we used to do and teachings is how to talk how to listen how to understand what people are saying. those are the skills needed if you're going to bring peace to a city. you need the police and community and community leaders to actually listen to each other. >> you were thinking back today to what your father robert kennedy did the martin luther king, jr. killed. he was campaigning in indianapolis. he went in the streets, calmed people down. he gave two significant speeches there. >> he gave a speech in indianapolis the night martin luther king -- when most 30 city0 cities across the country went up in flames much like baltimore last night. what he said is you may be

bitter because a white person killed martin luther king, but my own brother was killed by a white plan. what -- white man. we can't live with bitterness. we have love and compassion whether they be black or white. let us tame the savageness of man. i think what you've seen -- and i find it encouraging from the child, the mothers, political leaders, is they're not playing the blame game. they're saying what can we do to bring our city together and make it gentle and make us a community again? >> and as a former lieutenant governor of maryland the relationship between the republicans in the state house and the mayor there could be difficult. >> it could be difficult. and you could see that the

governor could have spent the time criticizing the mayor, saying why didn't she call me earlier? i don't think she's doing a good job. he was careful not to take that stance. if you do a blame game as my father said in indianapolis, we could spend our time being bitter and angry with one another or say let us work together. it's much more productive to go forward working together getting our police department in order, creating jobs so people have hope. >> right now the president is in the rose garden. he's beginning to take questions. let's go there. kathleen kennedy townsend thank you so much. here's president obama. >> full apology for japan's actions during world war ii. including with regard the estimated 200,000 women enslaved by imperial forces. would you make an apology for that today? thank you. >> i think it's very important

to recognize that the u.s. japan alliance hasn't been good just for united states and japan. it's been good for asian pacific region and the world. the basic foundation of peace, stability, insuring that territorial borders were respected, freedom of navigation. all that has underwritten the incredible growth that's taken place in the asian pacific region. china has benefitted from it. it's on that basis that china became an economic juggernaut that ended up being enincorporatedeninkorptincorporated into global trade. no we don't think a strong u.s.

japan alliance should be seen as a -- it should be seen a continuation of work being done to insure you have a stable area where there are diplomatic conflicts, healthy economic competition but largely been able to maintain forward progress for a whole host of nations. our treaty alliances have been critical to that. the u.s. serving as a power has been critical to that. as i said before we welcome china's peaceful riots. we think it's good not only because china is a booming potential market. we think it's good not possible because it allows china potentially to share burdens

with us in helping countries that are not as far along developed. we think it's just good that hundreds of millions of chinese citizens have been able to rise out of poverty at a credible speed over last several years. they could not have done that had it not been for a stable trading system and world order that is underwritten in large part by the work our alliances do. i think it is going to be important for us to continue to adapt to new challenges so part of the goal here is that the same principles that the alliance was founded on continually update to concerns about cyber threats. that we are nimble and responsive to potential conflicts that may a rise because of maritime disputes.

we have to do it in a way that brings in china and other countries into a common effort to maintain order and peace in the region. we are seeking to strengthen military to military operation with china even as we continue to upgrade our alliance efforts. obviously the republic of korea is a critical part of our alliance structure and the work we do is going to be also very very important. i don't want to minimize the fact there are some real tensions that have arisen with china around its approach to maritime issues and claims. but that's not an issue that is a rising as a consequence of the u.s. japan alliance. it's primarily a conflict between china and various

claimants throughout east asia and southeast asia in which they feel that rather a than resolve these issues through normal international dispute settlements, they are flexing their muscles. we've said to i china what we would say to any country in that circumstance. that's the wrong way to go about it. we will continue to work with all countries in the region starting with our treaty alliance to make sure that basic international norms continue to be observed. >> on the issue of comfort women, i'm pained to think about the women that had pain and

suffer issing. ingis -- suffering. i share this feeling. based on this decision japan had made various efforts to provide realistic relief for the comfort women. throughout the history of the 20th century, women's dignity and human rights is often inflingin infringed upon in wars. we tend to make it a world with no human rights violations against women. i promised at general assembly last year japan would stand and lead the international community in eliminating sexual i violence

during conflict. for international frame work including the u.n. women, japan provided approximately $12 million in 2014 and decide had the it would provide approximately $22 million in 2015. in any case, the 21st century should be an age where women's rights is never infringed upon. it is our strong resolve. >> thank you very much. from nhk. i'd like to address prime minister and president obama. in the east china sea and south

china sea, china continues to make forrays into the ocean islamic state is still active. what action do you expect to take in countries in japan with regard of exercise of self-defense and new guidelines sguidelines. there's a strong concern japan would become involved in wars. how does abe plan to do about this? what is president obama's take on these concerns? >> translator: first of all on extremism and radicalism which is on the rise the world community should unite to counter such extremism.

moderation is the best method is the speech i delivered in cairo. we have to face extremism. there are moderates at the forefront facing extremeismextremism. we want to support this. with the rise of extremism, there are refugees and support to these refugees and also through the influx of refugee, there are countries faced with difficulties. to these countries, it's important that we provide support appropriately. to the moderate countries, we need to tell them they are not alone. they are not isolated in the international society. the moderate countries should be

supported. we need to express that at all times. i believe that is important. in the middle east there are people who are living there improving the welfare and livelihood of these peoples, areas in which we like to make efforts. from such a standpoint united states and japan would like to cooperate to respond to the challenges. another point, the guideline, the defense guidelines and with regard to security legislation. that we may be involved get caught up in wars. people tend to label this in some cases. it's very unfortunate. labeling activities of this kind is not the first time it has occurred. in 1960 when we revised the

security treaty people -- some people said we would be involved in wars of the united states. that was the core of the criticism which was aired then. it's been 55 years since then. this criticism has been proved totally wrong and that is clear and evident. history has proved this. our choice made at the time to revise the security treaty and in case japan suffers from aggression between the united states and japan, we would respond through cooperation. in the far east to maintain security japan's facilities would be leveraged. u.s. military would leverage these facilities and con

conductivity conductivities. japan was protected and prosperity happened. safety in the asia pacific has been maintain added. to further strengthen this trend provided for through the guidelines and seamless response is made possible. in so doing, deterrence would be in hands. a an alliance would be more functionable. deterrence responsibilities would be heightened as a result. this would lead to peace and prosperity of japan and regional peace and prosperity as well. this is my firm conviction. in the streamlining of the laws i would like to explain to citizens and parliament in a detailed fashion.

>> ultimate lyly representatives will make decisions about how to best approach their defense. i think it's important to notice prime minister abe said we have seen over multiple decades now that japan is a peace loving country. having absorbed difficult lessons from the past japan does not engage in aggression on the international stage or in its region. and that the alliance that has been built with the united states is principally one a that seeks to defend our countries from potential attack or

aggression. what the new defense guidelines and collective defense approach that prime minister abe is proposing simply upgrades our ability to carry out those core functions. we do share as people in countries around the world share a determination to eliminate the kind of barbaric terrorist acts perpetrated by organizations like isil that have resulted in the death of innocent citizens from the united states from japan, from other countries and most of all from muslim countries. that's why we have a broad base coalition designed to defeat isil. we will continue to work with a

wide range of countries around the world in our counter terrorism efforts. japan's cooperation in that is vital and appreciated, but there are many ways in which coalition members participate. japan's willingness and commitment to provide humanitarian assistance makes an enormous difference in countries that have been destabilize. japan's willingness to serve in peace keeping and working with other countries to rebuild after they've been destroyed makes a big difference. i think it's important to recognize we do not expect some instant and major transformation in terms of how japan projects military power. we do expect that japan, like

all our allies, and like ourselves will continue to adapt to new threats. understanding that our basic core principle is not territorial ambition not aggression towards others. it is simply to defend prosperity and liberty and sovereignty of countries as we have done for a very long time now. as we have done together for a very long time. >> thank you mr. president. as you know the national guard is now on the streets of baltimore. the latest aftermath in a series of one of the high profile confrontations between black men and police officers. there seems to be growing frustration among african-american leaders that not enough is being done quickly enough. mark from the urban league says the u.s. is in state of emergency in tremendous

proportions. the president of naacp legal defense fund says we are in the throws of a national crisis is. are we in the throws of a national crisis? what are you prepared to do about it in terms of baltimore and the larger picture? what do you say to critics that say since the death of trayvon martin you have not been aggressive enough in your response? to prime minister abe, how aggressive are you to keep in check? do you agree with president obama when he says failing to complete a deal with further china's -- >> i've been clear that tpp is good for american businesses and american workers regardless of what china is doing.

we will make the case on the per its as -- on the merits. this is not simply a defense agreement. this is something that's going to be pardon parcel of our broader economic agenda moving forward. when 95% of the markets are outside our shores we've got to make sure we're out there competing. i'm confident we can compete. with respect to baltimore, let me make a couple of points. first, obviously our thoughts continue to be with the family of freddie gray. understandably they want answers. doj has opened an investigation. it is working with local law enforcement to find out exactly what happened. i think there should be full transparency and accountability. second, my thoughts are with the police officers who were injured in last night's disturbances.

it underscores that that's a tough job. we have to keep that in mind. my hope is that they can heal and get back to work as soon as possible. point number three, there's no excuse for the kind of violence we saw yesterday. it is counter productive when individuals get crowbars and pry open doors to loot. they're not protesting. they're not making a statement. they're stealing. when they burn down a building they're committing arson. and they're destroying and undermining businesses and opportunities in their own communities that rob jobs and

opportunities from people in that area. so sit entirely appropriate the mayor of baltimore who i spoke to yesterday and the governor who i spoke to yesterday work to stop that kind of senseless violence and destruction. that is not a protest. that is not a statement. it's people a handful of people taking advantage of a situation for their own purposes and they need to be treated as criminals. point number four the violence that happened yesterday distracted from the fact you had seen multiple days of peaceful protests that were focused on entirely legitimate concerns of

these communities in baltimore led by clergy and community leaders. they were constructive and thoughtful. frankly it didn't get that much attention. one burning building will be looped on television over and over and over again. the thousands of demonstrators that did it the right way have been lost in the discussion. the overwhelming majority of the community in baltimore i think have handled this appropriately expressing real concern and outrage over the possibility that our laws were not applied equally in the case of mr. gray and and that accountability has to exist. you've got the organizers going back to communities trying to clean up after the aftermath of a handful of criminals and thugs

who tore up the place. what they were doing, what those community leaders and clergy and others were doing, that is a statement. that's the kind of organizing that needs to take place if we're going to tackle this problem. they need to be lifted up. point number five and i've got six because this is important. sense ferguson and the task force that we put together we have seen too many instances of what appears to be police officers interacting with

individuals primarily african-american, often poor in ways that raise trouble and questions. and it comes up it seems like once a week now. once every couple of weeks. so i think it's understandable why the leaders of civil rights organizations but more importantlyimportant ly moms and dads across the country might start saying this is a crisis. what i'd say is this is a slow rolling crisis that's been going on a long time. this is not new. we shouldn't pretend it's new. the good news is that perhaps there's newfound awareness because of social media and video mcameras and so forth that there are problems and challenges when it comes to how

policing and our laws are applied in certain communities. we have to pay attention to it and respond. what's also good news the task force made up of law enforcement and community activists here in the white house have come up with constructive concrete proposals if adopted by local communities and by states and counties, by law enforcement generally, would make a difference. wouldn't solve every problem but would make a concrete difference in rebuilding trust and making sure the overwhelming majority of effective, honest and fair law enforcement officers that they're able to do their job better because it will weed out or retrain or put a stop to those handful who may be not doing what they're supposed to

be doing. now the challenge for us is the federal government that we don't run these police forces. i can't federalize every police force in the country and force them to retrain. what i can do is start working with them. the grant program is given to jurisdictions that want to purchase body cameras. we'll issue grants for those jurisdictions that are prepared 20 start trying to implement new training data collection and things to make a difference. we're going to keep on working with those local jurisdictions so that they can begin to make

the changes that are necessary. i think it's going to be important for organizations like the fraternal order of police and other police unions and organizations to acknowledge that this is not good for police. we have to own up to the fact there's going to be problems here like every other occupation. there's bad politicians who are corrupt. there are folks in the business community or on wall street that don't do the right thing. well, there are police that aren't doing the right thing. rather than close ranks, what we've seen are thoughtful police chiefs and commissioners recognize they've got to get their arms around this thing and work together with the community to solve the problem. we're committed to facilitating that process. the heads of our cops agency

that helps with community policing they're out in baltimore. our assistant attorney general for the civil rights division is out in baltimore. we're going to work systematically with every one to give solutions to make sure it works. i'm going to make the final point. i'm sorry mr. prime minister but this is an important issue for us. we can't leave this to the police. i think there are police departments that have to do some soul searching. i think there are communities that have to do soul searching. i think we as a country have to do some soul searching. this is not new.

it's been going on decades. without making excuses for criminal activities taking place, we also know you have impoverished communities stripped away from opportunity. where children are born into poverty. they've got parents often because of substance abuse problems or incarceration or lack of education, themselves can't do right by their kids. if it's more likely those kids end up in jail or dead than they go to college. in communities where there are no fathers who can provide guidance to young men. communities that a where there's no investment and manufacturing has been stripped away. and drugs have flooded the community and drug industry ends up being the primary employer

for a lot of folks. in those environments if we think we're going to send police to do the dirty work of containing the problems that a rise there without a nation and society saying what can we do to change those communities to help lift up communities and give those kids opportunity. then we're not going to solve this problem. we'll go through the same cycles of periodic conflicts between the police and communities and occasional riots in the streets. and everybody will fame concern million it goes away. then we'll go about our business

as usual. if we are serious about solving this problem, we have not only to help the police but think about what can we do the rest of us to make sure that we're providing early education to these kids. to make sure we're reforming our criminal justice system so it's not just a pipeline from schools to prisons. so that we're not rendering men in these communities unemployable because of a felony record for a non violent drug offense. that we're making investments so they can get the training they need to find jobs. that's hard. that requires more than just the occasional news report or task force. and there's a bunch of my agenda that would make a difference now. i'm under no illusion under this congress we're going to get massive investments in urban

communities. we'll try to find communities we can make a difference around school reform job training and some investments in infrastructure in these communities and trying to attract new businesses in. but if we really want to solve the problem, if our society really wanted to solve the problem, we could. it's just it would require everybody saying this is important. this is significant. and that we don't just pay attention to communities when a cvs burns. we don't just pay attention when a young man gets shot or has his spine snapped. we're paying attention all the time because we consider those kids our kids and think they're important. they shouldn't be live manage poverty and violence. that's how i feel. i think there's a lot of people around the country that feel

that way. that kind of political mobilization we haven't seen in quite some time. what i've tried to do is promote those ideas that would make a difference. the politics of that are tough. it's easy to ignore those problems or treat them as a law and order issue as opposed to broader social issue. that was a really long answer but i felt strongly about it. >> and here with me now wrc reporter in baltimore all day and all night. we have a few minutes left. that was the president's defense of what the federal government has or has not done. >> yes, it was interesting hearing the president speak about what can be done from a federal level. you have to get into the communities on the local level. there was a lot of looting yesterday. there were people who were

throwing rocks, bottles at the police officers. it's worth mentioning there were peaceful protestors, people that didn't want to cause trouble that were remembering and paying tribute to freddie gray on the day of his funeral. then again you had the violence. it was sad to see especially when you see business owners who are really upset about what happened to their business burned to the ground. >> we've seen aerial views live now near the cvs. we don't know what's taking place there. in the 30 seconds we have left you talked to people in the streets. there's so much anger among young people. the looters, rioter people burning. they're not operating because of what happened to mr. gray. they're operating because of the bigger issue. >> you have some people who are opportunist who want to use this as a way to get what i describe as freebies.

there are others upset about freddie gray and wonder how he got the spinal injuries that led to his death. they want answers and want them now. >> thank you so much. that does it for us for "andrea mitchell reports." now to thomas roberts on "msnbc live" in baltimore. >> thank you so much. today on "msnbc live" we have two big breaking stories. baltimore at a breaking point. we're counting down to a city wide encouraged curfew. that's been because of chaos many the last 24 hours. this as the city cleans up today. residents are trying to help their community clean up. they're left asking where do they go from here? the other big story today. attorneys for 32 plaintiffs setting the stage for a ruling that will decide the future of marriage equality in the country. hi everybody. i am thomas roberts live in

baltimore. we'll get to the supreme court case in a moment. right now we're just outside the senior center engulfed in a three alarm fire last night. you can see the ambers letting up flares behind me. residents were devastated by the chaos that rocked the city. people are putting on a brave face as they step out to clean up. you can see we're looking at live aerials from wbal where there's still some chaotic scenes going on with people gathering together. not sure exactly what's going to happen with that group that is organized right there. i had an opportunity to hang out with a group of citizens spending their time today cleaning up. this was after a night full of violence and looting. now it's questioning the motives of the protestors. >> i understand why they're here what they're doing, but why can't it be peaceful and get