>> michael phelps, true beast. >> true beast. >> baltimore native. >> yes. now i have to start the cupping. i want to try that. >> the cupping? you're pretty fit. i'm going to guess you have cupped before. >> i have not. we'll make a date for it. >> there you go. we need a podcast, thomas and i cupping together. how about some news. >> stephanie, thanks so much. breaking news out of florida right now. on the southwest coastline in punta gorda. it has to deal with this police shooting. city manager, mayor and counsel have spoken out about what happened, an accidental shooting when a woman was killed during a citizens academy event that happened on tuesday evening. we have the event -- a briefing coming up. let's listen in right now. >> this tragedy also significantly impacted our public safety family to include the officers on scene, police dispatchers and firefighters.

chief tom lewis immediately contacted the florida department of law enforcement to respond and begin an investigation into the events surrounding this incident. as your mayor, city council and city manager, we have complete faith in our chief of police to ensure that this outside investigation is conducted thoroughly. future press conferences will be scheduled and news releases will be provided as information is made available. as your city leaders, we would like to express our gratitude for your continued support during this extremely difficult time. we are mourning and missing mary as she was a vittal member of our community. thank you.

>> will you take any questions? >> no, not at this time. >> right there, they were saying will you take any questions, tom? i believe that's tom lewis. they were doing a citizens academy, again, it is evening for the punta gorda police department. a 73-year-old woman, mary nolton was shot, and it happened during a role play scenario with a police officer playing a bad guy. apparently he fired several times, this is according to the news press at a woman who was supposed to be playing the victim. again, 35 civilians from the community were brought in for this two-hour police academy where they participate in these randomly selected scenarios, one of which was the shoot, don't shoot scenario. this is where officers make decisions based on real-time

scenarios about lethal force and doing so in live role play. we heard there from chief tom lewis about how devastating this s. he's asking for prayers for mary's family. again, 73-year-old mary nolton was shot and killed during this role play that happened during a citizens academy on tuesday evening. we'll get more information from chief lewis and also the punta gorda police investigators who are now looking into this tragic exercise that went terribly wrong. we're also awaiting for a news conference from the department of justice and its formal findings from its investigation of the baltimore city police department. that's going to begin roughly 30 minutes from now. the head of the doj's civil rights division will formally announce the findings described as revealing a broken relationship between police and community. details of the critical report have already been made public, including the overall conclusion baltimore city police routinely stopped, searched and arrested african-americans without

provocation and routinely used excessive force. it comes more than a year after the arrest in police custody death of freddie gray. the states attorney charged six officers in relation to gray's death. none of those officers who stood trial were found guilty. three were acquitted. six weeks ago the charges against the three remaining officers were all dropped. coming up, we'll have our justice correspondent pete williams joining us more. we'll bring you to that live press event as soon as it begins on msnbc. now to donald trump's latest controversial remarks with battleground polling showing a pretty difficult road ahead. trump facing calls for his ouster as republican nominee all because of these most recent comments from a north carolina rally on tuesday. take a look. >> hillary wants toessentially amendment. by the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do,

folks. although the second amendment people, maybe there is, i don't know. but i tell you what, that will be a horrible day. >> democrats and many conservatives have condemned those remarks. they interpret the comments to mean trump was inciting violence against a possible future president clinton. on his twitter feed and via campaign statement, trump says no. while speaking to a news affiliate he said it's simply a get out the vote call to second amendment supporters and activists. >> i think you're talking about the power of people that are in favor of the second amendment, and they have tremendous political power, and i think they really are strong. they're united. in fact, the national rifle association just came out and they agree that is absolutely the way they feel, too. the second amendment people have tremendous power because they're so united. >> i've seen statements from

democrats so far who have equated it to condoning violence. not what that was? >> oh, no. it's political power. >> several trump surrogates have backed the vergs of comments that they are focused on pre election efforts to thwart hillary clinton. however, a closer reading of the words perhaps suggests otherwise. many observers have noted that the line "if she gets the pick her judges" strongly meant a sitting president clinton, not a candidate clinton. the secret service says they are aware of the comments. clinton campaign issued a statement saying, this is simple, what trump is saying is dangerous. a person seeking to be the president of the united states should not suggest violence in any way. >> katy, four days ago trump thanked a key adviser, al bald

sar row, he said clinton should be shot for treason, coming as crowds chant "lock her up." he calls the system rigged. what do your sources inside the campaign say about this latest controversy? >> first of all, when donald trump thanked the campaign advisor that called for hillary clinton to be put in front of a firing squad, it harkened back to when donald trump publicly thanked cory lewandowski after he was accused of assaulting a reporter. donald trump seems to be supporting somebody coming under controversy. the campaign is forcefully pushing back on this idea that he was inspiring violence, trying to say he was inspiring voters. but the issue with that, thomas, is donald trump, if he hasn't condoned violence in the past during this past 14 months of his campaign, he certainly hasn't condemned it forcefully. we've heard him joke about killing journalists. we've heard him joke about shooting people on fifth avenue. we've heard him call on

supporters who beat up a hispanic homeless man passionate. call other supporters who beat up protesters at his rallies passionate. we heard him talk about paying for the legal fees of a man who sucker punched a protester in fayetteville, north carolina. he has not specifically condemned violence. that's why so few are giving him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to what he was saying about hillary clinton yesterday. there's such worry out there right now he might have been inspiring somebody to go on the attack. despite the caveats, there was an editorial in "the new york times" saying a lot of folks aren't necessarily hearing those caveats. they're hearing donald trump call hillary clinton a trader. saying she's dangerous and will want to take it into their own hands. it's the same thing that happened with the assassination of it sack rabin in israel. the campaign is trying to push back, trying to distance themselves on that. this morning with rudy giuliani talking to fox news and

yesterday when governor pence was asked about it. take a listen. >> you don't believe he was inferring any violence relating to hillary clinton? >> of course not, no. donald trump is urging people around this country to act in a manner consist accident with their convictions in the course of this election. >> what he said very clearly was, if anyone were elected president, she would get to a point with judges in the supreme court and among the other things they would do to destroy us would be to do away with the second amendment and your right to bear arms. >> reporter: the issue here is these headlines are taking away from negative headlines on hillary clinton. ha is what has gop strategists so frustrated, what has aides frustrated. they want to refocus the attention on hillary clinton. this morning a new batch of e-mails out showing questionable links between the state department and the clinton foundation, except the issue for the trump campaign is everybody is talking about whether he was trying to insight an

assassination attempt against his rival if she were to get into office. that is the frustration the gop is having right now. their candidate can't seem to stop stepping on his own tail. >> really facht. there was a person sitting behind donald trump reacting to the comments when he made that suggestion about "if" and second rights amendment folks and what they might do. what are you hearing from people on the trail? to trump supporters, is there a backlash? >> trump supporters are vehement in their support of donald trump. they truly believe that, if there's not a conspiracy to bring him down, ha the media is not on his side. they pushed back against the idea that he said something he should not have said. when you ask them, point blank, if there's any advice to give their candidate, every person

i've spoken to has said they would like him to move away from the controversies, to focus on the issues that matter to them and he's strong on stuff like the economy, job creation, national security. the reason they're supporting trump in general. >> isn't there a real trip-up when we think about, if trump is staying on message and talking about supreme court appointments and staying focused on hillary clinton, those are two big things they want him to dorks focus on clinton, focus on what matters about vacancies within the supreme court. we have an open seat right now and the potential of four people retiring coming up within the next four years. those are two big things that the base wants him to stay on focus with. >> reporter: yeah, and they are. they're happy he was staying on focus. but the issue with donald trump is when he goes off script, he add libs and add-libs things that get him into trouble. the idea that he's going to change is something that fewer and fewer people are believing. that comes to the gop, they want

donald trump to stay on message. the problem with donald trump is he has shown up until now an inability to do so, even when he is on message, he goes off script and gets himself into trouble and worries them for, if he were to be elected, if he was in the white house, what would he say that might set off a hostile nation or a semi hostile nation like russia. what would he say in diplomatic negotiations with a country like iran. if he can't keep his mouth shut on the campaign trail, there is worry among operatives and even among some of his supporters, his most ardent supporters that he's not going to be able to change when it comes to sitting in the white house, sitting in the oval office. donald trump has said, thomas, repeatedly, he can be the most presidential person out there, you would be so bored with him being so presidential, but up until now, he hasn't shown it. >> katy tur in sunrise, florida. i want to bring in rick tyler, msnbc political analyst and a man who has worked on many

republican campaigns, most recently ted cruz. first, rick, your reaction. how do you interpret those words? >> i think it's a little overblown. candidate obama once said, if they bring a knife, i'll bring a gun. >> quote from a movie. >> no one thought he was really going to bring a gun. the reason people are making a lot out of it is donald trump has incited violence in the past. this is one of those things where, what did he really mean? second amendment people, they don't support it because it allows them to insight violence. second amendment people want the second amendment because it allows them to protect themselves and their families from violence. even if it was a joke, a misunderstanding of whose second amendment supporters are. they don't go out and commit crimes. they owe bay the law. the worst part is, thomas, he stepped on the dominant story of the day which would have been

the shooter of the pulse, largest mass killing by a firearm in the united states. his father was behind hillary clinton at her rally. that by any measure would have been a dominant story. yet donald trump did it again, took away the dominant story that would have hurt hillary clinton. >> the campaign came out condemning the actions of the pulse shooter, saying they had no idea this dad was coming to that rally. obviously he's a person living in america, free to show up wherever he wants to. they had no contact with him. yes, the optics of that, right over her shoulder, not very good. i do want to play you paul ryan's initial reaction. this was after his victory in wisconsin yesterday for his primary about what trump said. >> i've been a little busy today. i heard about this second amendment quote. it sounds like just a joke gone

bad. i hope he clears it up quickly. you should never joke about something like that. i didn't hear the comments, only heard about the comments. >> so a joke gone bad. how does the campaign continue to say that the whole campaign is not a joke gone bad when they're constantly trying to clean up a mess and say, oh, yeah, we can be the most presidential ever. just wait and see. when does that day really come? there's a length of time that we're not here hashing out over the word "if" or what he said or how he meant it. there needs to be a point where it really stays on focus with 90 days to go. >> thomas, i said for months donald trump is not going to change. this is what we can expect. there's never going to be a day where he decides and becomes more presidential or boring. >> do you think it's good, the surrogates, people say, well, he's not a politician. he is the gop nominee. he is effectively a politician. >> i agree with you. >> he's earned his army stripes in getting there so far through the political battles he faced

through the primary. he is technically a politician. >> he is a politician, the potential head of the republican party and represents the values of the republican party. unfortunately all these other candidates on paul ryan on a daily basis have to go out and explain this stuff. what you'll see is people are beginning to peel off because donald trump's candidacy is becoming a black hole. people want to avoid the gaf terrible vortex into nothines nothingness. if he wants to stop that sort of thing, he needs to be focused and disciplined. >> i want to bring in jason osborne, republican strategist, donald trump supporter and former senior federal liaison for the nra. based on the remarks by donald trump, do you think he is painting nra folks, those that are in support of what it means to have legal firearms in a bad light now?

>> no. i think this whole thing, this whole concept that donald trump stepped on his message is completely ridiculous. as an nra member and somebody that worked at the nra for several years, i knew exactly what he was talking about. there's over 5 million members of the nra that are motivated to protect the second amendment. for him to say that there's nothing that can be done except maybe the second amendment folks can help out, that means them mobilizing on the grassroots level, sending letters in, making phone calls, visiting their elected officials and saying enough is enough. we need to stop judges from coming in that are bad for the second amendment. >> so when it comes to what donald trump is saying about hillary clinton and her policies, in specific regard to gun policy in america from hillary clinton, expanding background checks, remove gun industries sweeping illegal protections for illegal, irresponsible actions. keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers or other violent criminals or the

severely mentally ill. that's a far cry from him painting her as a gun grabber. >> there's no question that hillary clinton has a record of reaching out and trying to lessen the impact -- >> that's not abolishing the second amendment. >> every single time we go into congress and there has to be a shooting, they come out with a policy plan that has nothing to do with what just happened. we had the tragedy in orlando, and immediately they come out and say we need to have background checks at gun shows. this was not a gun show problem. this is an issue -- the problem we have in america right now is we have an instant check system that's underfunded, not complete with the records from the states. we've had battles with the democrats and liberals in congress to stop us from putting the mental health records of individuals in the database. so when you come out and say that immediately after a shooting, i'm surprised there's actually not a comment from the hillary campaign today that police should be banned from being firearms based on their track record of every time a

shooting occurs, they want to ban some sort of firearm. the assault weapons ban is a complete cosmetic ban just because a firearm looks different. >> jason as born, thosborne, th your time. appreciate it. >> thank you. donald trump's comments about the second amendment continues to overshadow this other potentially troubling headline for his opposition in candidate clinton. thisn newly released batch of e-mails raids questions about overlapping interests. what her campaign is now saying. plus -- >> donald trump lost me a long time ago. he does and says everything my mom and dad taught me never to say and do. he doesn't understand the basic requirements of being president of the united states and frankly, he's dangerous. >> more republicans react to trump's new comments about clinton. our new round of polling finds donald trump is trailing clinton specifically. when asked about which candidate would be a good

commander-in-chief, we'll dive in to reaction on that from certain republicans based on that polling. we continue to also follow this breaking news. a live look in baltimore city's ha hall. within the hour the head of the justice department's civil rights division making a presentation about its investigation into the baltimore police department and how it treats the community. detailing showing officers routinely discriminating against black members of the city. a live report from baltimore next. y made of. after five hours of spinning and one unfortunate ride on the gravitron, your grandkids spot a 6 foot banana that you need to win. in that moment, you'll be happy you partnered with a humana care manager and got your health back on track. because that banana isn't coming home with you until that bell sings. great things are ahead of you when your health is ready for them. at humana, we can help you with a personalized plan for your health for years to come. with a crust made chfrom scratche and mixes crisp vegetables with all white meat chicken,

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shouldn't have said it. i understand where you're coming from. it came out the wrong way. it suggests he was actually encouraging people to assassinate hillary clinton, use violence. it was the type of comment that

a presidential candidate should not make. >> do you think he has the temperament to be commander-in-chief? >> yes, i do. >> republican peter king earlier on "morning joe." critics saying donald trump was calling for any form of attack on hillary clinton. regardless of the intent, trump's comments continue to hurt his overall message, this time distracting from a damaging release of e-mails that could have cost the clinton camp precious support among independents. jeremy peters is with "the new york times" and msnbc contributor. and francesca chambers is white house correspondent for the daily mail. let's get to the clinton e-mails. given the spin that it's the media fanning the flame. let's start on trump and then we'll get to clinton. >> right, thomas. i think one of the first things you need to recognize -- that we all need to recognize is the way that there are two different media worlds right now.

there is the way that conservatives and republicans are getting their news and then there's a way that the rest of the world is getting their news. if you turn on fox news, what you will see are lead stories about this latest clinton e-mail flap. you turn on other media and you see stories about donald trump suggesting second amendment supporters take matters into their own hands. >> he was on hannity last night talking about this. they were trying to put it out, extinguish any controversy around the remarks. >> that's right. i don't know how helpful it was. there are two worlds that are co-existing and never meeting. you have people who get their information from completely separate sourss and they kind of experience the election the way they want to experience it. they blame the other side for not covering it fairly enough. one thing that donald trump, the main thing donald trump has

working against them. this election has become about him. ultimately you talk to strategist whose are plotting this for the clinton campaign and they believe whoever this election is about loses. right now that's donald trump, and they aim to keep it that way. >> francesca, let's talk about the conservative watch dog group, judicial watch, 296 pages of state department records. they released the e-mail exchanges between the clinton foundation stafferers and the hrc office saying it show this is cozy relationship, rewarding donors with access. clinton's camp says neither of these e-mails relate to the secretary or the foundation's work. the communication is between their aides and the president's personal aide. secretary clinton was not in the e-mails in question and they were not on her private server. how much does this muddy the waters between the clinton foundation and her work at state? >> she was not part of the e-mails.

that's the main point that the clinton camp is trying to make. it does raise new questions about if hillary clinton were in the white house, what role bill clinton could possibly play in her administration and what role he would continue to play in the clinton foundation and if chelsea clinton would continue to play a role in the foundation as well. that raises new questions about that because donald trump said she would use the white house, her family would use the white house for their own personal enrichment and these are the kinds of e-mails that provide fodder for donald trump's arguments. >> francesca and jeremy, stand by. when we come back, we have to shoot to baltimore. we're going to be taking this live. this is the department of justice and the civil rights lead coming out with the formal announcement of its investigation into the baltimore city police department after it asked for a formal review in relation to the police custody death of freddy gray. back in a moment.

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we're watching closely as they put the finishing touches on baltimore city hall. they were testing the microphones. reporters are in place. this is where they'll be holding a press conference after the justice department and the lead from their civil rights unit will announce the findings of the investigation into the city of baltimore police department. now, police in this city came under formal investigation because six officers had been charged and then acquitted in the death of freddy gray. it led to protests, riots in the city, and this is a question about police brutality, overall about the country, but we're getting very meta and specific about what it's meant for residents living in baltimore city. we'll go to nbc news justice correspondent pete williams. pete, the forecast we got earlier has been described as a broken relationship between police and community and some abuses. >> reporter: right. well, we've actually seen the

report, peter. it was released last night, and it is a scathing report. it says baltimore police routinely stop, frisk and even arrest people with no suspicion whatsoever that they've committed crimes and that they say by cons tracentrating these enforcement patrols has destroyed the community's ties to the police department and broken the trust. many cities in the 1990s adopted a zero tolerance policy of going after people committing even minor infractions. they say the problem here is this continues, even though the city has abandoned that policy. many police officers think the only way to get promoted is to continue to have high arrest numbers. it says in the period they looked at -- the work by the justice department was done over the past year, but they've gone back and looked at records over the last five or six years. in one period they say 300,000

folks were stopped for minor offenses with minimal or no suspicion of law breaking. and this was especially concentrated in african-american neighborhoods. they note that one man in his mid 50s was stopped 30 times and never given so much as a ticket. they also say many of these sidewalk stops involve frisks or searches including even strip searches in public. they say the baltimore police disproportionately stop african-americans in traffic stops looking for drugs, even though the police are more than twice as likely to find drugs on white people than on the african-americans they pull over. they finally say the baltimore police do too little to supervise and rain the police force, too little to investigate complaints and, of course, this is the result of a cooperative dweemt between the city and the justice department. the city asked the justice department to come in here and do this report. so what typically is the result

of these pattern or practice investigations by the justice department is they go to court, get a consent decree, go to court and agree to undertake certain steps. so this is going to be a little different than some of these news conferences we hear about justice department civil rights investigations because the city will be here as well. it's not just the justice department. we expect the mayor will actually go first and talk about what they intend to do to follow up on the justice department report and what steps they think they can take to improve the police department, peter. >> pete, this works with -- obviously based on the findings, but does the doj help set a path forward of what they can do in coordination with the baltimore city police department about how to plant seeds for the future, how to do better? >> reporter: absolutely. they do make a series of recommendations. this consent decree is a court-enforced agreement that the court can take steps if the city doesn't undertake the steps

of the justice department and the city have agreed to take. now, to be brutally frank about this, as the city has said, it's one thing to change the policies, but the city says this is the police department, it's understaffed. a lot of this will require money, money that the city doesn't have. it's not going to be easy to make some of these reforms, peter. >> pete, if cleveland is a case study, because it fell under a certain decree, how is cleveland doing, say, if we were using that in respect to what baltimore will now go through in terms of what the doj found about its police force and problems with city residents on how they were enforcing what they considered their own justice? >> reporter: well, what the justice department says in the report is there's widespread agreement in baltimore that changes need to be made, not just by community leaders, not just by the white community or

the african-american community, but by the police force itself. there's almost unanimity that these changes need to be made. that puts this in a different light than in some cities that resist the justice department's recommendations. >> pete williams on the scene in baltimore city hall. we'll be hearing from the doj, also the mayor about the findings in relation to what's taken place over the past year since the death of freddy gray within police custody. again, the state's attorney's office did bring charges against the six officers in relation to the death of freddy gray, the arrest of him and the in-police custody death. three of those officers were convicted. six weeks ago, the remaining officers had the charged dropped because of the fact that the other cases that moved forward didn't provide the evidence needed under the judge's ruling to find them guilty of any conduct that was inappropriate in the death of freddy gray. msnbc's trymaine lee has covered the death from the very

beginning, the riots in baltimore city. he joins me along with nypd retired sergeant joseph jocelone. this formalizes what people already knew after doing reporting for a while in baltimore about a broken relationship between police and its citizens. >> that's right. moments ago i spoke to a woman named pawanda jones whose brother was killed by police a few years ago. she said i'm not surprised, i'm glad they finally know. this is the mentality of police. this is her quote, i'm at a point since they know, we're interesting in seeing what they're going to do about it. that's the concern. on one hand you have the do report that outlines a broken system, intentionally targeted people of color, used excessive force, stopped pedestrians 300,000 times with little to no evidence of law breaking. then when police kill people, there's rarely an indictment, rarely prosecution or guilty

verdict at all. so folks say, what does this actually do? we've been knowing this for years. take a step back and you look at what's happening in a similar situation -- >> i'm sorry to interrupt. we have people coming to the podium starting with the mayor. let's listen in. >> good morning. i want to welcome principal deputy assistant attorney bonita gupta and thank the justice department's recognition for our reform efforts. i also want to acknowledge police commissioner kevin davis, baltimore city council president jack young as well. today marks an important step on our path to reform. with the release of its finding and report the justice department is sharing with the community, with the city government and our police department the conclusions of its 14-month-long investigation. an inquiry that i asked for last

may. the findings are challenging to hear. but let me be clear. i never sugarcoat our problems, nor will i run away from our most pressing challenges. the report identifies specific problems in the department, but the transparency of the report offers crucial -- a crucial foundation if we are going to move forward, because i believe transparency is the only true foundation upon which we can rebuild community trust. policing issues have taken on a new urgency in the national discussion inlight of the tragic shootings in recent weeks as well as the developments in our own city. it's so very important that we get this right. the report's assessment and its followup to it will help us to heal the relationship between the police and our communities.

i also want to be clear that we have not been standing still while this inquiry was under way. indeed, some of these reforms began before i asked the department of justice to investigate the department. the city has taken first steps in a long path to reform and we've begun to see real benefits. our police department is already making significant changes. the community is providing valuable insight and officers and citizens are working together to improve our communities and the policing that is happening within them. we have a very long journey ahead of us. i'm grateful we could begin this process of meaningful change while i'm mayor. i'd like to turn it over now to principal deputy assistant attorney general venita gupta. >> good morning. i'd like to start by thanking mayor stephanie rawlings-blake

and commissioner kevin davis for their cooperation and leadership throughout the justice department's investigation. i want to thank my outstanding team from the civil rights division for their tireless and focused efforts. 15 months ago in the aftermath of freddy gray's tragic death, we talked to community members, police officers, police union leaders and city officials about the challenges related to policing in the city of baltimore. the mayor, members of the city council, mayors of congress and residents asked us to open an investigation into the baltimore police department which we launched in may of 2015. since then we talked to residents from poland park to sand town. we interviewed command staff and rank and file officers. we participated in ride-alongs in each police the district. we met with leaders of police unions, religious organizations, advocacy groups, neighborhood associations and reviewed their reports and publications.

with law enforcement and statistical experts, we reviewed hundreds of thousands of pages of documents covering 2010 to 2016 including policies and training materials, internal affairs data, data on stops, searches and arrests and use of force reports. nearly everyone who spoke to us, from the baltimore city fraternal order of police who showed us their 2012 report blueprint for improved policing to the residence who share serious concerns, everyone agreed that the police department need sustainable reform. indeed the mayor and commissioner have been aware of the problems and have not stood still during our investigation, and i want to commend them for that. we recognize the challenges that are faced by police officers in baltimore and other communities around the country. every day police officers risk their lives to uphold the law and keep our community safe. investigatory stops, arrests and

indeed at times force are necessary tools used by bpd officers to do their jobs and protect the safety of themselves and all of us. providing police services in many parts of baltimore is particularly challenging, where regularly officers confront challenges rooted in poverty, racial segregation, ef efficient housing. they want to address the challenges, want to fight crime and want to ensure public safety. our guide to policing emits these realities. must be the constitution and federal anti discrimination law. today the department of justice announces the outcome of our investigation and issues 163-page report detailing our findings. we conclude that there is reasonable cause to believe that bpd engages in a pattern or practice that violates the

constitution of anti discrimination. they engage in a pattern or practice of making unconstitutional stops, searches and arrests. using enforcement strategies that produce severe and unjustified disparities in the rates of stops, searches and arrests of african-americans. these violations have deepry eroded the mutual trust between bpd and the community it serves, trust that is essential to effective policing as well as to officer and public safety. the problems in baltimore didn't happen overnight or appear in a day. the pattern or practice that we found results from longstanding systemic deficiencies in the pbd. the agency fails to provide officers with sufficient policy guidance and training, to collect and analyze data of officer activity and hold officers accountable for misconduct.

bpd failed to provide officers with the necessary equipment and resources they need to do police safely, constitutionally and effectively. these systemic failures alone didn't create the problem. the street enforcement strategy become a quest to produce large numbers of enforcement actions, pedestrian stops in particular, often without enough consideration of their limited impact on solving crime and their caustic damage to community relationships. with today's city leaders -- while today's city leaders have recognized these issues, in in the bpd continue to follow this strategy. only 3.7% of the police department's more than 300,000 pedestrian stops from january 2010 to may of 2015 resulted in officers issuing a citation or making an arrest. many of these stops and the resulting frisks lacked constitutional justification. and many of the discretionary arrests were simply street clearing activities.

supervisors at bpd central booking rejected over 11,000 charges made by bpd officers because they lacked probable cause or did not merit prosecution. the city's african-american residents bore the brunt of this activity. the police department made roughly 44% of stops in two small predominantly african-american districts that contain only 11% of the city's population. african-americans accounted -- one african-american man was stopped 30 times in less than four years with none of the stops resulting in a citation or criminal charge. we also found a practice of excessive force when a person did not immediately respond to verbal commands, even where the person was posing no imminent threat to the officer or others.

officers were ending up in unnecessarily violent confro confrontations with people with mental health disabilities. we have seen communities throughout the country that improved policies and enhanced training in deescalation and dealing with people in crisis can enhance officer safety and reduce the need for force. bpd violets the first amendment by retaliating against individuals engaged in constitutionally protected activities. officers frequently detain and arrest members of the public for engaging in speech that officers perceive to be critical or disrespectful. bpd officers use force against members of the public engaging in protected speech. finally, although the investigation did not review the specific circumstances surrounding freddy gray's death, we did investigate the transport practices. our report identifies concerns about the safety risks and lack of data in bpd transport practices and deficiencies in the way bpd investigates sexual

assaults. policing that violets the constitution or federal law severely undermines community trust. and blanket stereotypes about certain neighborhoods can lead to resentment of the police. resentment can prevent the type of effective policing that is needed to keep communities and officers safe. we found incident reports that documented how witnesses wouldn't share basic information with officers. we read several reports where the person who had originally called the police or needed assistance refused to cooperate after becoming upset by the police response. when residents don't trust the police, the distrust makes it harder for officers to prevent and solve crimes. proactive policing does not have to lead to these consequences. while the community -- when the community trusts the police, residents work with law enforcement to ensure public safety. effective, proactive policing is community policing. it requires a different set of tactics than those employed by baltimore for many years. proactive policing requires

officers and residents solving problems to build trust and reduce crime. i'd like to now take this opportunity to speak directly to the men and women of the baltimore police department. we know the vast majority of officers in the baltimore police department work hard, they work hard to provide vital services to the community and abide by the constitution and federal law. we have seen you run toward danger to protect the community you ser evidence and we are grateful. we also know to do your job well, to meet the highest standards of the profession, you need clear policies, you need state-of-the-art training. you need to be supported by today's technology. in the 21st century that means computers in your cars and other modern equipment to do your job well. you need to have adequate staffing and material resources to get the job done. and you need to know you will be recognized for the work that you do and treated fairly when your work is challenged. '4 it's a city that's determined

to engage in the tough but vital work needed to build reform. already baltimore has begun to build that foundation for reform. the police department has initiated changes to its policies, training, data management and accountability system. these are really positive developments and a testament to the mayor and to the commissioner's leadership. to help support these changes during our investigation, the justice department's office of community oriented policing service and office of justice programs, provided federal resources to baltimore police department, city officials and community leaders. i want to applaud and commend city officials for their collaborative and cooperative partnership. the justice department and city entered an agreement in principle that identified types of reforms we plan to address as we prepare to negotiate a court enforceable, independently monitored consent decree. by entering into this agreement,

the city and police department have shown their commitment to moving forward expeditiously. the agreement in principle is just a framework. in the coming months we'll be using this framework to negotiate a comprehensive consent decree with the city. in the coming days and weeks ahead, the justice department will be meeting with and reaching out to community members and law enforcement to hear their ideas, your ideas about the kind of police department you want to see in your community. we need the energy of this entire community to help us craft those details in our consent decree and drive real and lasting change in the city. we urge all of you to remain engaged. whether in baltimore or around the country, police reform won't happen overnight or by chance. these problems were not created overnight. it's going to take time and going to require a focused effort and a sustained commitment. in communities across america, even in communities where trust has been broken, we have seen transformative reform rebuild

relationships. because of the proactive leadership in this city, because of the energy and vay bran see of this community and because of the police department's desire for reform, together we can shape that same progress right here in baltimore. together we can build a stronger baltimore that protects the rights, safety and dignity of all. thank you very much. at this time i'd like to turn it over to the mayor. >> thank you very much. g again, i want to thank the deputy assistant attorney general. in consultation with policing experts and stakeholders in the community, we have revised 26 key policies including the department's important use of force policy. we're now training all of our officers on these new policies and we've held additional training on key issues that the justice department has identified. we're revamping our approach to officer accountability, including the way the use of

force is reviewed and how officers are disciplined. a number of initiatives are under way to improve the police department's transparency and encourage officers to actively engage with the communities they serve. ways to explore and implement constructive citizen inclusion in the department's disciplinary process remain under active discussion. finally, we're investing in technology and infrastructure to modernize our police department. the bpd has begun retrofitting transport vance to improve safety for occupants as well as our officers, as well as installing recording cameras inside our transport vance. we've completed a broad difficult worn camera pilot program and we continue to roll out cameras for all the officers within the next two years. much work remains to be done, and change will not happen overnight, but our efforts are started the necessary process of

change and reform in baltimore. they reaffirm the city's commitment to a police department that both protects our citizens as well as respects their rights. in this hope and expectation, i know i'm joined by the city council and particularly our city council president jack young who have supported our work with the department of justice to improve our police department. i thank principal deputy assistant gupta for the recognition of the reform efforts and appreciate her acknowledgment of our extraordinary cooperation with the department as it conducted its investigation. i pledged that my administration would do everything in my power, in our power to cooperate with the investigation, and we're pleased that as a result of our work together, the investigation has been completed in 14 months.

a very rapid pace for these -- it's a very rapid pace for an investigation of a police department of our side. we committed to work with the department of justice and we are grateful to have earned its trust. our police commissioner, kevin davis and his command staff and officers at every level have worked tirelessly to steer the police department on a path of true reform. and i'm confident that the findings report as a blueprint -- with the findings report, as a blueprint and the partnership with the doej, i'm confident the baltimore city police department will become a model department for our country. again, i want to thank tdeej dej team. we will continue to work together so that baltimore can

move as quickly as possible towards full scale intomentation of the recommended reforms. over the next few months we will put in place a concrete plan for change as well as concrete plans for a new culture for the good of the city, for the good of the police department and for the good of the people the department protects. thank you very much. commissioner davis? >> thank you, and good morning. first and foremost, i want to thank the mayor for her leadership. change is painful. growth is painful. but nothing is as painful as being stuck in a place that we do not belong. it is critically important for me to say in my opening remarks that this report is not an indictment on every man and woman that has the privilege of wearing this uniform, this patch and this badge. this report is, however, an

indictment of those bad behaviors by a relatively small number of police officers over many, many years. there are officers right now that are just as offended as we are to see the details that are laid out in this report. why? because they wear this uniform proudly and they serve the citizens of baltimore honorably each and every day. we know our citizens are outraged at some of the details included in this report, and they should be. citizens can't be expected to respect an agency if the trust of that agency is breached. there are several instances in this report in which that fragile trust has been breached. some of the more egregious acts described in the report, action has been taken and those police officers have been removed and no longer work for the baltimore

police department. throughout this report, the department of justice comments mayor raul links blake toward her steadfast reform in her police department. are we there yet? of course not. some actions have no negotiation attached to them, and that includes racial discrimination, sexual orientation, discrimination or any kind of bias-based policing or criminal misconduct by police officers. to the citizens of baltimore, our professional men and women will continue to serve you. we will continue to go after those who are choosing to harm our communities with guns, with drugs, with violence and with other criminal acts. but we will do it in a lawful and respectful way. it's done that way in cities and towns across this country each and every day. quite frankly, it's done in

baltimore that way each and every day. those who choose to wear this uniform and choose to blatantly disregard someone's rights absolutely should be uncomfortable, because we are not going to tolerate it. it's your actions that are fostering fear and resentment in our communities and making it extremely difficult and dangerous for the vast majority of honorable men and women who serve in our very noble profession. an obvious question that will inevitably be asked of me and the mayor and many others is, are we surprised by the findings of this report? the answer is quite simple for me. i'm very, very concerned by some of the information contained in this detailed report. i have no tolerance for any person who is privileged enough to wear this uniform if they choose to engage in racist,

sexist, discriminatory or biased-based policing. without a doubt, we will become a model for the rest of this nation, i firmly believe that. we haven't just sat back waiting for doj to tell us about our shortcomings, we've worked to enact significant changes and reforms before we arrived here before you today. with our agreement in principles, we have already worked out with justice a detailed roadmap for a path ahead. i'm looking forward to our partnership and moving forward with the department of justice. as i said a number of times, this isn't something we're doing to police officers in baltimore. it's something we're doing for police officers in baltimore. mayor rawlings blake has been wholeheartedly supportive of all the changes we have been implementing in the bpd. without her support, we wouldn't have had the opportunity to change so many policies