Tara Huffman, director of OSI-Baltimore’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice Program, is quoted in VICE magazine story, “How Cops Have Turned Baltimore into a Surveillance State,” which talks about community anger at revelations of the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) surveillance program days after the Department of Justice report on the BPD, and the relationship between police and communities in Baltimore.
As Huffman notes, “The community’s reaction to the surveillance helps to underscore just how fractured the relationship is, just how deep the distrust, the resentment, the suspicions run.”
Huffman characterized Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis as “someone who genuinely understands the importance of reform,” saying his decision not to disclose the program to the mayor or city council “seemed completely contradictory to the actions we’ve seen Commissioner Davis take.”
At OSI-Baltimore said in a statement about the surveillance program, “We understand the BPD’s mandate to protect and serve the citizens of Baltimore, but excessive surveillance and unjustified secrecy threaten civil liberties, damage the public trust, and prevent the building of police-community relationships that are essential to improving public safety.”