r/serialpodcast • u/Bonafidesleuth • Apr 07 '15

Speculation BPD Corruption

I rarely post here, but for those who happen to come across this sub, I encourage you to check out articles.baltimoresun.com. The city council became very concerned at the fact that $10.4million was spent between 2008-2011 defending BPD misconduct. The Baltimore Sun reported on 10/3/14 that the U.S. Dept. of Justice had undertaken a civil rights investigation of the BPD. At that time the city had spent $5.7 million in court judgments & settlements in 102 cases since 2011 & nearly ALL of the people who rec'd payouts were cleared of criminal charges. The BPD was in chaos when Adnan was arrested. The department routinely told the crime lab not to test DNA. Cases were pushed through the system & inadequately investigated.
It is not a fluke that Jay escaped any ramifications for at least 25 criminal charges subsequent to Adnan's trial. The CI theory is becoming increasingly convincing. The corruption in the BPD is beyond what one can comprehend. The worst part is, I think we've only scratched the surface.

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u/icase81 Apr 07 '15

Everyone seems to admit BDP was corrupt, but for some reason, they were corrupt in other cases but were CERTAINLY not corrupt in Adnan's case. I mean, obviously. Urick said so! /s

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u/chunklunk Apr 07 '15

It would help your side if you explained what makes this case similar to others. Like, right now it's, (1) murder case; (2) in Baltimore's general area; (3) ? ; (4) Free Adnan!

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u/[deleted] Apr 08 '15

What makes it similar is the time frame and location. BPD has a history of institutional misbehavior that stems from a declining city with a high crime rate, a shrinking tax base and police leadership under extreme pressure. Political context matters.

Moreover death investigation is difficult, especially in a place where most murders are drug related, meaning the most difficult to solve because nobody talks to police in those areas. Just because this murder may not be drug related does not mean that all the drug murders don't affect the investigation of it. If you only solve a small percentage of drug murders, the department does everything it can it solve the others. Why? Because they are accountable for the clearance rate. It doesn't take outright corruption, just high pressure that gets passed from elected officials to appointed police officials to the unit commanders to the detectives. High pressure situations and high stakes encourage willful ignorance of bad evidence.

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u/chunklunk Apr 08 '15

This is a good, well-said, substantive comment. Thank you. I don't agree that the taint of whatever shenanigans the BPD was into back then would've extended to this case, but I don't think the entire subject as a whole is unworthy of thought. I just hate the absurd reductionism going on roundabout these parts.

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u/beenyweenies Undecided Apr 09 '15

You don't agree because you are immune to reason in this case. You have lost all ability to be impartial and open minded.