In the Media

President Obama is pushing for more community policing and less use of military grade equipment. The White House has released the final report from a special task force on policing. The goal was to find ways to improve the relationship between citizens and the police after a series of high-profile deaths. Jose Lopez of Make the Road New York served on the task force and joined us to talk about efforts on both the state and federal level.

At a time when police seem to hold such an exalted place in society that they are beyond the justice demanded by common citizens, it’s no surprise that few give any credence to the man who attempted to blame the victim last week by declaring that Freddie Gray intentionally tried to injure himself. Actually, many expected something like this would emerge, to deflect responsibility from the Baltimore police — and justify the use of force with impunity. But the fact is that, as I write this column, two weeks after Freddie Gray, 25, died while in Baltimore police custody, no officer has been fired, arrested, or prosecuted — although Friday the State’s Attorney, Marilyn Mosby, said that Gray’s death had been ruled a homicide.

A protest over the death of Freddie Gray took a turn in Baltimore Saturday as the march was marred by scattered scenes of chaos. Judge Bill Murphy, Joo-Hyun Kang, Salamishah Tillet and Raul Reyes join to discuss.

The New York City Council is again calling for the hiring of 1,000 additional police officers, a request that Mayor Bill de Blasio rejected last year. Undeterred, the Council, led by Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, outlined a budget proposal this week that would spend $68.7 million in the coming fiscal year, which begins on July 1, to add 1,000 officers to the class that will enter the Police Academy in July.