--- title: Former Baltimore Mayor: If Officers Are Acquitted, Prepare for Unrest description: If the criminal case goes first, and the officers are acquitted, we have to be prepared for some additional disturbance in the community. canonical: https://time.com/3848467/kurt-schmoke-baltimore/ author: Kurt Schmoke article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-06T20:32:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:04:08.248Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Former Baltimore Mayor: If Officers Are Acquitted, Prepare for More Unrest og:description: I had the task of prosecuting a police officer when I was state’s attorneys in the 1980s—that’s a very difficult task. og:url: https://time.com/3848467/kurt-schmoke-baltimore/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6118ec578bd3299c/6987eea28e0601636b45e7bf/kurt-schmoke.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1512 og:image:height: 851 og:image:alt: kurt-schmoke og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Former Baltimore Mayor: If Officers Are Acquitted, Prepare for More Unrest twitter:description: I had the task of prosecuting a police officer when I was state’s attorneys in the 1980s—that’s a very difficult task. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6118ec578bd3299c/6987eea28e0601636b45e7bf/kurt-schmoke.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Former Baltimore Mayor: If Officers Are Acquitted, Prepare for More Unrest > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Kurt Schmoke](https://time.com/author/kurt-schmoke/) ## Kurt Schmoke May 6, 2015 8:32 PM UTC  University of Baltimore by [Kurt Schmoke](https://time.com/author/kurt-schmoke/) ## Kurt Schmoke May 6, 2015 8:32 PM UTC Recently, some people have referred to Freddie Gray’s neighborhood in Baltimore as an area that government forgot. But it’s important for people to know that a major effort to revitalize that community had been made. Sandtown-Winchester was a focus of a neighborhood improvement initiative during the 1990s by state and local governments and the nonprofit organization the Enterprise Foundation. During this time I served as Baltimore’s mayor — the first African American elected to that position. We never forgot Freddie Gray’s neighborhood in my administration. But clearly our effort ran into some unexpected problems. Before we talk about solutions to the problems in Baltimore, we ought to reflect on that effort, to find out the successes and failures. And we should try and figure out why we’re at the current situation of high unemployment, high crime, and urban distress. We have to go back, meet with community leaders, find out the major concerns, and figure out short-term and long-term agendas. People who want to help us recover as a community have to understand that like many big cities, Baltimore is actually a tale of two cities. We have a challenge to address the global economic trends affecting our city. What we’ve suffered from in the last 20 or 30 years is middle-class flight, not white flight. When I graduated from high school in 1967, the largest private employer in this area was a steel plant. When I became mayor in 1987, the largest private employer in the area was John Hopkins University and health center. After World War II, students could drop out of school and go to manufacturing jobs and live a working class life. Students who drop out now are a disaster waiting to happen for our community. Those people can only look for very low-income jobs, and some would be unemployable. That leaves them prey to a life of crime. Class and economic division have more to do with the unrest in Baltimore than race. Of the six officers charged, three are African American. The cries that you heard from young people protesting in the streets were against police — they didn’t say white or black. If there’s any color that’s at issue, it’s blue. Problems with the police are not endemic to the department; it’s a small number of people. But a small number of people can cause huge problems. That’s why the city has had to pay out almost $6 million over the past few years for these kinds of excessive uses of police force. Police Commissioner Anthony Batts is doing his best, but police still have a lot of work to do with young people. I hope in the short run, the city creates a robust summer jobs program, some of which could be focused on cleaning up the neighborhoods after the recent unrest. The fact that the state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby came out with charges against the six officers involved in the time that she did helped to relieve a lot of tension. She’s newly elected, and a lot of people in the community had high hopes that her election signaled a greater understanding of the issues they face. It’s going to be a difficult case to win, but the fact that she came out so definitively and so strongly helped many in the community feel that the government was listening to them. It also gave some room from the protests for neighborhood leaders to show the best of Baltimore, organizing cleanups and helping those affected. I had the task of prosecuting a police officer when I was state’s attorneys in the 1980s — that’s a very difficult task. The officers will probably say that they thought their actions were reasonable and give their perspective. Community residents generally like to believe in their police officers, and a jury will be a cross section of the community. In my case, a white police officer had gotten into a fight with an African American motorcyclist, and during the fight, the officer stepped back, pulled out a gun, and shot the guy to death. The initial trial ended in a hung jury: The six white jurors voted to acquit, and the six black jurors voted to convict. He was retried and acquitted. I wish that the wrongful death case that Gray’s family may file against the city could go first. The police department has already admitted a major element of that case — negligence in the way in which Gray was transported. If that case could go ahead and get resolved, young people in the community could step back and say that some level of justice was accorded to the Gray family. If the criminal case goes first, and the officers are acquitted, we have to be prepared for some additional disturbance in the community. ### See the Clashes in Baltimore After Freddie Gray's Funeral  A rioter stands atop a burning car as another man pours fuel onto the fire while Baltimore firefighters behind them fight fires in multiple burning buildings set ablaze by rioters during clashes in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Jim Bourg—Reuters  Firefighters battle a blaze after riots in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Jerry Jackson—TNS /Landov  Two cars burn in the middle of an intersection during riots near New Shiloh Baptist Church in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Andrew Burton—Getty Images  Protestors and pedestrians walk down Pennsylvania Avenue as smoke from a nearby CVS on fire covers the area in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Noah Scialom—EPA  A demonstrator raises his fist as police stand in formation as a store burns during unrest following the funeral of Freddie Gray in Baltimore on Monday, April 27, 2015. Patrick Semansky—AP  Demonstrators climb on a destroyed Baltimore Police car in the street near the corner of Pennsylvania and North avenues during violent protests following the funeral of Freddie Gray in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images  Police carry an injured officer from the streets near Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images  A demonstrator looks up after being sprayed with pepper spray during clashes in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Shannon Stapleton—Reuters  A man walks past a burning police vehicle in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Patrick Semansky—AP  Police put out a fire while responding to people protesting after the funeral of Freddie Gray in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Michael Reynolds—EPA  Police officers arrest a man near Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Drew Angerer—Getty Images  Police officers use pepper spray against demonstrators after the funeral of Freddie Gray in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Jose Luis Magana—AP  Baltimore police officers tackle and arrest looters after they emerged from a "Deals" store with merchandise during clashes between rioters and police in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Jim Bourg—Reuters  A protestor unrolls police caution tape on North Avenue and Fulton Street during a protest for the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Noah Scialom—EPA  A man hurls a rock at Baltimore police officers outside the Mondawmin Mall following the funeral of Freddie Gray in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images  Police officers walk in formation on Reisterstown Road near Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore on April 27, 2015 . Drew Angerer—Getty Images  Baltimore police officers form a line in front of protesters near Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images  A woman cries as demonstrators throw rocks at police officers during clashes in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Shannon Stapleton—Reuters  Protesters surround a police officer near Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Drew Angerer—Getty Images  Friends and relatives say their last goodbyes to Freddie Gray as his casket is lowered into his grave at the Woodland Cemetery in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images  A pillow depicts the image of Freddie Gray inside his open casket during the funeral at New Shiloh Baptist Church in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Michael Reynolds—EPA  Gloria Darden, mother of Freddie Gray, is comforted as she embraces his body before his funeral at New Shiloh Baptist Church in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Patrick Semansky—AP  Gloria Darden, mother of Freddie Gray, is embraced before her son's funeral at New Shiloh Baptist Church in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. 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