At the request of Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the Department of Justice will reportedly launch a "pattern or practice" investigation into the policing methods used by Baltimore Police Department. In a statement to reporters, Rawlings-Blake says she requested the investigation as part of a concerted effort to identify any "unconstitutional practices by [local] law enforcement." Specifically, the city's mayor is asking the Department of Justice to find out if Baltimore police have "engaged in a pattern or practice of stops, searches or arrests that violate the Fourth Amendment."
The DOJ website defines a "pattern or practice" as follows:
The courts have found a "pattern or practice" when the evidence establishes that the discriminatory actions were the defendant's regular practice, rather than an isolated instance. This does not mean that the Department has to prove that a defendant always discriminates or that a large number of people have been affected. A "pattern or practice" means that the defendant has a policy of discriminating, even if the policy is not always followed.
As previously reported, the DOJ is already investigating the violation of Freddie Gray's civil rights — though this new investigation will not focus on a single incident, instead exploring the policing methods of the entire department to detect frequency and intentional implementation.
