A report detailing unconstitutional practices by Baltimore Police is set to be released tomorrow by the U.S. Department of Justice, which has been investigating city police since shortly after the death of Freddie Gray last year in police custody.

The DOJ’s “Pattern or Practice” investigation is likely to lead to a federal consent decree aimed at bringing about systemic changes in the long-troubled agency, according to a report today by the Wall Street Journal, citing sources.

The federal review, which looked at 10 years of Baltimore police conduct, found shortcomings in a number of specific areas, the Journal said.

“Racial disparities in stops and arrests of suspects by police, poor training, a lack of effective community policing, inferior internal-affairs investigations of alleged misconduct by officers and a historical failure to fully investigate allegations of sex crimes,” are among the areas examined, according to the Journal.

An outside monitor is likely to be appointed as a result of the probe, the newspaper said.

A police spokesman declined to comment today on the report.

City Says it Asked for Probe

For a city seeking an end to the deep mistrust between residents and police – hostility that built up over decades and exploded last year after Gray’s death  – news of the impending report is significant.

The prosecution of six police officer charged in connection with Gray’s death – the 25-year-old’s neck was broken at some point during his April 12, 2015 arrest – fizzled out with no convictions. The officers were either cleared or had the charges dropped.

City officials have said they asked for the federal probe in the wake of the protests, rioting and curfew that followed on the heels of Gray’s death. They also say a number of measures taken in recent months – including improved training and equipping police transport vans with cameras – anticipate changes the justice investigators are likely to recommend.
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UPDATE: State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby released this statement about the Justice Department’s review:

“My office looks forward to reviewing the Department of Justice’s civil rights investigation into the Baltimore City Police Department, but the report will likely confirm what many in our city already know or have experienced first hand.

While the vast majority of Baltimore City Police officers are good officers, we also know that there are bad officers and that the Department has routinely failed to oversee, train, or hold bad actors accountable. Since the death of Freddie Gray, a number of reforms have been put in place as a result of the prosecution of the six police officers.

I’m positive that the Department of Justice report will lead to even more reforms which is an important step in ensuring best practices for a fully functioning police-prosecutor relationship. We need each other to make our communities safe and I look forward to working with the Commissioner and City Hall in order to do so.”