Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, an unannounced contender for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination — who has sought to position himself to the left of Hillary Clinton — is being criticized for having been too tough on crime when he was mayor of Baltimore,
Politico reported.
With Baltimore racked by rioting over the unexplained death in police custody of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African-American, the zero-tolerance policing embraced by O'Malley when he was Baltimore mayor from 1999 to 2007 is being blamed for fostering mistrust between residents of the predominantly black city and its police force.
After his stint in city hall, O'Malley went on to become Maryland's governor from 2007 to 2015.
He ended a trip to Europe to return to Baltimore and has held meetings in some of the riot-affected areas.
"We don't want him here," said Adam Jackson, a Baltimore activist and police critic, Politico reported.
O'Malley detractors have complained that many city residents, under O'Malley's crime policies, were arrested without probable cause, saddling young African-American males with criminal records and making it harder for them to find jobs. Those difficulties factored into the recent riots, they say.
O'Malley
supporters argue that crime was a significantly greater problem when he was mayor. His orders for police to strictly enforce laws against quality-of-life crimes created a more lawful atmosphere, they say.
Among those taking O'Malley to task is Michael Steele, a former Maryland lieutenant governor and former Republican National Committee chairman.
"Go back to 2005, 2006 when then-Mayor O'Malley had a policy in place where everything was on lockdown. You couldn't sit on your stoop, people were harassed, and so all these tensions have been building and simmering for some time," he told MSNBC.
O'Malley has said that he worked closely with the community on his policing policies.
"We did town hall meetings throughout all of the hardest-hit neighborhoods on a regular basis, so that we could constantly talk and so that people could come to me with any complaints they might have regarding policing."
He said his administration also created a civilian review board and took seriously complaints about discourtesy, excessive force, and police-involved shootings, Politico reported.
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