I mean, it feels like I'm in Iraq
right now, or some other country.
It does not feel like America. I see
my military deployed in my city.
It's not something you can grow
accustomed to. I'd say, yeah, I do
feel safer.
Other man: Nah, I don't feel safer.
Woman: Having police here is wonderful!
Young woman: It makes me feel
repressed. I don't feel safe.
Narrator: After protests marked by
violence earlier this week,
nearly 5000 extra National Guard and
police are patrolling Baltimore, but the
reactions to that force differ depending
on the neighborhood.
(offscreen) It's nice to have the
police presence here. It makes you
feel safe, but at the same time
you're like, "Keep your distance
'cause don't bring the trouble to us."
(narrator) Though most of the violent
police clashes took place two miles north
and west of the inner harbor and business
district, people here seem to welcome the
increased security.
(Woman) "I had no idea how much of a
presence the National Guard had down
here. I'd never seen a machine gun in
person that close, so that was a little
bit of a shock. It makes you feel safe,
but at the same time you're just kind of
waiting for the trouble to follow.
(Man offscreen) I would say, yeah, I do
feel safer based on the needs today,
you know, with the dangers of the rioting
and everything. But it's certainly not
something that I'd like to need.
(Other man) For some reason getting
things done in Baltimore City is a
problem. It's hard, it's always an issue.
A situation like this? We shoulda had this
handled a long time ago.
(Woman) When I walked into the Pratt
Street Pavilion, going into my business,
I cried from seeing all of this uniformed
security. The security is something we all
need to protect the workers, the people
that live here, even to protect the
sixteen year olds not to do any more
harm.
(Man) Downtown's going to be protected,
absolutely, because that's the money maker
Mt. Vernon, Fell's Point, the Harbor.
(narrator) But in West Baltimore, blocks
where Freddie Gray was arrested and around
the corner from where demonstrations
turned violent on Monday,
residents have a starkly different
reaction to the increased presence of
Baltimore City and Maryland state police.
(Man) I can't say I don't trust the police
I don't trust the motives of some officers
that are here to uphold the law.
Me, as a black man, with the police at
this heightened sense right now, this
heightened time, I don't feel safer.
They put blue light cameras in our
community years ago they said would make
us feel safer. Not at all.
They said they were gonna put these
body cameras on officers that are gonna
make us feel safer. We still get shot.
Killed. With the body cameras.
It just shows you the disconnection
between community and government.
(Woman) I feel like they need
to get to the bottom of how this all
started. We need someone that's relatable
with you to make you feel safe and they
can't relate to us and our struggle, so
that doesn't make me feel safe. That makes
me feel repressed.
I've been here going on eleven years
First time anything like this has happened
since I've been here. I think it'll go
back to normal. I think that the cops
being here are making some people more
upset than they probably normally would be
(Patron) I'll tell you as a patron, I came
here today and I wanted to take a step
back and I know I didn't do anything wrong
I still was like, "Woah!" It's overkill.
Eight cops right here, right now.
(other man) You know it's just like
that's an overwhelming amount of force.
And why should you make the whole city
suffer for a small pocket of people?
You know what I'm saying?
It's like, that's insane.
(Woman) Nobody here feels safe or feels
like the police works for them. No,
I know that nobody feels like that.
I don't feel like that. I never feel like
anytime, anywhere I am the police is
working for me. I don't think...no, I
don't feel like that at all. I know that.