0:00:00.817,0:00:03.468
I have been a police officer[br]for a very, very long time.

0:00:03.492,0:00:08.690
And you see these notes in my hand[br]because I'm also a black preacher.

0:00:09.305,0:00:10.988
(Laughter)

0:00:11.012,0:00:13.227
And if you know anything[br]about black preachers,

0:00:13.251,0:00:16.463
we'll close, and then we'll keep[br]going for another 20 minutes.

0:00:16.487,0:00:17.524
(Laughter)

0:00:17.548,0:00:19.941
So I need this to keep[br]pushing this thing forward.

0:00:19.965,0:00:22.214
I've been a police officer[br]for a very long time,

0:00:22.238,0:00:23.818
and I mean I predated technology.

0:00:23.842,0:00:25.438
I'm talking about before pagers.

0:00:25.462,0:00:26.695
(Laughter)

0:00:26.719,0:00:28.980
Laugh if you want to,[br]but I'm telling the truth.

0:00:29.004,0:00:33.706
I predate War on Our Fellow Man --[br]I mean, War on Drugs.

0:00:33.730,0:00:35.213
I predate all of that.

0:00:35.855,0:00:37.009
I predate so much

0:00:37.033,0:00:38.816
and I've been through ebbs and flows

0:00:38.840,0:00:41.207
and I've been through good and bad times,

0:00:41.231,0:00:45.389
and still I absolutely love[br]being a police officer.

0:00:46.207,0:00:49.958
I love being a police officer[br]because it's always been a calling for me

0:00:49.982,0:00:51.362
and never a job.

0:00:52.219,0:00:53.584
And even with that,

0:00:54.538,0:00:58.814
my personal truth is that[br]law enforcement is in a crisis.

0:00:59.616,0:01:01.130
It's an invisible crisis,

0:01:01.154,0:01:03.780
and it has been for many, many years.

0:01:04.787,0:01:06.656
Even though we in law enforcement say,

0:01:06.680,0:01:10.282
"You know what?[br]We can't arrest our way out of this."

0:01:11.258,0:01:13.069
We say in law enforcement things like,

0:01:13.093,0:01:15.609
"Yeah, it's illegal to profile."

0:01:16.008,0:01:17.166
You know what?

0:01:17.190,0:01:20.548
In law enforcement, we even agree[br]that we have to adopt this thinking

0:01:20.572,0:01:22.777
and become more oriented[br]to community policing.

0:01:22.801,0:01:25.711
And yet all the while, still,

0:01:25.735,0:01:27.932
we continue in the same vein,

0:01:27.956,0:01:31.916
the same vein that contradicts[br]everything that we just admitted.

0:01:33.131,0:01:35.834
And so that's the reason for me,[br]several years ago.

0:01:36.313,0:01:39.408
Because I was tired of the racism,[br]I was tired of discrimination,

0:01:39.432,0:01:42.025
I was tired of the "-isms"[br]and the schisms.

0:01:42.049,0:01:43.429
I was just so tired.

0:01:43.904,0:01:46.057
I was tired of the vicious cycle,

0:01:46.081,0:01:49.310
and I was tired of it even[br]in the beloved agency

0:01:49.334,0:01:52.247
in the department that I still love today.

0:01:52.771,0:01:54.900
And so my wife and I, we sat down

0:01:54.924,0:01:57.741
and we decided and we targeted[br]a date that we would retire.

0:01:58.130,0:02:00.734
We would retire and I would[br]go off into the sunset,

0:02:00.758,0:02:03.591
maybe do ministry full time,[br]love my wife a long time.

0:02:03.615,0:02:05.256
Y'all know what I'm talking about.

0:02:05.280,0:02:06.685
(Laughter)

0:02:06.709,0:02:08.432
But we decided that I would retire.

0:02:08.456,0:02:11.635
But then there was a higher power than I.

0:02:12.492,0:02:15.360
There was a love for the city

0:02:15.384,0:02:18.585
that I loved, that I grew up in,[br]that I was educated in --

0:02:18.609,0:02:22.309
a city that pulled my heart[br]back into the system.

0:02:22.959,0:02:24.221
So we didn't retire.

0:02:24.916,0:02:26.310
We didn't retire

0:02:26.334,0:02:28.798
and so what happened was,

0:02:28.822,0:02:32.050
over the next -- I would say,[br]18 months, 19 months,

0:02:33.050,0:02:36.083
I had this passion to implement[br]some radical policing.

0:02:37.393,0:02:39.124
And so now, over the next 19 months,

0:02:39.148,0:02:42.991
I shifted, and I transcended[br]from being a drug sergeant --

0:02:44.277,0:02:46.113
ready to retire as a drug sergeant --

0:02:46.865,0:02:48.699
and went from level to level to level,

0:02:48.723,0:02:51.152
until I find myself[br]as a district commander,

0:02:51.176,0:02:54.119
commander of the worst district[br]in Baltimore city.

0:02:54.453,0:02:56.154
We call it the Eastern District,

0:02:56.178,0:02:57.788
the most violent district,

0:02:57.812,0:02:59.519
the most impoverished district --

0:02:59.543,0:03:03.145
46 percent unemployment in that district.

0:03:04.018,0:03:06.238
National rating at that time,

0:03:06.262,0:03:09.234
national rating, the AIDS[br]and the tuberculosis [rating],

0:03:09.258,0:03:11.659
was always on the top 10 list

0:03:11.683,0:03:14.706
for zip codes for cities[br]across the nation,

0:03:14.730,0:03:16.469
or just zip codes across the nation.

0:03:16.493,0:03:19.111
The top 10 -- I didn't say state,[br]I didn't say city --

0:03:19.135,0:03:20.475
that little neighborhood.

0:03:21.911,0:03:24.714
And I said, you know what?[br]We gotta do something different.

0:03:24.738,0:03:27.398
We gotta do something different.[br]We gotta think radical.

0:03:27.422,0:03:29.159
We gotta think outside the box.

0:03:29.730,0:03:32.412
And so in order to bring change[br]that I desperately wanted

0:03:32.436,0:03:34.143
and I desperately felt in my heart,

0:03:34.167,0:03:36.456
I had to start listening[br]to that inner spirit.

0:03:36.480,0:03:38.913
I had to start listening[br]to that man on the inside

0:03:38.937,0:03:42.040
that went against everything[br]that I had been trained to do.

0:03:42.772,0:03:44.166
But we still did it.

0:03:44.190,0:03:46.887
We still did it because we listened[br]to that inner spirit,

0:03:46.911,0:03:48.172
because I realized this:

0:03:48.196,0:03:52.245
if I was to see real police reform

0:03:52.269,0:03:55.898
in the communities that I had[br]authority over for public safety,

0:03:56.690,0:03:58.973
we had to change our stinkin' thinkin'.

0:04:00.728,0:04:01.881
We had to change it.

0:04:01.905,0:04:04.628
And so what we did[br]is we started to think holistically

0:04:04.652,0:04:05.968
and not paramilitarily.

0:04:06.538,0:04:07.922
So we thought differently.

0:04:08.819,0:04:10.018
And we started to realize

0:04:10.042,0:04:12.352
that it could never be[br]and never should have been

0:04:12.376,0:04:13.885
us versus them.

0:04:14.910,0:04:17.118
And so I decided to come[br]to that intersection

0:04:17.142,0:04:20.363
where I could meet all classes,[br]all races, all creeds, all colors;

0:04:20.387,0:04:22.928
where I would meet the businesses[br]and the faith-based,

0:04:22.952,0:04:24.238
and the eds, the meds,

0:04:24.262,0:04:25.770
and I would meet all the people

0:04:25.794,0:04:28.623
that made up the communities[br]that I had authority over.

0:04:29.205,0:04:31.165
So I met them and I began to listen.

0:04:31.189,0:04:32.641
See, police have a problem.

0:04:32.665,0:04:35.260
Off the top, we want to bring[br]things into the community

0:04:35.284,0:04:38.252
and come up with these extravagant[br]strategies and deployments,

0:04:38.276,0:04:40.451
but we never talk[br]to the community about them.

0:04:40.475,0:04:43.303
And we shove them into the community[br]and say, "Take that."

0:04:43.806,0:04:46.203
But we said we'd get rid[br]of that stinkin' thinkin',

0:04:46.227,0:04:47.775
so we talked to our communities.

0:04:47.799,0:04:49.667
We said, "This is your community table.

0:04:49.691,0:04:51.954
We'll pull up a chair.[br]We want to hear from you.

0:04:51.978,0:04:53.918
What's going to work in your community?"

0:04:53.942,0:04:56.071
And then some great things[br]started to happen.

0:04:56.095,0:04:57.246
See, here's the thing:

0:04:57.270,0:05:02.990
I had to figure out a way to shift[br]130 cops that were under my tutelage

0:05:03.014,0:05:05.126
from being occupiers of communities

0:05:05.150,0:05:06.339
to being partners.

0:05:07.355,0:05:09.047
I had to figure out how to do that.

0:05:09.071,0:05:11.050
Because here's the crazy thing:

0:05:11.074,0:05:14.719
in law enforcement, we have evolved[br]into something incredible.

0:05:14.743,0:05:16.680
Listen, we have become great protectors.

0:05:16.704,0:05:18.132
We know how to protect you.

0:05:18.909,0:05:22.948
But we have exercised that arm[br]so much, so very much.

0:05:22.972,0:05:26.138
If I was a natural police department

0:05:26.162,0:05:28.043
and I represented a police department,

0:05:28.067,0:05:30.956
you would see this incredible,[br]beautiful, 23-inch arm.

0:05:30.980,0:05:33.583
(Laughter)

0:05:33.607,0:05:35.686
It's pretty, ain't it? It's cut up.

0:05:36.641,0:05:39.568
No fat on it. Mmm it look good.[br]It just look good!

0:05:39.592,0:05:41.726
(Laughter)

0:05:41.750,0:05:43.651
That's a great arm -- protection!

0:05:43.675,0:05:46.778
That's who we are, but we've exercised[br]it so much sometimes

0:05:47.255,0:05:48.810
that it has led to abuse.

0:05:50.008,0:05:54.004
It's led to coldness and callousness[br]and dehumanized us.

0:05:54.941,0:05:56.093
And we've forgotten

0:05:56.117,0:05:57.530
the mantra across this nation

0:05:57.554,0:05:59.624
is to protect and serve.

0:06:00.068,0:06:02.044
Y'all don't know that? Protect and serve.

0:06:02.068,0:06:03.069
(Laughter)

0:06:03.093,0:06:04.498
So you look at the other arm,

0:06:04.522,0:06:06.657
and then you look at it[br]and ... there it is.

0:06:06.681,0:06:07.854
(Laughter)

0:06:08.267,0:06:10.156
You know, it's kinda weak.

0:06:10.926,0:06:12.163
It looks sickly.

0:06:12.972,0:06:14.758
It's withering and it's dying

0:06:15.861,0:06:18.504
because we've invested so much[br]in our protective arm.

0:06:19.302,0:06:22.159
But we forgot to treat our communities

0:06:22.183,0:06:23.566
like they're our customers;

0:06:24.026,0:06:26.991
like they're our sons and daughters,[br]our brothers and sisters,

0:06:27.015,0:06:28.205
our mothers and fathers.

0:06:28.600,0:06:30.849
And so somehow, along the way,

0:06:30.873,0:06:32.304
we've gotten out of balance.

0:06:32.958,0:06:35.066
And because we are a proud profession,

0:06:35.952,0:06:39.093
it is very hard for us to look[br]in the mirror and see our mistakes.

0:06:39.117,0:06:40.838
It's even harder to make a change.

0:06:41.775,0:06:44.648
And so, as I try to hurry[br]and get through this,

0:06:45.204,0:06:46.365
I need to say this:

0:06:46.389,0:06:48.331
it's not just law enforcement, though.

0:06:48.818,0:06:51.149
Because every one of us[br]makes up a community.

0:06:51.674,0:06:53.359
Everybody makes up a community.

0:06:53.678,0:06:55.606
And as communities -- can I say this? --

0:06:55.630,0:06:59.002
we have put too much responsibility[br]on law enforcement.

0:07:00.261,0:07:01.419
Too much.

0:07:01.443,0:07:05.686
(Applause)

0:07:06.706,0:07:09.353
And then we have the audacity[br]and the nerve to get upset

0:07:09.377,0:07:11.480
with law enforcement[br]when we take action.

0:07:12.265,0:07:13.679
There is no way in the world

0:07:14.615,0:07:18.158
that we, as a community,[br]should be calling the police

0:07:18.182,0:07:20.071
for kids playing ball in the street.

0:07:22.071,0:07:24.807
No way in the world that we[br]should be calling the police

0:07:24.831,0:07:26.917
because my neighbor's[br]music is up too loud,

0:07:26.941,0:07:29.695
because his dog came over[br]to my yard and did a number two;

0:07:29.719,0:07:32.240
there's no way we should[br]be calling the police.

0:07:32.264,0:07:34.906
But we have surrendered[br]so much of our responsibility.

0:07:34.930,0:07:38.064
Listen, when I was a little boy[br]coming up in Baltimore --

0:07:38.088,0:07:40.225
and listen, we played[br]rough in the street --

0:07:40.249,0:07:42.660
I ain't never see the police[br]come and break us up.

0:07:43.026,0:07:44.951
You know who came? It was the elders.

0:07:44.975,0:07:47.110
It was the parental figures[br]in the community.

0:07:47.440,0:07:50.027
It was those guardians,[br]it was that village mentality.

0:07:50.051,0:07:53.106
They came and said, "Stop that!"[br]and "Do this." and "Stop that."

0:07:53.689,0:07:57.411
We had mentors throughout[br]all of the community.

0:07:57.769,0:08:00.009
So it takes all of us, all of us.

0:08:00.620,0:08:01.820
And when I say community,

0:08:01.844,0:08:04.871
I'm talking about everything[br]that makes up a community, even --

0:08:04.895,0:08:07.826
listen, because I'm a preacher,[br]I'm very hard on the churches,

0:08:07.850,0:08:10.597
because I believe the churches[br]too often have become MIA,

0:08:10.621,0:08:11.778
missing in action.

0:08:11.802,0:08:14.370
I believe they have shifted[br]over the last 10, 20 years

0:08:14.394,0:08:15.870
from being community churches,

0:08:15.894,0:08:19.362
where you walk outside your door,[br]round the corner and you're in church.

0:08:19.386,0:08:22.246
They shifted from that and became[br]commuter churches.

0:08:22.270,0:08:26.730
So you now have churches who have[br]become disconnected by default

0:08:26.754,0:08:29.209
from the very community[br]where they're planted.

0:08:30.060,0:08:32.439
And they don't take care[br]of that community.

0:08:33.153,0:08:35.821
I could go on and on,[br]but I really need to wrap this up.

0:08:35.845,0:08:38.496
Community and policing:

0:08:38.520,0:08:42.821
we've all lost that precious gift,[br]and I call it relational equity.

0:08:43.498,0:08:45.421
We've lost it with one another.

0:08:45.445,0:08:47.460
It's not somebody else's fault --

0:08:47.484,0:08:48.808
it's all of our fault.

0:08:49.371,0:08:51.337
We all take responsibility in this.

0:08:51.361,0:08:54.562
But I say this: it's not too late[br]for all of us to build our cities

0:08:54.586,0:08:56.224
and nation to make it great again.

0:08:56.248,0:08:57.407
It is never too late.

0:08:57.431,0:08:58.747
It is never too late.

0:08:59.428,0:09:00.829
You see, after three years

0:09:00.853,0:09:04.091
of my four-and-a-half-year[br]commandship in that district,

0:09:04.115,0:09:05.269
three years in,

0:09:05.293,0:09:07.972
after putting pastors[br]in the car with my police

0:09:07.996,0:09:10.171
because I knew this --[br]it's a little secret --

0:09:10.195,0:09:11.354
I knew this:

0:09:11.378,0:09:14.043
it was hard to stay a nasty police officer

0:09:14.067,0:09:16.168
while you're riding around[br]with a clergy.

0:09:16.192,0:09:18.374
(Laughter)

0:09:18.398,0:09:24.195
(Applause)

0:09:26.476,0:09:30.005
You'd be getting in and out of the car,[br]looking to your right, talking about:

0:09:30.029,0:09:33.565
"Father, forgive me, for I have sinned,"[br]all day long -- you can't do it!

0:09:33.589,0:09:35.842
So we came up with some[br]incredible initiatives,

0:09:35.866,0:09:39.361
engagements for our community[br]and police to build that trust back.

0:09:39.385,0:09:40.944
We began to deal with our youth

0:09:40.968,0:09:44.146
and with those who we consider[br]are on the wrong side of the fence.

0:09:44.170,0:09:45.903
We knew we had an economic problem,

0:09:45.927,0:09:47.419
so we began to create jobs.

0:09:47.443,0:09:49.491
We knew there was sickness[br]in our community

0:09:49.515,0:09:52.009
and they didn't have access[br]to proper medical care,

0:09:52.033,0:09:53.192
so we'd partner up.

0:09:53.216,0:09:55.289
We got to that intersection[br]and partnered up

0:09:55.313,0:09:57.400
with anybody that wanted[br]to partner with us

0:09:57.424,0:09:59.591
and talked about[br]what we needed holistically,

0:09:59.615,0:10:01.128
never thinking about the crime.

0:10:01.152,0:10:02.847
Because at the end of the day,

0:10:02.871,0:10:04.934
if we took care[br]of the needs of the people,

0:10:04.958,0:10:06.521
if we got to the root cause,

0:10:07.251,0:10:09.438
the crime would take care of itself.

0:10:10.599,0:10:12.065
It would take care of itself.

0:10:12.089,0:10:16.744
(Applause)

0:10:17.897,0:10:21.979
And so, after three years[br]of a four-and-a-half-year stint,

0:10:22.665,0:10:24.341
we looked back and we looked over

0:10:24.365,0:10:27.730
and found out that we were[br]at a 40-year historical low:

0:10:27.754,0:10:30.635
our crime numbers, our homicides --

0:10:30.659,0:10:33.116
everything had dropped[br]down, back to the 1970s.

0:10:33.140,0:10:34.556
And it might go back further,

0:10:34.580,0:10:37.497
but the problem is, we only[br]started keeping data since 1970.

0:10:37.521,0:10:40.617
Forty-year crime low, so much so,[br]I had other commanders call me,

0:10:40.641,0:10:42.058
"Hey Mel, whatcha doin', man?

0:10:42.082,0:10:44.186
Whatcha doin'? We gotta get some of that!"

0:10:44.210,0:10:45.625
(Laughter)

0:10:45.649,0:10:47.308
And so we gave them some of that.

0:10:48.968,0:10:50.420
And in a short period of time,

0:10:50.444,0:10:52.721
the city went to a 30-year crime low.

0:10:53.181,0:10:55.830
For the first time in 30 years,[br]we fell, Baltimore city,

0:10:55.854,0:10:58.218
to under 200 homicides -- 197 to be exact.

0:10:58.242,0:10:59.401
And we celebrated,

0:10:59.425,0:11:03.108
because we had learned[br]to become great servers,

0:11:03.132,0:11:04.869
become great servers first.

0:11:04.893,0:11:07.215
But I gotta tell you this:[br]these last few years,

0:11:08.607,0:11:10.227
as much as we had learned

0:11:10.856,0:11:13.803
to become great proactive police officers

0:11:13.827,0:11:17.588
and great relational police officers[br]rather than reactive,

0:11:17.612,0:11:19.677
these last years have disappointed me.

0:11:20.710,0:11:22.052
They have broken my heart.

0:11:22.644,0:11:24.481
The uprising still hurts.

0:11:25.584,0:11:27.270
It still hurts my heart,

0:11:27.294,0:11:30.276
because truly I believe[br]that it should've never happened.

0:11:31.014,0:11:32.807
I believe it should've never happened

0:11:32.831,0:11:35.775
if we were allowed to continue[br]along the vein that we were in,

0:11:35.799,0:11:37.479
servicing our community,

0:11:37.503,0:11:40.439
treating them like human beings,[br]treating them with respect,

0:11:40.463,0:11:42.027
loving on them first.

0:11:42.670,0:11:44.830
If we continued in that vein,

0:11:44.854,0:11:46.703
it would've never happened.

0:11:46.727,0:11:49.303
But somehow, we went back[br]to business as usual.

0:11:49.956,0:11:51.450
But I'm excited again!

0:11:52.164,0:11:55.509
I'm excited again, because now[br]we have a police commissioner

0:11:55.533,0:11:58.974
who not only talks[br]about community policing,

0:11:59.800,0:12:02.118
but he absolutely understands it,

0:12:02.142,0:12:04.214
and more importantly, he embraces it.

0:12:04.238,0:12:05.957
So I'm very excited now.

0:12:05.981,0:12:08.930
Listen, I'm excited about Baltimore today,

0:12:08.954,0:12:13.203
because we, as many cities,[br]I believe shall rise from the ashes.

0:12:13.973,0:12:16.862
I believe -- I truly believe --

0:12:16.886,0:12:17.908
(Applause)

0:12:17.932,0:12:19.710
that we will be great again.

0:12:20.639,0:12:21.810
I believe,

0:12:22.470,0:12:25.541
as we continue to wrap arms[br]and continue to say,

0:12:25.565,0:12:26.763
"We're in this together,"

0:12:26.787,0:12:28.630
because it's not just an intersection:

0:12:28.654,0:12:32.288
once we meet, we now gotta get[br]on the same path for the same goals,

0:12:32.312,0:12:34.360
and this city will become great again.

0:12:34.384,0:12:36.345
This nation will become great again.

0:12:36.369,0:12:38.788
Because we have the same goal:[br]we all want peace.

0:12:38.812,0:12:40.546
We all want respect for one another.

0:12:40.570,0:12:41.720
We all want love.

0:12:41.744,0:12:43.636
And I believe we are back on that road,

0:12:43.660,0:12:45.030
and I'm so excited about it.

0:12:45.054,0:12:48.402
So listen, I thank you for giving me[br]a few minutes of your time.

0:12:48.426,0:12:49.656
God bless you all.

0:12:49.680,0:12:50.681
(Applause)

0:12:50.705,0:12:51.856
God bless you.

0:12:51.880,0:12:54.301
(Applause)