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