Baltimore Residents Grateful for, and Wary of, Extra Force | The New York Times

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.