Emails Highlight Chaos Behind-The-Scenes During Baltimore Unrest
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Just-released emails reveal the extent of the confusion at City Hall as Baltimore burned during the April riots. But are we better prepared today?
Mike Hellgren has some answers.
Thousands of just-released emails show chaos reigned behind the scenes just as much as it did on the streets during the Baltimore riots.
Just how bad did it get? A mayoral aide rejected an earlier call for National Guard assistance, there was widespread confusion among department leaders and the city was only ordering necessary gear for ill-equipped police as they fought for their lives.
What's worse---some at City Hall believe we'd be no better off today.
"It was very shocking and it still is shocking that we were not prepared," said Councilman Carl Stokes. "I don't know that we were any more prepared today than we were two months ago."
Councilman Stokes believes city leaders got the warnings of the unrest but didn't listen.
"It was really churning my stomach, frankly, to see what was going on in my city," he said. "It was failure all around. The police department should have been prepared. The department is and was as broken as the overall city was."
Tough words---and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake responded.
"It's certainly up to interpretation. I never suggested we were totally prepared because this was something the city hadn't seen in over 40 years," she said. "We're putting in place immediately---whether it's initiating new training, ordering new equipment, everything."
"They talk about we're going to be better prepared but I don't know any training has taken place. As we speak, I don't know that the equipment that's necessary is in stock," Stokes said. "We can't start scrambling all over again if something should happen."
Councilman Stokes is worried about what could happen when the officers charged in connection with Freddie Gray's death go to trial.
"We hope nothing bad happens following that but we certainly ought to be in a state of preparedness, period," he said. "And we're not."
Emails also show the National Aquarium had an 80% drop in visitors the week after the riots and lost half a million dollars.