“When you have felony-grade criminal behavior, you have to stop it,” said David A. Klinger, a criminology professor at the University of Missouri and a former police officer.
Klinger said police were too tame because of fears of how the use of force would be perceived.
“You have a huge disincentive for tactical commanders to do the right thing,” he said. He expressed dismay at videos showing police getting pelted with rocks and retreating.
“Violence in this type of environment is very emotionally oriented. When people feel emboldened, they will continue,” Klinger said. “When you cede ground to rioters, it is going to spread. Clearly in my mind, that is at least part of what happened.”
Former Police Commissioner Edward T. Norris agreed.
“You tolerate the verbal abuse, you take some things being thrown from a distance. But once things get dangerous, it’s over. And it’s certainly over when looting starts,” he said. “I don’t believe in giving rioters space. It’s failed everywhere, and it takes away from the actual peaceful protest and becomes an opportunity for criminality. It’s like a fire and you’re giving it oxygen.” http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-state-city-response-20150428-story.html#page=1
Anybody with any degree of grey matter figured that out...
I was watching this develope from early on and you could call exactly what to expect the next minute. Many did and it played out exactly that way.
The decisions made were simply to save political face by the Mayor and her co-hurts.
It’s like many retail stores today....they don’t prosecute shop lifters let alone go after them....they simply figure in a certain % of merchandise will be stolen. Because the costs and time to prosecute outweighs the loss costs.
That’s what is seen in Baltimore....cheaper to let them “vent” then to have blood and arrests.