On April 12, 2015, Baltimore police officers arrested Freddie Gray. During the arrest, he sustained severe injuries.
He died a week later.
In the ten years since his death, the city of Baltimore and the state of Maryland have gone through some dramatic changes.
The immediate aftermath saw Black Lives Matter protests, as well as looting and rioting.
In response, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake implemented a city-wide curfew.
State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby took fewer than two weeks from Gray's death to indict the officers involved in his arrest.
The Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division opened an investigation into the BPD.
The Maryland General Assembly, which had ended Sine Die just the day after Gray's arrest, formed a Public Safety and Policing Workgroup during the interim. The workgroup was co-chaired by State Senator Catherine Pugh and Delegate Curt Anderson. Then-State Senator Jamie Raskin was also a member of the group.
By July 8th, the Mayor had fired Police Commissioner Anthony Batts. Kevin Davis got the job next, but there would be another 3 commissioners between him and the current commissioner, Richard Worley.
One of those commissioners, Darryl De Sousa, was indicted for tax evasion.
Just a few months later, Rawlings-Blake announced she wouldn't seek re-election the following year, opening the door for Catherine Pugh's leadership.
The Workgroup submitted its recommendations to the full General Assembly in January 2016, leading to an omnibus bill that reformed several public safety and policing practices.
These included:
- Prohibiting discipline against officers who disclose gross mismanagement, gross waste of government resources, a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety, or a violation of law committed by another law enforcement officer.
- Opened up certain law enforcement disciplinary hearings to the public.
- Requiring training for entry-level officers and every two years, courses specific to anti-discrimination and de-escalation training.
That bill passed in April of 2016.
By May of 2016, the Baltimore Police Department began rolling out its body-worn camera program, which had been in the works since before Freddie Gray's arrest.
And by mid-July, four officers who had been charged following the arrest had been acquitted, leading State's Attorney Mosby to drop charges against the remaining officers.
FILE- In this May 2, 2015 file photo, protesters gather for a rally outside City Hall in Baltimore the day after charges were announced against the police officers involved in Freddie Gray's death. More than a year after Gray's death, the same streets that exploded in fury and flame are calm. Despite back-to-back acquittals for officers charged in Gray's death, the physical protest movement that helped topple the careers of both the police commissioner and the mayor has dissipated, leaving activists exploring other avenues for change. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
In August, the DOJ released its investigation report on the City police department's violation of civil rights.
The City elected Catherine Pugh to be the 50th Mayor of Baltimore in November, as the country voted Donald Trump into the White House.
The Consent Decree was filed on January 1, 2017.
"The Consent Decree is a mandate for positive transformation to benefit the community and the Department," BPD says on its website. "To address the findings, the BPD, the City, and the DOJ entered into an agreement called a Consent Decree. It is a federal court order that requires changes to the Department so it can police in a constitutional manner. This includes updating and creating policies, revamping training, building systems of accountability, investing in modern technology and much more."
Just two months later, an entire task force within BPD was arrested and charged with robbery and extortion, among other things.
The Gun Trace Task Force was another high-profile instance of police misconduct in Baltimore. An independent report was ordered by the same judge overseeing the Consent Decree, after being proposed by BPD.
On May 23, 2017, the Baltimore Police Department announced that five of the six officers involved in Freddie Gray's arrest would face internal disciplinary action. Later that year, the DOJ announced that it was declining to prosecute the officers on federal charges.
Governor Larry Hogan was re-elected in 2018, and the following year, Mayor Pugh resigned following the Healthy Holly scandal.
Early in 2020, Pugh was sentenced to 3 years in prison.
Then the pandemic hit in March 2020, followed two months later by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Floyd's killing sparked new protests across the country, including in Baltimore City.
It also prompted renewed calls for change.
As the country elected Joe Biden to be the 46th President, in Baltimore City, Brandon Scott was elected Mayor.
He quickly created a new office, the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE).
The state of Maryland rose to calls for more police reform.
Lawmakers in Annapolis in 2021 passed the Police Accountability Act of 2021, a 72-page bill that was vetoed by Governor Hogan. The legislature was able to override the veto to make the bill a law.
Among other things, the bill repealed the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights, prohibited a police officer from stopping a person from recording a police officer's actions if the person is otherwise obeying the law, and required each county to have a police accountability board.
It also created the Independent Investigations Division (IID) within the Attorney General's Office to investigate all police-involved deaths.
In June, Mayor Scott unveiled his Gun Violence Reduction Strategy to treat gun violence as a public health epidemic and use strategies of equity, healing, public health, and trauma-informed practices to address it.
"Since 2015, Baltimore has seen more than 300 homicides per year—the overwhelming majority of which were gun-related. In 2020, there were 954 opioid-related overdose deaths in Baltimore.
Historically, Baltimore has over-relied on the 3Ps – policing, prosecutions, and prisons – in an attempt to reduce violence and strengthen community safety. This strategy has not only failed to yield long-term results, it has also come at an extremely high social cost to many of our most vulnerable communities."
-Executive Summary - Comprehensive Violence Prevention Plan
The following January, 2022, the still-sitting State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby was indicted on federal charges. She lost her primary to Ivan Bates in July.
Seven years and one day following Freddie Gray's death, on April 20, 2022, the City settled with businesses and individuals who sustained damage in the unrest.
Wes Moore made history in November, becoming the first Black man elected Governor in the state of Maryland.
In 2023, Baltimore City saw the first year with fewer than 300 recorded homicides since 2014, with 263 murders recorded that year. Brandon Scott, during his re-election campaign for mayor, cited his gun violence prevention strategy for helping to bring down the homicide numbers.
The following year, the state again made history, electing Angela Alsobrooks to be the first Black woman Senator from the state, and only the third Black woman to be elected Senator nationwide.
The country also re-elected Donald Trump as president in November 2024.
Last month, in March 2025, the Mayor's Office and Baltimore Police filed motions to terminate two portions of the consent decree, asking the judge to find the City and Department in "sustained compliance" with the sections relating to the Transportation of Persons in Custody and officer Assistance and Support.
"This is a historic day for our City," Mayor Scott said at the time. "Today, we can finally begin to see the finish line take shape for the dissolution of the Consent Decree. I give my gratitude to the men and women of the BPD who have made this happen."
Police Commissioner Richard Worley added that he was proud of the people in the Department.
"Through enhanced policies, training and accountability systems, our department continues to self-assess and self-correct, ensuring lasting progress under our consent decree," he said in a statement on March 7.
"The public has my full commitment that these changes reflect a true cultural shift within BPD, a fundamentally reformed agency that serves as a national model for reducing violent crime and upholding constitutional policing."
-BPD Police Commissioner Richard Worley on March 7, 2025