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They may be human, which means they still judge and have bias opinions about everyone who comes through (even though they don't really know them). Instead of being professional and doing their jobs, they would rather yell at you and just be down right ignorant because they have the power and you don't...because they can! Humans- criminal or not can still be be bias and rude!
I am sick and tired of paying the salary of ignorant and under educated idiots who work in central booking in the baltimore maryland police dept. I have never in my life experienced such under managed and zoo like conditions. I have never been arrested and never plan on being arrested, however, my brother was arrested for "possible attempt to purchase illegal controlled dangerous substance" only because he was driving down Pennsylvania Ave. in the middle of the afternoon coming home from a job on North Ave. He stopped and asked a young gentleman where Martin Luther King Blvd. was and the young man pointed down the street and said "at the light that is MLK Blvd". That was the extent of the conversation. My brother had to wait to pull back off into traffic and within seconds was pulled over by 4 Baltimore cops and told to get out of the car with his hands up. They searched him and his car (he did give consent for this) and nothing was found. He tried to tell the cops that he was returning home from a job and was simply asking directions. The officer told him that he did not believe him and that he was attempting to purchase narcotics and he was under arrest! My brother was in central booking for 23 hours before he was even offered a phone call. My Mother called the police to report him missing and the police then told my Mom that he had been arrested and was going to see the commissioner on Monday. He was arrested on a Friday. He actually stayed in Central Booking for mearly 70 hours before he was offered a phone call before being taken upstairs to the jail cell holding area for those in need of seeing the commissioner. My Mom and I went up there on Sat. morning to find out what the trouble was and they told us that he wasn't even in the system yet, they were "under staffed and over booked and there were several people arrested over the weekend, therefore there was nothing they could do for us until he was entered into the system" That was the worst experience ever for all of us for my brother especially who had never in his entire life been arrested and did not partake in illegal drug use-EVER....He was fired, subsequently, from his job as a plumber because he was supposed to show up for work that Sat. morning and never did...........his case became a Nolle Pros when he went to court and he had to spend over $2,000.00 on legal fees for his attorney. Also, they had him change his clothes and when he was released they LOST HIS CLOTHING and had to leave central booking with his prisoner clothing on and was told that he had to return the clothing within 48 hours or an arrest warrant would be issued for theft of state property! Imagine that! The attorney we hired told us that central booking in Baltimore City was rated one of the worst managed depts in the entire country. My brother experienced a horrible and horrendous acct.! The officer who arrested him was in court when he went for his arraignment and the Judge asked him "what led you to beleive that he was attempting to purchase a CDS" and the officer said "he was a white male with a black and white bandana on his head who pulled over and talked to a known heroin dealer on the Ave. and he was there for quite some time and we actually saw the drug dealer point his finger in one direction and hand him something with his other hand, although we did not find anything at the time of arrest we were concerned that he may have been alerted when he saw my marked car behind him and he may have swallowed the evidence because we observed him putting his hand up to his mouth which gave us significant reason to arrest him for attempt". The Judge said "if you didn't find evidence and the car had legal tags and he had a valid drivers license then he should not have been arrested this is a nolle pros case and next time bring me evidence if you're looking for a conviction". The cop gave my brother a dirty look and my brother smiled at him....at the end of the court case we were leaving the building and the cop actually said "If I ever see you up there again I will arrest you again" and my brother said "why don't you go arrest a real criminal instead of picking on white boys who are only trying to work for a living, I cannot help where calls come from and I cannot help or chose the locations that I am assigned to, regardless of my race". The cop just kept walking and smirked. He was a total *******. Since then my brother has taken another job as a plumber in the city of Baltimore and he refuses to drive down ennsylvania Ave regardless of what time of day it is because of the experience he had. Central booking is a zoo and I am sick and tired of my tax dollars paying idiots to answer telephones and sit behind a desk with a pen and think they are something better than everyone who rolls through there.
Same exact thing happened to me. I had cinnamon in a bag, & i'm a white young girl, & i was on North Ave. I had just got done taking portrait at Druid Hill Park, & went to find gas. ( I live in pa, so I needed to fill my car up, before going home) I parked on mount street quick to make a phone call & check my laptop, & bam! they were on me. I wasn't feeling well that day, & since I was scared (I've always been a little shy of cops, for some reason, bad quality, especially in front of one, haha) they said they had probable cause. Found the bag of cinnamon and said it was dope. & arrested me, while they screamed down the block, that i was a no good dope fiend, ruining the city. I waited in the curb, with no jacket, & it was 40 degree. They had my car towed, while I waited for the bus to get there. I couldn't use the bathroom, at the central district precinct.. The guy asking me questions even had a weed lighter! haha. I finally go to central booking, after waiting outside in the cold for 45 minutes. and then waited another hour inside, to see the nurse. She had to take my blood for some reason, & couldn't find a vein, & kept saying I was lying, because since she couldn't find a vein, obviously, I was a IV drug user.. I finally was put in a holding cell, an hour later, could make phone call. Its horrible there. The guards don't listen, just ignore the people in them. IF somebody was choking or something, they wouldn't know, nor would they check. They yelled at each other, joked, cursed. VERY UNPROFESSIONAL. Very rude. Girls in the holding cells, kick the doors, yell & scream, throw food and drinks through the bottoms of the doors. ugh. No beds, or warm clothes are given, IT'S FREEZING there. I finally saw the commissioner the next morning around 9. and was recogged by 10, thankfully. Even though I had a fricking $50,000 bond! (I was arrested around 5pm the previous night.)
Intake & Booking in Baltimore is the dirtiest, rudest, most dysfunctional place ever. It's pathetic. Changes need to be made. I'm surprised people don't die there often, considering the guards don't give a damn. at all. That is the truth.
My case was nolle prosque 3 months later, once the lab results came back, proving it wasn't dope... I'm pretty sure, heroin isn't like cinnamony/sugary. lol after I was indicted & payed for a 5000 lawyer, (only got 2000 back, because it was dropped) It also took another 3 months to get my laptop out of evidence control because the officer wouldn't sign a piece of paper. I had to contact his sgt. & lt. Then I got it back, & the battery wouldn't work. I'm still currently waiting to get my cash from the arrest back, (I had 150 dollars on me from just getting paid) Apparently, after a certain time period, money gets funneled into Baltimore City's account... So they steal my money, which I couldn't even get, because their officers are too lazy to sign a paper. I mean it's no big deal its only 150 but, its the principle of the matter. So, luckily, the sgt. gave me the legal number, which I have to call, to get the money back, which will be a fight.
Moral to the story... DO NOT BE WHITE & ARRESTED IN WEST BALTIMORE. The police will think your drug addicts or even dealers.
(OH YES, They charged me with with 5 charges including, conspiracy to possess, conspiracy to distribution, intent to distribute, possession of narcotic, possession that isn't weed! Can you see it? Me, a 5'2'' 20 year old blonde white girl, down in the "hood" selling dope) hah! For reals. ARE YOU KIDDIN' ME? Central Booking is worse the Hell. I'm not even kidding.
Hoped you learned your lesson and stop blaming people for your own mistakes.
One day, you'll end up there.. or your kids will.
We were all young once... Even you.
The misdemeanor, means it was weed. She could have been there for a lot WORSE reasons. Lighten up. I never once heard her blame anybody for the "mistakes" she made. I thought she owned up to them pretty well... I was in her same situation, except I was wrongfully arrested. But I know the feeling.
But, I hardly count weed possession, criminal, even the the flawed system disagrees with me. Drugs for that matter, too. Unless of course, their are other violent crimes committed.... But that's a different topic.
Either way, you don't have to be a judgmental douche. Just saying. We all make mistakes, we're human. EVEN YOU.
I been central booking on my way to Hagerstown wont miss that place thats whats up. But America is racist anyway whites get second chances blacks 5 to 10 for the same crimes. Im not even saying some of them dont deserve to be there thats on the real but most of us just make mistakes then got to pay with years off our lives because we happen to be black. Coming up in Bmore is hard enough.
I been central booking on my way to Hagerstown wont miss that place thats whats up. But America is racist anyway whites get second chances blacks 5 to 10 for the same crimes. Im not even saying some of them dont deserve to be there thats on the real but most of us just make mistakes then got to pay with years off our lives because we happen to be black. Coming up in Bmore is hard enough.
After rereading my post, I wanted to rephrase my comment.
Your absolutely right. Thats the truth. But I do think the prejudice is both ways.
If you're white & in a black neighborhood, its suspicious. If you're black & in a white neighborhood, its suspicious. Ya know?
I have a lot of black friends, & they have lot of white friends. But, apparently, in the city, the police, seem to think otherwise. It's really sad. **** shouldn't be this way, still.
I apologize for bumping an old thread but I came across this via a google search and wanted to add my .02. I was arrested for the first time November 2010 for petty theft. Very, very stupid. I thought I could get away with it, I didn't it, learned my lesson, moving on. Anyway, I have to say that my experience at Central Booking was nowhere near what I was expecting.
When I was arrested the cops were nice and treated me with respect. I'm a well-dressed AA, in my 20's, educated college graduate (they didn't know that) so maybe that had something to do with it. I've never had another arrest to compare that experience. After dealing with the embarrassing ordeal of a public arrest I was just praying that they would hurry up and transport me to the police station. Up until that point I had no idea what the arresting process was like and that I would be transferred in the first place. I thought I would remain at the precinct on Baltimore street. When I arrived at the precinct I was immediately taken upstairs where an officer enter my information in the computer. The officer was extremely nice and made me feel comfortable by sort of joking with me. He even let me use his desk phone to call my job and let them know I wouldn't be in due to an emergency (at this he chuckled lol). I was very grateful for the phone call as I was scheduled to arrive about 10 minutes from then and I had no idea when I'd be able to get my "one phone call." After my information was entered I was taken down to the lobby and handcuffed (*shutter*) to a bench next to a drug addict. The officer overseeing us was friendly as well. After about 20 minutes or so I was taken in a wagon to central booking with the drug addict and another girl who joined us due to a domestic violence charge. The trip to central booking was excruciating. There is nothing like not knowing where you are. A 20 minute trip can feel like hours. It was very agnoizing.
When I arrived to C.B. the staff was so friendly I was like where the f-ck am I? The C.O's were not rude- they had a great sense of humor and seemed very relaxed which made me relax. I think one of the toughest parts of the ordeal were being in handcuffs- ouch. I was so happy when they were removed. Not too long after they checked me and did the medical part I was taken to a small cell that I shared with the other two women who were with me when I arrived. I can't recall how long we were there (an hour max) but we were brought out to be fingerprinted, mugged, etc. After that we were moved to a larger cell where we joined a few other women.
That was the part I was most afraid of- getting beat up, raped, etc. But, believe it or not, it was like the jail version of a college dorm (if that makes sense). All of the women, including myself were young and in for minor offenses (domestic violence being the most popular). The two older women in the cell were in for drug related offenses. The drug addict that came to CB with me somehow managed to sneak in a pill which she shared with the other woman. The two addicts kept talking about they were going to get sick which made the rest of us curious and nervous. Everyone tried to make the most out of the situation. Passing the time by joking, the more experienced women explained the process to us "newbies." I was praying that I'd be able to see a commissioner before it was too late- I dreaded having to spend the night in that place and being taken "upstairs" (*ominous horror movie music*).
The guards were nice enough to let those who needed to use the bathroom in to the empty cell across from us for some privacy. I didn't know what I would have done if I had to pee in front of 6 women. We were served crappy lunches by the male inmates. Eventually I got my police report/statement of charges. I was so grateful to be the second person in my cell to be let out. I thought I was home free when a C.O. came and got me- NOT. I was placed in another cell with another woman who was also about to be processed out. She was arrested for drinking on the subway platform and have an outstanding ticket for not paying a fare some time back. We talked to pass the time and she was eventually taken out by a C.O. I was next. I probably spent about an hour or so in the cell (maybe even longer, I had no concept of time in that place). before taken to an open cell where inmates were waiting to be released. I waited for them to process me and receive my belongings. I was officially a free woman around 10:30/10:45.
I swear- getting out was the best feeling in the world. I will never so much as jaywalk again. Even if it was for 12 hours there is nothing like losing your freedom and being under someone else's control. It's not worth it. And I had a good experience compared to many and I still won't go back. I know my experience isn't like a lot of others but I can say I was pleased with how I was treated from beginning to end.
I have to totally agree with the disgust with central booking. First, no I have never been arrested myself, however the concept that people have no right to complain about it is BS.
The issue isn't whether "jail is bad enough". The issue, from the sounds of it, is that we should expect a government run, taxpayer funded facility to be run with professionalism and competence.
Secondly, the idea that "jail should be bad" is BS in this discussion, because we are talking about CENTRAL BOOKING. Thus, the people there are technically not guilty of anything, since they have not been tried and convicted of anything. Everything at this point is just adminstrative neccessity. We should be trying to make the process as painless as possible, since these people are supposed to be innocent until proven otherwise.
On that note, even if they were guilty, it would be irrelevant to this conversation. These people are citizens with rights under the law, regardless of what they may be accused of. The system has standards for how people are meant to be housed, treated and processed, and if the facility is failing to meet those standards, that's a problem. To try and excuse the complaint that people are being held in a facility that is apparently mismanaged, and being treated without due courtesy and professionalism with a flippant "yeah, well that's what you lawbreakers get" attitude is a bullsh** answer.
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