Martin O'Malley, former mayor of Baltimore and current presidential candidate, pushed back against the notion that current tensions in his hometown are a result of his policies while mayor, noting there was an eight-year gap between his time in office when arrests were at a peak and city's present unrest.
"There were never any riots or unrest while I was mayor or governor," he said. "I had a weighty responsibility to save lives. What is not supported by the evidence is the notion that a heightened level of arrests led to the anger at Freddie Gray's death. We've clearly had a big set back this year."
O'Malley, who also served as governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015, is seeking the Democratic nomination for president, running against former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and US Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. He met with the Globe's editorial board on Friday, laying out his plans to improve national security, saying the fight against domestic terrorism is "more akin to dismantling a drug organization." He said fighting terror abroad must include strengthening collations and accelerating "the battle tempo in Syria and Iraq."
It was in discussing domestic issues such as jobs, taxes, public safety, marriage equality, and gun control, that O'Malley turned to his time leading Baltimore and Maryland, saying his resume puts him in the best position to serve as the country's leader because he served as executive of a city and a state.
"If there was a single event that pushed me off the diving board of considering running for president and actually running, it was that upending night in Baltimore," O'Malley said. "For many of us who love our city, for us that night, we all realized that Baltimore is our country and our country is Baltimore."
In Baltimore, the chasm is vast between the haves and the have-nots in housing, employment, education, and income. According to Census data, about 1 in 5 city residents lives below the federal poverty line. And it has been a city on edge since the April death of Gray, a 25-year-old man who died of a spinal cord injury sustained while in police custody.
Riots roiled Gray's West Baltimore neighborhood – known for its poverty, violence, and steadfast mistrust of police – on the day of his funeral. The riots became a flashpoint as the country, from the White House to City Hall, tries to heal the festering mistrust between the black community and the criminal justice system.
Protestors took to the streets again Wednesday when a Baltimore judge declared a mistrial in the case of the first of six officers charged in Gray's death.
"From the outset, many people understood that some of these cases would be very difficult to prove," O'Malley said two days later during an interview. "The conclusion of this story, however it turns out, is not a good thing for anyone involved — not for Freddie Gray's family, not for any of the officers."
O'Malley touted the policies he implemented as mayor to reduce crime and improve police accountability when interviewed by the Globe's editorial board. Violent crime dropped, attributed, in part, to a zero-tolerance approach that led to a sharp rise in arrests.
"I promised they would go up," he said of arrests. "I promised people who lived in our poorest neighborhoods that we would insist on the same level of police response in their neighborhood that we insisted on in wealthier neighborhoods, black and white. And that's what we did."
Akilah Johnson can be reached at akilah.johnson@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @akjohnson1922.