Report: DOJ will investigate the Baltimore Police Department

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

The Justice Department will investigate whether the Baltimore Police Department is conducting unconstitutional policing, law enforcement sources told The New York Times on Thursday. The news comes one day after Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake asked the DOJ to review the practices of the city's police department.

Last Friday, the state's attorney filed criminal charges against the six officers involved in the arrest of Freddie Gray, a black man who sustained a severe spinal injury while in custody last month, and later died from his injuries. Anthony Batts, the Baltimore police commissioner, said earlier on Thursday that he wants to reform the department and is "willing to do anything it takes to win that trust back." A source told CNN the investigation will be announced officially on Friday.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.