The policy is exploitative. The city may desire to avoid litigation in cases like Ms. Overbey's, but the stakes for the government officials making that decision are far different from those of victims like her, who are often poor and unable to move on with their lives. (Ms. Overbey, for example, had trouble finding work because of the criminal charges on her record from that night.) The clause allows the city to present itself in the best possible light and to conceal from the public the true nature and extent of police brutality. And it hinders Baltimore's overriding public policy priority to make meaningful reforms in response to a Department of Justice investigation into the city's historic pattern of unconstitutional policing. Rebuilding trust between the city and police will be impossible if Baltimore continues to conceal the truth about cases in which officers abuse residents.