Story highlights Peter Moskos: When man died in police custody, many unfairly blamed all Baltimore cops. But cops are in a no-win situation

He says those who trashed city are part of larger societal woes of poverty and class. In just blaming cops, we ignore source of strife

Peter Moskos, a former Baltimore police officer, is an associate professor in the department of law and police science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. He is the author of "Cop in the Hood" and "In Defense of Flogging." The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) Looting, fires and violence descended on Baltimore. Like most who know and love that city, I was heartbroken. I was once a cop in Baltimore.

Police, trying to save their city last weekend, were blamed both for doing too little and for doing too much. The ghetto, and I'm talking class and not race, was on full display by Monday. The whole nation saw beautiful Baltimore at its worst.

Peter Moskos

The protests started in response to the death of Freddie Gray in police hands. We still don't know what happened to Freddie Gray. Something bad happened. There's an investigation. Maybe the investigation should be going faster. But maybe rushing the investigation would compromise prosecution. (And forced testimony can't be used in prosecution; police officers too have constitutional rights as criminal defendants.) I don't know.

Here's the thing: Police officers who weren't there don't know what happened to Freddie Gray.

If there are criminally guilty cops, police have no problem with justice. But those who caused destruction on Monday had little, if anything, to do with Freddie Gray protests. They were, as the mayor put it, thugs. Call them what you will, normally what happens in the hood stays in the hood.

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