Phones to get your reaction from that news and to hear how you think Loretta Lynch has handled this first challenge during her short time as the head of the Justice Department. Democrats can call in at 202 7488000. Republicans, 202 7488001. Independents, 202 7458002. A special line for baltimore residents this morning, that number, 202 7488003. You can also catch up with us on social media. On twitter, facebook, or email us at journal cspan. Org. A very good saturday morning to you. We begin this weekend coming off the news yesterday, announced by t Loretta Lynch, that the Justice Department will start a civil rights probe of the Baltimore Police department. Here is the headline from Washington Post this morning Baltimore Police to face federal investigation. Here is a bit from Loretta Lynch is press conference yesterday here in washington, d. C. [video clip] Loretta Lynch today the department of justice is opening an investigation as to whether the Baltimore Police department has engaged in a pattern of discrimination. This investigation will be in immediately and will focus on allegations that Baltimore Police officers used excessive force, conducted unlawful searches six, seizures, and arrests. Host we turn now to william yeomans, former Deputy Attorney general, joining us by phone. Good morning, how are you . Guest i am fine. Host talk us through. What goes through a pattern and practice investigation by the Justice Department. Without was the term that the that was the terms of the attorney general kept using yesterday. Guest this will be a broad investigation into how the arts more Police Department operates. It is distinct from a criminal investigation. A criminal investigation into the death of freddie gray goes on separately. This will be a separate investigation, conducted by federal investigators out of the Department Justice, primarily from the special Litigation Division of the Civil Rights Division. What they will do is look at the issues that the attorney general described yesterday, starting with the use of force by the Baltimore Police department. And whether they used excessive force, whether there was a pattern. They will also look at whether the Police Department has engaged in a pattern of unconstitutional stops and searches and seizures. Then it will also look at whether the government has engaged in any this commendatory policing, whether Police Officers have unjustifiably targeted africanamericans in baltimore for police activity. In order to do that, they will have to look at a lot of evidence from a lot of different corners. They will look at documentation from the Police Department that describes arrests and encounters. They will like statistics on who has been stopped and who has been arrested, and whether there are patterns that tell a story. They will also talk to Police Officers to the extent that the Police Department cooperates with the investigation. They will talk to people who happen who have been engage in encounters with the police. It will talk to attorneys, public defenders, community groups, and will talk generally to the citizensry. It will be very broad and comprehensive. It will take some time to get it done. Host that is the question. Well be expecting . What is the average amount of time for these types of investigations . On the end, could someone be fired on this, what is the possible range of outcomes . Guest smart investigators never put a time limit on investigation. We can get some sense for instance, the Department Just did a similar investigation in ferguson, following the killing of michael brown. That investigation took roughly seven months, from the time it was initiated to when the report was issued. The report is just a step along the way. If you take into account the fact that ferguson is a very small Police Department, with 53 Police Officers, and baltimore has over 3000 Police Officers, you can imagine that this investigation will take considerably longer than ferguson. Were talking many months, it could be well over a year. Host and potential outcomes . What is the range of outcomes that the Justice Department could impose . Guest of course, it depends a what they find. What they could certainly impose our new are new rules, new policies governing stops and seizures. They can identify whether there aisis racially discriminatory policing. I would assume that any brevity would include competence of new training of Police Officers. They would also probably infpose new ways to supervise Police Officers. They will probably work on training Police Officers in a more communityoriented form of policing that will help police and the community reestablish the trust that is necessary for the department to be effective. As far as individuals losing their jobs, certainly that can happen, but that probably will not be the most significant outcome. Host william yeomans, youre the former Deputy Attorney general. What do you think this means for Loretta Lynch coming as one of her first major actions as attorney general . Guest obviously very significant. The nation is watching. The events of baltimore have focus the nations attention to the city of baltimore. I think so far, i have been very impressed with the way she has handled it. She has come up with a very balanced approach. She is sensitive i think to the concerns of Police Officers, yet understands the need to protect people civil rights. It will be a challenge for her to maintain that balance. If this investigation goes on, and as problems are discovered, there will inevitably be some pushback from the Police Department. There will be some push from the Community People who would like an Even Stronger procivil rights investigation. This is a balance she has to find. One thing that is important now is that this has become an investigation into whether or not the Baltimore Police department has finally that the law. Previously, there was a collaborative reform effort going on between the time and baltimore that was not about identifying violations with the law but helping with Technical Assistance and policy. This is now investigation into whether or not the law has been broken. That will give the attorney general a firm basis going forward. Host we always appreciate your insight. Thank you for your time on a saturday morning. Guest my pleasure. Host our folder open for thes e first 45 minutes to get your reaction from the announcement yesterday. Democrats, 202 7488000. Republicans, 202 7488001. Independents, 202 7458002. A special life are baltimore residents this morning, 202 7488003. Your reaction to the announcement of the civil rights probe and your thoughts on attorney general Loretta Lynch this being her first major action since taking that pose, how do you think she is handling it . A few reactions they came in yesterday in the wake of the announcement Washington Post recognizing that the baltimore is police union issued a statement welcoming the review. But in a sign of the tension between police and city leaders the union also encourage the Justice Department to expand its review to focus on the mayor. Rawlings blake issued her own statement that she was pleased by the Justice Departments decision. Just some of the reaction in the wake of that announcement yesterday. We would especially like to hear from baltimore residents, we have a special line for them. Maxine is up first from new york, new york, line for democrats. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host go ahead, maam. Caller i listened to a little bit of what she had to say when i got home from work, but i will tell you, there was a cop that was murdered recently by a young man that was young too. Host youre site but then your Police Officer who was killed . Caller the funeral was just yesterday. I want to say to you, im not condoning this, but what was that young guy supposed to do when he saw in the headlines that white cops are killing young like male struggle what was he supposed to do . If he didnt have a gun, was he going to take off and run and risk getting murdered himself by a cop . Or was he going to take out his gun and shoot first . Im not condoning it, it is wrong, but you know, two young men both of their young lives are over. I feel bad for it, but what was the young black man supposed to do . Host maxine, are you saying that you think there will be more violence that Police Officers will be seeing . Caller let me tell you, i got on twitter and was reading what people say. Already, since we got this president , everything is so racist now. Host that is maxine. Are you still there . Caller yes i am. Ive just afraid that things will get worse. Host dee is up next from california. Line for independents. Good morning. Caller thank you. I just do not understand what is happening to our country. You know, i grew up in los angeles. I was taught to respect my teachers, my family, etc. I keep watching were these people run away from the police. If you are in a sense something innocent of something dont run away. The Justice Department launches a broad investigation of the Baltimore Police. We have seen so much on Race Division in this country between ferguson and baltimore. Gee, baltimore has been controlled by the Democratic Party for what is a . 35 or 40 years . What is wrong with us . When will we take responsibility for ourselves . Ourselves. If you are not breaking the law i am 73, and i have never been arrested for anything. Im not worried about the police. The police have a horrific job. In any profession, i dont care if it is a doctor, a teacher we have teachers who have sexually abused children. We have people in the ministry that have sexually abused children, but that does not mean everybody is bad. I am so afraid of the future of this country because of the lack of personal responsibility and accountability. Host a few tweets that have come in on this topic of the civil rights probe, announced by the Justice Department. Marie writes, do criminals have a civil right to commit crimes . Carol wrightson, lynch will further alienate the chasm between the police and her Justice Department. Lets go to steve on the line for democrats in bethesda maryland. Caller im very impressed by Loretta Lynch. She is one of the best Civil Servants i have come across in many years. I watch all of her testimony. It is outrageous that she was held up for five months. I think she is in an outstanding person to be attorney general of the United States. Number two, the history of Race Relations in this country, social inequities, and lack of opportunity is so deep. It has been going on for so long. For someone, as this lady just said, she does not understand she has never been arrested she is 73 years old, she is white. How myopic is that . I am not condoning any brutality, but all the brutality that africanamericans have had to suffer for so many generations is unbelievable. Both parties are involved in this. It is not just the democratic issue. There was a war on poverty, it words for quite a while it worked for quite a while, but now poverty is increasing. What one thing have republicans ever done to reduce poverty in this country . The only republican to ever talk ked about this liwas. Jack kemp. Look at the current candidates. Rand paul has made some good sounds, but seems to be backing away from his libertarian traditions in recent months. It is terribly discouraging. I can understand the outrage that people have been feeling for so many generations. Host steve that current crop of republican candidates, many of them will be at the South CarolinaFreedom Summit. We will be taking our viewers live there after todays program on the washington journal. You can also catch it on cspan radio. It is being sponsored by Citizens United and South Carolina congressman jeff duncan. For more on the Justice Department probe that was launched yesterday, the Justice Department released a fact sheet noting that the beginning of the obama administration, the Civil Rights Division open 22 investigations. The first five fiscal years of the administration, the Department Open twice as many investigations as were open in the previous five fiscal years. There are currently nine open investigations, including in ferguson, missouri. The department has concluded five investigations without finding any violations, including the Austin Department synnex. Tonya is up next on the line for independents. What do you think to go caller good morning. We have a president , president obama, that one snitches in his administration. The police want stitches in their departments. These Police Departments, they are the same ones that dont want no one to have unions, but they have their unions. Quite frankly, their unions are hateful, and a lot of times the media sound so hateful towards black people. I think that if the police were made to pay some of the civil fines, then they would think twice too. It is terrible that black people they have so many laws now. They have a law for everything just for talking to black people. There are more crimes on these College Universities and nobody is patrolling these universities, and these university people, they keep their mouth shut. They do not tell the police when they get raped and have drugs in there. I worked in a hospital in new york. We had drugs in there. People used to get arrested in the hospital for doing drugs. You target an area, and harass them night and day, and abuse them, no. No one will like you. Host tonya from west virginia. Jackson is up next from maryland, line for democrats. Caller good morning. I favor the lynch investigation. I live in a suburb of baltimore, just outside baltimore. When you consider that the Maryland State Police was found to be engaged in corruption, in the form of profiling africanamericans, when you consider that corruption Oriented Police possible rights, i think the investigation should be even wider, and include the maryland judiciary. Host jackson, how do you think Loretta Lynch has handled herself in her first couple of days week on the job . Caller i have actually had an opportunity to see much of her performance on the job. I cant really say. Host she did hold that News Conference yesterday in which he announced this investigation. Here is a limit more from that News Conference in which he notes that the Justice Department has been successful in some of these other civil rights probe said they have launched in other Police Departments. Here is a bit from that event. [video clip] Loretta Lynch our goal is to work with the community, public officials, and Law Enforcement alike to create a stronger better baltimore. The Department Just the Civil Rights Division has conducted dozens of these pattern of practice investigations today. We have seen from our work in jurisdictions across the country, communities that have gone through this process are experiencing improved policing practices and increased trust between the police and the community. In fact, i urge other cities to study our past recommendations and see whether they can be applied to their own communities. Ultimately, this process is meant to ensure that officers are being provided with the tools that they need, including training, policy guidance, and equipment to be more effective partner with civilians, and strengthen the public safety. Host we are getting our viewers reactions to that announcement from the attorney general yesterday. We also want to hear what you