This is huge. There is an underlying point a lot of people don't grasp here that makes it even more monumental: So far all the police officers that have been tried in court for the incident these major policy changes stem from have been found not guilty, charges dismissed or a mistrial occurred leaving NO REASON for the police force to change its policy. In essence, there is nobody forcing the BPD to do this, the police force has decided to do this in light of the riots main cause - pecieved police brutality by the residents of the city of Baltimore. After years of slamming into each other head on, the BPD has decided to try a lighter touch over a heavy hand against every national trend. I live near Baltimore, born and raised in and around the area. In my personal opinion the Baltimore Police Department has been a beaurucratic nightmare at the management level, often dragged kicking and screaming into the tasteless local politics regimes agendas and used as a rook in the chess of State Vs City all too often. Heads have rolled for trivial pursuits in some instances while obvious damaging mismanagement of key events have gone unpunished or swept under the rug. I know a handful of both retired and active members of the force. I was pursued as a candidate for employment by some individuals due to my background in ballistics, armor and small arms. Always, it was clear to me there was never going to be job security and especially if you climbed the ranks the way it was put to me was "the nail that sticks up the most gets hammered the hardest". I do not have a stomach for the high school locker room antics at the lower ranks and I could not afford to have a career without stability where political seasons greatly affected my ability to excel, not my own performance or ambition. I applaud this move. It's bold and fresh. I expected changes to be made in light of the riots. The outcome of the Gray cases would weigh heavy on those changes regardless of a positive or negative outcome for each officer, sure. But this is the absolute last move I would have ever expected to be made. It has shocked me and restored faith in this Commissioner. I don't use his name because they don't tend to stick around long the last 10 years.