The scathing federal report this week on the reality of racist abuse by the police in Baltimore was hardly news to the African-American neighborhoods most victimized by ironhanded law enforcement. Community leaders have been complaining for years about police policies that swept up innocent black citizens beyond all bounds of constitutional justice — stopping, frisking and arresting residents without justification, then releasing them without criminal charges or so much as an apology.  The 14-month study, prompted by the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died last year of a broken spine suffered while in police custody, confirmed the black community’s harsh daily experience at the hands of Baltimore police officers, who are driven by an aggressive “zero tolerance” policy that federal investigators found to be “alienating the civilians they are meant to serve.” This was the complaint heard in the mass protests and street riots that followed the death of Mr. Gray — a theme echoed in similar deadly confrontations across the nation.  Baltimore is 63 percent African-American, yet black residents accounted for 84 percent of police stops — and 95 percent of 410 individuals found to have been unjustifiably stopped at least 10 times in a five-and-a-half-year period, according to the report. In that period, officers stopped 34 black residents at least 20 times each, and seven 30 times or more. No individuals of any other race were stopped more than 12 times each.  Without cause or a legitimate suspicion, officers routinely stopped and questioned individuals posing no criminal threat, the report emphasized. No charges were filed in 26 of every 27 pedestrian stops. Citizens could be arrested unlawfully when officers simply “did not like what those individuals said.” One supervisor advised a patrol officer who protested: “Make something up.”  Some police officers are being fired as the city’s law enforcement and political leaders embark on a sweeping reform of police practices — a difficult task that will take time and millions of dollars to retrain officers on such crucial standards as the legitimate use of force. City and federal officials are negotiating a reform plan that would be monitored by a federal judge for compliance.  It is no coincidence that the Baltimore report was issued just as the Justice Department began moving forward with a plan to better track killings of civilians by police officers. Repeated protests over police killings in black communities have laid bare the fact that there is little real oversight or accountability for such deaths. The Justice Department is aiming for a system of quarterly reports from the nation’s more than 25,000 local police forces and medical examiners.  Investigations similar to the one in Baltimore have begun in nearly a dozen cities, including Chicago, Cleveland and Ferguson, Mo. Whether the Justice Department in the next administration will maintain this pressure for reform very much depends on the outcome of this year’s presidential election, where Hillary Clinton is the only candidate who has shown commitment to carrying out the tough remedies needed to rein in police abuses.  Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTOpinion), and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter.  A version of this editorial appears in print on August 11, 2016, on page A22 of the New York edition with the headline: A Policing Culture Built on Racism. Today's Paper|Subscribe
Reforming the Baltimore Police Department has begun, but it will be a long and difficult process, requiring better training and federal oversight.