Baltimore has fired a lawyer chosen to defend the troubled Baltimore Police Department because of his neo-Nazi ties. The BPD was recently exposed for regular use of excessive force and “unjustified disparities in the rates of stops, searches and arrests of African Americans” in a Justice Department report.
The Southern Poverty Law Center conducted an investigation that led to the uncovering of Glen Keith Allen being a supporter of the Neo-Nazi National Alliance, including documents that showed he paid dues as a member. The New York Daily Newsreported Allen admitted to being a member in the mid-1980s but said he was no longer a member after the end of that decade.
Allen, an attorney for the Baltimore City Law Department, defended Baltimore Police when the wrongfully imprisoned Sabein Burgess pressed charges in 2015, accusing police of fabricating evidence that led to his 19-year prison sentence.
Allen told the New York Daily News his "awful experiences with black people" while he served in the U.S. Army from 1978 to 1982 caused him to join the National Alliance.
"I am reluctant to get on my knees and beg forgiveness from something like the Southern Poverty Law Center which I regard as a censorship organization," Allen told the New York Daily News after SPLC wrote about his background.
City officials said the 65-year-old Allen wasn't a city employee. On Thursday a statement from the office of Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Allen’s one-year contract with the city was being terminated. "None of the historical facts and alleged facts recently publicized about Mr. Allen’s political views and affiliations were disclosed or discussed when his contract was agreed to," the statement read. "The Law Department does not as a general practice question its hired or contract attorneys about their political views."
The SLPC also revealed Allen's donated to the American Eagle Party, which the Daily Newsidentified as a group led by a man who says Israel was behind the September 11 terrorist attacks. Allen told the paper, "I lived in Germany and found the Germans were not as horrible as I had been told they were. It made me very skeptical of some of the conduct of Israel."
