Justin Fenton writes in the Sun. This is great news. But one thing is very curious: The city’s Western District, for example, where nearly 90 people were killed in 1992, recorded 23 homicides in 2008. It has not recorded fewer than 32 homicides in a year since at least 1970. But the Western District is also emblematic of the past…
Tag: Baltimore
Crack House
I first published this a year ago when nobody read my blog. It’s worth a rehash. #1) 1900 Block of E Eager. 1906 E Eager is the third house (with awning) from Mr. George’s corner laundromat. Two short blocks North of Johns Hopkins Hospital, this corner (Wolfe and Eager) is one of the “hottest” (but hardly the only) drug corners…
Some Gave All
I recently received Some Gave All: A History of Baltimore Police Officers Killed in the Line of Duty, 1808-2007 by Steve Olsen and Robert Brown. It’s a very nice work of history and a wonderful homage to those who died serving Baltimore City. While details on recent police deaths tend to be relatively well known, even I leaned some things…
Less overtime = More murder?
Messing with police overtime is like messing with a dog’s food. You better makes sure it doesn’t come back to bite you. “It’s like our heroin,” one cop says in Cop in the Hood, “it’s just something we need.” The root of the problem is that half the department is assigned to patrol, chasing radio calls. So when it comes…
Good Taser Use
I’ve said that Tasers are overused and too often lethal. But here is a perfect use–as an alternative to lethal force. Well done, BPD. The Baltimore Sunreports: Baltimore police use Taser to subdue armed woman November 17, 2008 Baltimore police used a Taser last night to disable a woman who was wielding a handgun in front of a house in…
From the Brass
Colonel (Ret.) Margaret Patton is the highest ranking woman in the Baltimore City Police Department. Back in 2000, when I was a cop, she was in charge of the Northern District. I don’t think we ever met, but I knew her by reputation, and it was good. A few months ago, when I was having an exchange with retired police…
Dirt bikes in Baltimore
If you don’t live in Baltimore, it’s hard to understand just how big of a problem this is. If you do live in Baltimore, you may not realize that this problem doesn’t really exist anywhere else, at least not like it does in Baltimore. The bikes themselves weren’t illegal. But riding them is. It’s a strange Rite of Spring in…
Homicides down in Baltimore
Good news from Charm City. Justin Fenton of the Sun describes the impact of one police unit. If all this is police’s doing, and it might be, note just how much 250 officers can accomplish (out of a police force of less than 3,000 in a city of 650,000 people).
Crime or no Crime?
Peter Hermann of the Baltimore Sun has an interesting article about discharges… that is, shots fired but nobody hit. No harm, no foul.
27 drug raids in one night
A federal a local task force, HIDTA (“High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area”) busted down 27 doors in what must have been a very long night’s work. I hope people feel safer.