Police

On the Beat

There’s a good story in today’s Baltimore Sun by Annie Linskey about me, my book, and current crime reduction efforts in Baltimore. When I talked to this reporter, I could see that she’s a thinking woman who cares about her story. Plus she’s got a solid track record of good pieces. Well done.

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Ed Norris the man?

I tried to take the high road. I did! But my friend just sent me this and I can’t resist. Thanks, buddy! Here’s what my friend wrote: Not that you needed me to but I took it upon myself to defend you by sending Ed a nasty gram. Ed, I listened to the show today and was very disappointed. You…

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My Take on Commissionar Ed Norris

Why beat around the bush? Here’s what I think about Ed Norris as commissioner. Like I already wrote: I think he was a good commissioner. Not as good a commissioner as hethinks he is, but then who is? I think he was better than the guy that came before and the guy that after him. When Norris came in, the…

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Club 101: Baltimore Club Music Appreciation

Since they say that writing about music is like dancing about architecture, I’ve got some audio tracks so you can hear the Baltimore Club sound and the work of K-Swift, who died a few days ago. First and foremost, Baltimore Club Music is a beat. If it ain’t got this beat, it’s not club music (the droning note is a…

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RIP K-Swift, the Club Queen

You should really play some of her music while reading this post I’m very sad to read about the death of my favorite Baltimore DJ, K-Swift. The poor girl was only 28 and died in a swimming pool accident. And when she started mixing a decade ago, she really was a girl in a man’s world. There are three stories…

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The Eastern District and Iraq

During any given year, a 15- to 34-year-old man in the Eastern District has about the same chance of being killed as a U.S. soldier stationed in Iraq. That’s just wrong. The Eastern stats are from page 203 of my book. The Iraq stats are taken from DonHodges.com. I bring this up because of an interesting comment from a good…

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Baltiore homicide by the numbers

Back in January, the Baltimore City Paper published a good simple analysis of homicide numbers in 2007. I was just looking at it again. As we all know, violence is not equally spread out in society. It may not be politically correct to talk about race and violence, but homicide in America is disproportionately a problem of black-on-black young male…

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Bad Person. Bad Judge.

Too many people refuse to believe that there are some truly bad people out there. Some people are just bad. Police know this. Judges don’t. Is it unfair to throw someone in prison for a long time for a technical violation of parole? Maybe. Maybe not. Depends on the person. Just because you can’t convict a person doesn’t mean he’s…

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Carmelo Anthony in the New York Times

I’m not a fan of basketball. But I am a little interested in Carmelo Anthony. The only reason I know him is that he (unwittingly) appeared in the Stop Fucking SnitchingDVD that got him and the DVD a lot of press. Bad press for him. Any press was good for the home-produced DVD. I felt sorry for the guy who…

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Details on the drug corner

My friend emailed me this: I think we were able to pull that surveillance off not only because it was quiet from the rain but also because it was 1 month and 3 days after 9/11. We were rolling 3 – 4 deep and had every spare car on the road.