Sunday, October 9, 2005

October 9

A success story: Chiacgo's CeaseFire program may have played a part in the city's amazing murder-rate drop. Reports the founder of the program, the number of killings has been cut nearly in half in CeaseFire zones since outreach workers hit the first neighborhood in 2000. (Login dallas123@news.com, password 123456)

A vigil in Dundalk was held to commemorate the 70 Marylanders who lost their lives to domestic violence last year. If that number is accurate, then that's 1 out of 4 for 2004. Hey, did you know in 2003 Maryland was just behind Louisiana in the homicide rate? After Katrina are we first now?

A hit-and-run driver killed Lamont Kennedy, 28. Also, Kendall Charles Alexander Sr., 41, wanted for killing an officer and robbing a bank, was arrested on Rolling Road.

Three correctional officers entered "not guilty" pleas for the beating death of Raymond K. Smoot, 51.

Loved ones are holding a vigil in Frederick for an 18-year-old who was holding an air gun when he was shot to death by police.

Ew, perverts! A roving man broke into a student's room near U of MD in College Park, laid on top of her and fondled her while she was sleeping in bed.

The 4th circuit court of appeals will hear The Sun v. Ehrlich.

Some guy named Doug Duncan is apparently also running for governor.

Bored at work? Channel 13's web site reveals fascinating details about its orange-cheeked anchors, such as that Mary Bubala is a short Libra, and Kai Jackson's favorite band is Earth, Wind & Fire. Marty Bass enjoys pork sandwiches and thinks that math is hard. Ooh, baby, I just want to get in your head! And Mike Schuh's favorite interview? "anyone who connect with the audience" over Spicy Ho Fun. Hey I have an idea-- how about sending the crack reporters who reported on the reporters to whip up half as much of a report on murder victims and the not-so-fun hos? Or a story about how the state of education is so bad, JZ can't find Mike a copy editor? They all suck but you, Mary Bubala-- that gal can intonate the hell out of a 'prompter feed, and I think she might be smart, too. Maybe she can talk to her Chicago people and come up with that hard-hitting Emmy report on what CeaseFire could do. Richard, introduce her your connections and retire already. How weird that Bob Turk is the only one from Maryland!

The "Stop Snitchin" shirt has hit the NYT magazine. Unshockingly the majority of sales are to suburban kids. Laments a designer, "it's almost like they don't know what it means."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The local news reports that folks in East Baltimore are raising $800M to turn the burned-out former home of the Dawson family (murdered in a witness intimidation incident) into a museum memorial to the family.

Something's very wrong when we don't have enough cops to protect citizens who report criminals, but we can sure raise money to eulogize them.

It's time for Baltimore to demand a right-sized police force in every neighborhood, not the two hundred someodd patrol officers on duty at any one time citywide. It's just not enough. Far too many officers are deployed to 'special units' rather than to neighborhood patrol.

In a similar vein, the city health department applied for and received in the name of the Dawsons a $1.1MM grant to provide drug counseling services in East Baltimore for nonviolent offenders. But weren't the Dawsons murdered by VIOLENT offenders? When will we express an interest in addressing crime-prevention?

Anonymous said...

Ceasefire is an effort to implement the strategy developed in Boston (the Boston Gun Program), which was quite successful, to address inter-gang gun violence.

The strategy may not have great results in many cities with massive drug-related violence like Saint Louis, Detroit, or Baltimore for that matter, because it relies upon a kind of enlightened self-interest in cartel environments. Boston and Chicago have much more highly-developed drug crime organizations, while Baltimore, Detroit, and St. Louis have a lot more 'independent contractors' constantly entering the business. This makes a Ceasefire type of strategy far less effective because of the absence of credible collective responsibility.

for Saint Louis Ceasefire, see
http://www.usmayors.org/USCM/best_practices/bp98/09_1998_Preventing_School_Violence194.htm

As for the guy killed for pulling a pellet gun on cops, I can't blame them. A criminal under pursuit who draws any gun on a cop has to be met with deadly force. All that stuff about shooting people in the wing to disarm them presupposes the luxury of extensive backup.