- It costs, on average, $25,000 a year to keep someone in jail.
- A 28-day stay in a drug treatment program costs $32,800.
- In September, 6,787 people were arrested, versus 8,964 in August.
- In the past 12 months, 97,976 people have been processed at Booking and Intake. The center is currently operating at 135% of capacity.
- In November 2004, 262 people were arrested in the city for Attempted Murder.
- In 2004, the police department recieved 26,072 domestic violence calls, resulting in 5,317 arrests (I guess we don't have one of those Washington State laws where somebody has to go to jail). Seventy percent of women who are murdered are killed by partners and have been previously physically abused. There are only nine detectives handling all of the city's DV cases.
- The City Council wants to enforce a curfew on juveniles between midnight and 6 a.m. on weekends and 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. on weekdays, and also between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. for juveniles 6 to 16.
- The biggest Circuit Court Divison ain't the criminal, it's the Family. In Fiscal Year '04, the Family Division dealt with 128,854 filings. The Family Division deals with 72 percent of all civil legal matters. Unlike Baltimore County, the city doesn't mandate mediation before going to court in custody cases, or make separating couples with kids attend co-parenting classes.
- There are 228 cameras posted around town. The cameras cost about $1 million each and were financed by seized assets and Homeland Security grants. According to Hamm, about 150 arrests were made last week on account of the cameras.
- About 80 to 85 percent of people arrested in the city are represented by public defenders.
- As of yesterday, Police Commissioner Hamm has been on the job for one year.
So there you go. Wish I'd asked Hamm about the 37% murder clearance rate, but the intimidatingness of all of the important people, the heat in the room and the soporific effect of the PowerPoint presentation made me chicken out at the last minute. Maybe next time.
13 comments:
Um,... something's not right here. About those cameras, they definitely do not cost $1MM apiece.
I had like 14 installed in my district at our expense and the cameras themselves only cost maybe $200M in total.
Could BCPD be referring to lifetime service cost or something? See if your notes read another way.
That's what someone said in the meeting, but it is completely possible that a. the person who said that didn't know what she was talking about or b. she was including the cost to monitor them or other related expenses.
About the Attempted Murder number, was that 262 arrests for the year to date as of November?
Would you recall, was it Kristen Mahoney speaking to the cost of cameras?
Hallelujah! At long last, some cops! The bill is in... well, sorta. Read on.
see the current issue of the Messenger regarding a deal to fill some of the long-term vacancies in North Baltimore:
http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?show=localnews&pnpID=574&NewsID=674531&CategoryID=8012&on=1
I think it was someone named Cynthia Jones, but I'm not sure. The attempted murder number was just the month of November. That #'s from the DPSC-- the dominant charge from their population briefing.
This is great info! Thanks D's C. You're great and the site is awesome. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the info. Although it doesn't make me feel like the police here are worth more lol. I always thought BCPD stood for "Baltimore City's Public Disgraces" or maybe "Baltimore City Pisshead division". Anyhow just some personal thoughts there, But thanks D's C for the info.
Liz,
I understand you've had some poor experience with police officers, but please try to understand that when officers are ridiculously outmanned by hoodlums, they are called upon to answer five or six calls an hour. (In addition the current Commander of your Northern District is... the worst one in over ten years of experience working with his predecessors. Invisible Steve. His officers are playing the game his way at this time, so judge him, not them.)
Frequently, this is impossible, so they adopt a behavior which permits them to 'resolve' an incident in that time frame, even if proper handling would require greater care. Thus, you get some... questionable behavior. We first need to agree to pay for more cops.. then to tolerate only somewhat better cops.
This, alas, is the true cost of living in one of America's foremost centers of endemic criminality.
Hey Galt, I was actually looking at the number from last November. Not so far this month. But (how much do I love you, I did math) from last November until Oct. 31 of this year, an incredible 3,265 people went through Central Booking for attempted murder, including 224 last month. Maybe we should be glad the murder rate is as low as it is...
My head is spinning.
The city had 7,159 aggravated assaults in total reported last year. If arrests for attempted murder were 3,265, then that would imply a clearance rate for all agg. assaults of 45%. I'm wondering if someone at BCPD is equating agg. assault with attempted murder?
Hmmm. I think I hear my life insurance premium lifting off into the upper stratosphere.
Off the blotter, a man was found shot in Wyman Park, next to Johns Hopkins' Homewood Campus in Northern Balto. Interviewees seem to think it's basically OK, since they don't think he's from the neighborhood. ???! I feel SO much better.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.slaying11nov11,1,5318893.story?coll=bal-local-headlines
I still feel Baltimore is becoming more depressing and the police may be playing by Commander's rules, but every year i live here, the crime and drama hit closer and closer to home and I am fed up. I know all major city's have their share of the same stuff Baltimore does, but it seems more accepted by citizens here than anywhere else I've ever lived or visited, and I have lived in 3 major states{Pa, NY{nyc actually}, and here in Md}. Maybe one day the city as a whole will break it's battered wife state of mind and stop taking the abuse and finally do what's best for it's survival and well being.
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