Thursday, April 12, 2007

April 12

"Of the 42 people charged with gun crimes in Baltimore between Jan. 1 and March 21 of this year, 24 suspects — or 57 percent — had been previously charged with gun crimes a total of 52 times."
How'd this happen? They're out on bail and out of jail, and that's the way it goes.

Tavon Campbell, 20, was shot to death shortly after midnight in the 2600 block of E. Madison St.

"John Daughtry, 25, was identified Tuesday as the man shot in the chest at an unknown location about 6 p.m. Monday, then staggered to his home in the 100 block of S. Morley St." ; also, a 20-year-old man was shot in the chest but survived.

WBAL reported at noon that two women were shot while walking on the West side, no motive or suspects.

A "suspicious body" was found by firefighters at 4 a.m. in the basement of a house in the 2600 block of West Cold Spring Lane (aka Coldspring Avenue). Wonder if we'll ever hear of it again ... ?

Yesterday's Fredneck road rage victims were ID'd as driver Christian M. Luciano, 28, and passenger Lindsay L. Bender, 25, both from Harrisburg PA. Speaking of road rage, sound advice the Sun's Googled for us from the Dane County Sheriff's Office in Madison, Wis.):
birdAlmost nothing makes another driver angrier than an obscene gesture ... Avoid making any gestures that might anger another driver, even 'harmless' expressions of irritation like shaking your head.
(JZ's video on the link above is actually about Duke lax. Isn't it nice how Reade Seligmann says "If police officers and a district attorney can systematically railroad us with absolutely no evidence whatsoever, I can’t imagine what they’d do to people who do not have the resources to defend themselves.")

21 comments:

jaimetab said...

“I’m not pointing the finger at anyone,” Dixon said of the data. “I’m just saying that we need to look at a crime-fighting strategy to get these guns off the street.”
My god, how about getting those people off the street! It must be so hard to come up with a strategy! Smoke is pouring out of the ears of Dixon and Hamm. How about this--I know this sounds crazy--someone is arrested for shooting someone--they're out on bail for another charge of shootin someone else. Also, they were charged last year for possession of a gun, and (unbelievably) the sentence was suspended. OK, bear with me Ms. Mayor, here's the crazy part....How about locking the creep up for like 10 years, instead of giving him another suspended sentence, or some other outrageous alchemy of sentencing where he's back on our streets in 18 months???

jaimetab said...

Isn't this apparent to anyone else here---there are criminals everywhere in America. But here in Baltimore, the next time someone is murdered or shot here, the responsibility falls SOLELY on Dixon, Hamm, Jessamy, and the judges. THEY should be in jail for abdicating all responsibility in getting these scumbags off the streets. They have done nothing, and continue to do nothing except make excuses. It is a god damn disgrace.

John Galt said...

Yet more evidence that Part I crime is vastly understated.

John Galt said...

Cybes, please de-anonymize #76. His mother will appreciate it.

His name was John, and he was killed in broad daylight on his way back from a neighborhood sub shop. And yes, the young boy who did it has been in and out of the juvenile system for years.

Why do our wonderful elected officials keep trying to provide 'services' and 'counseling' to these bastards ??? They're just rotten and the juvie records would do a great job of indicating who needs special oversight by police, except that they're frickin' sealed !! Isn't it time to admit we have a state of emergency which calls for extraordinary measures ?

Maurice Bradbury said...

John Whom?

John Galt said...

Daughtry. Age 25. Shot en route from a fast food joint to his father's home. Died at Shock Trauma.

John Galt said...

For those who are counting, we today reach in Baltimore for the first 3 1/2 months of 2007 the murder count for the entire year in Cincinnati, with Richmond and San Antonio soon to follow.


Way to lead, Madame Mayor.

John Galt said...

Since you mentioned Madison, Wisconsin, just for the sake of comparison, it has about one third our population, yet only two murders a year.

In other words, we have about 46 times Madison's per capita murder rate. The police there manage to achieve recovery in about half of all property crimes. The police staffing per capita is about one third ours, because they're dealing with a fundamentally better population.

Bottom line: take your animals, put them in cages (and keep them there, please), and get back to living a real life in a real city.

For reference, our annual murders this year will be about equal to the statewide totals of Wisconsin plus Minnesota, which includes all urban centers, such as Milwaukee and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

John Galt said...

Oh, and their relevant population base for that equal number of murders is about 11,000,000, or about seventeen times ours.

Gor said...

On the Police Blotter, they classify an incident as a Robbery, but the person was assaulted as well. Is that normal to exclude it from the classification?

John Galt said...

The total number of full-time sworn officers in those two states is about 22,000, about seven times ours, while we have about seven times the aggregate national murder rate. Not that I'm suggesting causation or anything. Not much. Not me.

More locally, we have about 1/9 of the full-time sworn officers in this state, yet about 1/4 of its Part I crime. We make over 40% of the arrests in the state, which is more than proportionate, yet we don't prosecute most, so that the number of prosecutions is actually less than proportionate to the state.

Now, in terms of years served per convicted count, that figure is sorta tricky to tease out because of different practices in plea bargaining and such, but anecdotally most of the criminals I know are far more anxious to be tried in a Baltimore City court, than in the county.

When in custody they receive a charging document on a Baltimore County charge, that's when they get concerned, so draw your own conclusion. Even more so in the case of outstanding charges in from Virginia, which is just one reason why we get so many hoodlums from out of state.

John Galt said...

Gor, don't read too much into the Sun's blotter, it's a very summary treatment, and even the entire blotter (of which the Sun prints a fraction) almost always excludes a buncha stuff.

Usually, a single incident will be classified as that highest UCR category which applies under a given state's criminal code. The charges levelled may, however, be multiple in nature.

Robbery is thought of as incorporating a violent component by implication, so that it will generally outrank a common assault, which is Part II violent crime. On the other hand, if an assault in the first degree (an outright attack) took place with a deadly (or potentially deadly) weapon under Md. statute, then that charge will outrank the robbery aspect. If it's a second degree assault under Md. law, then the reporting can be kinda tricky, because the battery statute here doesn't exactly require physical contact. It can even be verbal, so it's kinda tricky (thank you Legislature).

John Galt said...

When you think about it, figuring out how to commensurate charges or sentences (let alone parole or probationary terms)across jurisdictions with Legislatively distinct and idiosyncratic practices is really quite difficult, but that's all part of what it truly means to be a United States of America. We forget that sometimes.

John Galt said...

Oh boy, speaking of which, shootings, shootings, shootings going on as I speak. And bad aim, to boot.

John Galt said...

We're kinda like New Orleans, only without the climatic excuse.

Howzabout admitting we have a crime emergency (maybe not by local standards, but certainly by national ones) and appealing to Congress for assistance ???

Or, we could just continue letting women & small children get shot in broad daylight.

Dopple said...

Heh why did Jessamy say the bit about a lie betting out the truth in response to Dixon's crime figures? Why didn't she say, "I agree, let's make sure we get these people. I'll work with you."

Is Jessamy up to her same old obstructionist ways and passing the buck?

John Galt said...

You think?

Meanwhile, in good ol' JohnsHopkinsville where crime is low and police always seem far more plentiful than in the higher-crime adjoining black neighborhood, the local councilperson is quite worked up not about the City's inadequate policing in the face of a rising tide of violence, but about one earthshaking zoning violation, but is apparently unconcerned about another one just two blocks to the south, both reported in this week's Messenger.

Do you think we might have (unlawful) differential enforcement in this town, perhaps ????

No wonder the hoodlums have little regard for the rule of law, when the lawmakers display even less.

burgersub said...

oh good, wbal knows where bradford street is. the sun and every website that just reprints AP wires are all calling it "northeast baltimore," which to anybody that actually knows where anything is in this town, conjures up images of hamilton.

John Galt said...

Oh, this one's rich, it is.

The Maryland Court of Appeals has ruled on 'the duty owed by police officers to the public. In that case, it was determined that a policy that places a duty on a police officer to insure the safety of each member of the community would create an unnecessary burden on the judicial system.

The {appealed} lawsuit contended that the "Believe" campaign was promulgated even though the city "plainly knew or had reason to know that they were not able to provide adequate protection for responding witnesses" in "the midst of a violent retaliatory drug culture in certain areas" of Baltimore.

But the judge found:
"In the present case, the 'Believe Campaign,' to the extent it created any duty at all, was a duty to the general public -- not a duty to the individual members of the public," the judge wrote.

The judge wrote that the only "affirmative act, if any existed at all" was the suggestion by police that the family move. Cathell noted that the family wasn't injured because they moved, but because they stayed.'

The take home message: Don't BELIEVE. It's a lie. Don't stay. Get the hell out of Baltimore City, it's an undeclared disaster area and its government officials don't give a damn about your well-being. They simply intend to use you and shed crocodile tears at your funeral, and only then provided the camera is rolling.

John Galt said...

City Council President Rawlings-Blake's official webpage states 'In 2003 Rawlings-Blake introduced legislation creating Baltimore City’s Operation Crime Watch program, which in 2004 received the Governor’s Award for "Outstanding Proactive Crime Prevention Programs in Maryland."'

Click on that website and see what it encourages. The operative word here is cannon-fodder.

You've gotten people killed and spat on their graves, Hon. Congratulations. Proud of yourself??

F#@k this City.

Unknown said...

After my comp crashing last week and just setting up the new one today, I'm glad to be able to read and get my news and reality check for the day.