Tuesday, July 24, 2007

July 24

The City Police Union likes Mitchell for mayor, a decision that
the city's rank and file is dissatisfied with her policing decisions.

"We believe we will see change and progress under him," Blair [president of the city's police union] said. "And he'll be a mayor that realizes that law enforcement is very critical in the city and would make it his top priority that we're properly staffed and given the proper equipment and leadership."
Ouch.

Speaking of "new leadership", ex-commish Kevin Clark wants his old job back.
“As I see it, the city is in crisis, but I could turn this around in no time ... It’s my job.”


Continuing the theme of "new leadership" ... some of the "old leadership" is getting canned (er, sorry, "retiring.")

A busy weekend for police in AACo, and a bad weekend for dangerous fugitives!

There's only one thing you should be doing behind the wheel of a car: not text messaging, not reading the paper, not playing with yourself or receiving favors from your loved one leaning over from the passenger seat (remember that scene in Parenthood?). Not even daydreaming! Nope, the only thing you should be doing behind the wheel of a car is paying attention. This is a lesson Christopher Austin Carey, 17, will hopefully be more aware of in the future.

In a case of car v bike, the car wins --
An 8-year-old boy riding a bicycle was struck by a car in Southwest Baltimore shortly before 2:30 p.m. Monday and was taken to the Johns Hopkins Hospital's pediatric intensive care unit for treatment of a minor head injury, police said.
I don't think it's going too far out on a limb to say the driver "wasn't paying attention." Also: don't play in the streets, kids.

Mayor Dixon Proposes Public Registry of Gun Offenders: Too far? Or not far enough? I guess we'll know if the NRA gets itself involved.

A Baltimore resident, and member of MS-13, is off to jail. I wonder how the accommodations are?

Timothy Hartlove's sentence revisited: four years for "conspiring to distribute methamphetamine worth about $50,000." His original sentence was six years.

Former state Senator Bromwell pleads guilty for racketeering and tax evasion. A guilty politician? Perish the thought.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where is Clarksville? And more importantly, what does a teen swerving off the road in to hell and gone have to do with Baltimore crime?

Part II. The kid on the bike. AGAIN, this is supposed to be a Baltimore crime blog, not a central maryland traffic report.

Malnurtured Snay said...

You might have a point about Clarksville, but Part II? Explain to me when a HIT AND RUN stopped being a crime. No, seriously. When you hit a pedestrian with a car -- or a kid on a bike -- , and you take off, that's a ****CRIME****.

Malnurtured Snay said...

This blog has referenced crimes taking place in counties as far away as Montgomery. Referencing an incident in Howard Co. doesn't seem that much of a jump to me, frankly. Although I'll grant you that a kid's inability to keep control of his vehicle might be questionable as to a content issue, as far as geography goes, your criticism holds no water.

John Galt said...

I believe # 184 is now named, but I think Irwin confused the street. Also, not a good time to be a storekeeper in Baltimore.

In Rodricks' blog you will find an informative letter from an ex-cop as well as comments from readers of his zero-tolerance piece.

John Galt said...

The BCPD claims it was unaware of the massive number of GPS thefts in the Northern, but readers of this blog weren't.

Along those lines, note that this week we had a shooting and a c-store holdup with a rifle within a block or so of one another off of Greenmount in Waverly.

So, what is it the police keep saying about crime being down ??

ppatin said...

"A 22-year-old Baltimore man was sentenced to 37 years in federal prison yesterday for his involvement in a violent MS-13 gang that prosecutors have linked to six slayings in Maryland and one in Virginia, the U.S. attorney's office said."

You've gotta love those tough, no parole Federal sentences. The Maryland legislature should follow their example & abolish parole, at least for violent felons. THAT would take a bite out of crime in B'more.

ppatin said...

Am I the only one who's tired of the terms "zero-tolerance" and "community policing" being thrown all the time?

taotechuck said...

ppatin's got zero tolerance for zero-tolerance (at least grammatically speaking).

ppatin said...

Whoops, that should have been "thrown around."

Anonymous said...

ppatin, i'm sick of the terms being used as political footballs too. no comment on the fact that deb ownes is the most hated individual in police in the police dept in history, baaad decision

John Galt said...

You gotta know Baltimore's in the sh!tter when a Detroit cop says he thinks we're in trouble.

FYI, Detroiters have an interesting clearinghouse for myriad threads on their city.

John Galt said...

In the Real World:

Zero Tolerance and Community Policing are entirely compatible.

But in the Baltimore lexicon:

Zero-Tolerance = falsely arresting noncriminals

Community Policing = ignoring the misconduct of known criminals


Just click your heels three times and repeat "I wish I were home, I wish I were home....".

Anonymous said...

I think Glat has summed it up quite well. Both policies have been poor executed due to political interference with the PD.

ppatin said...

"no comment on the fact that deb ownes is the most hated individual in police in the police dept in history, baaad decision"

Maybe she'll be able to do less harm in her new role where she's more of an administrator, and won't be in as much of a leadership position?

Anonymous said...

HEY. Snay is a guest editor and a hit-and-run IS a crime. Back off or I'll steal your trash can, and Snay can write about that, too.

Gor said...

Sex crimes are still (mostly) a stigmatizing one for the offender, but the gangster rap, "keeping it real", and "thug4life" mentality might make a gun registry a place of honor of the scumbags.

I think Gelles said it best, if a gun offender is placed on the registry "...the ethos of "street credibility" often means that a gun crime could enhance stature."

So, with a gun registry, we might even see an increase in violence.

John Galt said...

The problem in Baltimore City with the idea of easy plea deals leading to parole is that parole agents here are assigned so many cases (over 120 per) that they have no idea what their assigned hoodlums are up to. It's just a clerical activity. Hence, it's like catch and release.

ppatin said...

That story is another example of why we need brutally harsh mandatory minimums with no chance of parole for violent felons. Any crime committed with a gun should at least have the potential for decades of prison time. I don't care if you're 17 and have an otherwise clean record, if you go out and stick a gun in someone's face in order to steal their wallet you should be looking at a sentence that will leave you in prison until you're in your 40s. I also think that the death penalty should be mandatory for aggravated first-degree murder, but sadly that's not constitutional.

Anonymous said...

Your an dumb fucking asshole. The reality is that the 17 year old who was severely injured in Clarksville was doing none of the things you have described. He was inexperienced and the accident happened around a bend while the kid was heading to work.

Get your facts right asshole. that, or jump off a tall building.