Baltimore Crime

Monday, August 17, 2009

27 comments:

Cham said...: This is probably my fault, I ran all the cops out of the Inner Harbor. :D; Mon Aug 17, 09:46:00 AM EDT
Cham said...: I've found a backpack that belongs to a John A. King. If anyone knows him please forward my contact information to him. It has some personal stuff of his in it. Chamgreen102 at gmail.; Mon Aug 17, 11:07:00 AM EDT
buzoncrime said...: Cham---both you and another poster I read on another website stated that no police were seen when they were at the Inner Harbor area recently. I also drove thru the area recently, along Pratt, and went straight up Charles Street. Didn't see any police till an empty car was spotted near the area around UB's eateries.

Many officers were likely redeployed once it was deemed "ok"; probably a lot were sent to Ashland Avenue area, and vacations were needed as well as other duties needed to be attended to. You just can't have massive deployments of officers in specific areas indefinitely.

The public security in that area, and inside the pavilions is going to be problematic indefinitely. Remember, their bench (the thugs) is deeper than our bench (the taxpayers). Part of it is the broken down parent-training-education system, but it is also a criminal justice system, and a state legislature full of lawyers who want to create loopholes. Good time credits, and diminution credits, and all the complex formulas don't work for violent street criminals who want to "prove" how tough and manly they are. And of course, we, Marylanders, may complain about crime. But we don't want to pay the bill to keep all the thuggie-wuggies in prison for long sentences without the silly formulas.

Interestingly, the thugs run and hide and scurry after the event because it now occurs to them they don't wanna get caught. Sounds real manly to have to run like frightened children, and worry about that knock on your door or the police car behind you.; Mon Aug 17, 11:10:00 AM EDT
Cham said...: It looks like Mayor Sheila is going to send all the officers back to the harbor.

Oh, well. I tried.

Some people get something from locking as many people up as possible, it makes them feel powerful. Especially when those that are locked up are young black males.

Myself, I think this ineffective solution rather cumbersome and expensive. I would rather work on not having the crime problem to begin. But I'm a silly and clearly outnumbered.; Mon Aug 17, 11:27:00 AM EDT
Sean said...: You know what might have prevented the crime problem? A couple of uniformed officers in the pavilion. There, no need to lock anyone up, and no shooting.; Mon Aug 17, 11:48:00 AM EDT
Cham said...: We could put a couple of uniformed police officers next to every citizen in Baltimore. That would probably stop crime as well.; Mon Aug 17, 12:25:00 PM EDT
Sean said...: Probably!; Mon Aug 17, 12:40:00 PM EDT
badfish said...: I'd say unlikely actually. Baltimore City cops get paid a lot less than their counterparts in surrounding counties. For quite a while now we've been plagued with low-volume and low-quality officer classes. Adding to that problem is the fact that our officers (and many municipalities' officers) are undertrained and underequipped. This is a societal problem, a legislative problem, and a really an economics problem. We have the toughest time putting a value on good protection and prevention.; Mon Aug 17, 01:21:00 PM EDT
helix said...: The problem is that there ALREADY WAS an officer there. He had been looking for a gunman in response to a tip that somebody had pulled a gun (according to news) when the shots were fired. Obviously, we can't have police eyes on every square inch of pavilion.

There isn't much anyone can do in the short term to mitigate a "long hot summer", but I'm surprised that no one has addressed the pavilions themselves. I mean they're sort of low-brow bauble shops and chain stores. Perhaps if these places were less enticing to crowds that cause trouble, there would be fewer problems.

Finally, I would like to know if the ownership of these establishments are actually forking over cash to get more police in there. I mean, if they're going to deplete our police forces shouldn't they at least pick up the bill?; Mon Aug 17, 01:30:00 PM EDT
badfish said...: i'm pretty sure these businesses pay taxes (state and local to be sure). They also pay exorbitant rents and attract even more revenue to the state in the form of increased sales taxes from tourist dollars (although this incident plus the recent raise may drive people to safer places). Although I disagree with you that they ought to pay MORE for their protection, I do think that the stores will be forced to bring in much more substantial (and private) security teams in order to attract enough money to stay in business. Most unfortunate.; Mon Aug 17, 01:37:00 PM EDT
Cham said...: The current owner of the pavillions, General Growth Properties, is struggling. They really have no clue how to run the place and make it profitable which is why the selection of stores is questionable and there are so many empty storefronts.

The local government is terrified that crime at the Inner Harbor will scare of the lucrative convention business. We have too many hotels as it is, the convention center seems to be a powerful lobbying force. The city government seems easily persuaded to send the entire police force to the harbor at the expense of the bulk of the city taxpayers: The residents and property owners.

Having said all that, I'm not so sure the city's tourists are easily scared off by a little gunshot at the harbor. It's no secret that this isn't Disney World, and those that elect to come here aren't expecting a lock-tight secure environment. Between Homicide, The Corner and The Wire I think the word is out about what this town is about and I doubt a squabble between a couple of gangland punks is going to singlehandedly drive the convention business away.; Mon Aug 17, 01:53:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: Would you please do away with the flyover widget menu? It obscures my access to the comments button.; Mon Aug 17, 02:26:00 PM EDT
badfish said...: While the mall/pavilion operator might suffer from a lack of business sense, I just can't help but imagine that part of the reason they are having trouble bringing new, "non-tacky" stores is because the cost of operating a retail store in that location in this economic environment is pretty tough. Malls in general across the country and doing very poorly right now, including those in very upper-middle class neighborhoods where the only "crimes" being committed are those by soccer mom's double parking outside of starbucks.

As for the effects of the Wire and Homicide, that's tough to tell. The Wire and Homicide rarely, if ever, cross paths with Harborplace, and most people probably don't realize the extent of the problems the City faces. In any event, the long term effects might be tremendous; they also might be nothing. So many other factors come into play as more time elapses from the actual event: media coverage; continued hearings and interviews by Mayor Dixon, additional shootings.; Mon Aug 17, 02:31:00 PM EDT
Sean said...: Gotta agree on the widget thing - it's pretty annoying. Is that new?; Mon Aug 17, 02:51:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: You'd think A place like that should be at least equipped with numerous security cameras. The city could step in and offer to install them at no cost to the businesses there, if it's too costly to have police officers on patrol in/around the Inner Harbor and other tourist destinations.; Mon Aug 17, 04:24:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: Thank you for removing the widgets! (Not the same anonymous as above.); Mon Aug 17, 04:53:00 PM EDT
badfish said...: someone still has to monitor cameras. otherwise they just potentially aid in solving crimes, not really preventing them. they also fall prey to vandals and can cost a pretty penny. (well-trained) police are the best bet, but clearly won't stop every unfortunate incident.; Mon Aug 17, 04:56:00 PM EDT
Cham said...: Am I the only one that noticed that the shooting took place slightly after 10PM on a Saturday. Harborplace closes at 9. Which means this demand for more police officer patrols at the harbor would have to include the pavilions AFTER they closed if they were to be effective to preventing this specific crime.

Putting little Raven aside and the woman in Cherry Hill who was shoot due to an stray bullet through her window, our local shooters have been remarkably adept in shooting their intended targets recently, as both victims were associated with the Bloods. The shooters probably see the advantage of aiming carefully and not having a errant tourist caught in the crossfire.

Putting all the sensational publicity aside, one has to wonder exactly how much of a risk there is to the noncriminal public in enjoying the harbor even with all the Bloods, Crips, BGF, MS14s, RTD2s and what not running willy nilly around the promenade? It may not be much.; Mon Aug 17, 05:43:00 PM EDT
Maurice Bradbury said...: thanks for letting me know the widget didn't work.. just trying it out, seemed like a good idea at the time..!; Mon Aug 17, 06:47:00 PM EDT
Maurice Bradbury said...: .. maybe the NRA will sponsor some marksmanship training in the city; Mon Aug 17, 06:48:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: Ah Cham,

The Perps in ALL these cases are YOUNG BLACK MALES. Deal with it.; Mon Aug 17, 08:45:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: OK.

I saw solutions/causes to this problem on this thread as follows:

More police.
More taxes and/or fees on the businesses
More security cameras.
Close the pavilion.
Cable TV Shows...

How about this. We prosecute these effing animals and get the the eff out of society.

Quit arguiing about eyewash and get to the effing problem; Mon Aug 17, 08:50:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: Mel Lingerman said...

Ah Cham,

The Perps in ALL these cases are YOUNG BLACK MALES. Deal with it.
_______________________________

I don't know about that. I saw an old white guy in a wheelchair down there the other day. I think he might be a "crip".; Mon Aug 17, 10:06:00 PM EDT
Michael Lantz said...: I remember when Harbor Place first opened in 1980, when I was 13 years old,The Inner Harbor was a very safe to go.You rarely heard about shooting in those days.The only think bad would happen in those days was a fight and even those were rare.What has happened in the last 29 years to make the Inner Harbor such a dangerous place?; Mon Aug 17, 11:47:00 PM EDT
badfish said...: mel, what happens when the judge suspends the sentence? what happens when these kids (which is what they are) go to jail, become even more violent, and are released? what happens when they have children and arent there to raise them? prosecuting, as baltimore clearly indicates, doesn't solve the whole problem.; Tue Aug 18, 01:00:00 AM EDT
Cham said...: As suspected, the shooting didn't have much of an impact on visitors.

At the Maryland Science Center, CEO Van Reiner says so far, the headlines haven't hurt business.

"Our Sunday was probably one of the top two Sundays we've had all year," he said. "Saturday was very strong. Today was one of the best Mondays we've had. People are still coming to the Inner Harbor."

Maybe we are all just so tired of being safe and want to come outside.; Tue Aug 18, 07:14:00 AM EDT
Anonymous said...: OK badfish. Good points. I guess we need to sterilize all the animals having "children" in Baltimore.; Thu Aug 20, 08:43:00 PM EDT

Baltimore Crime

Monday, August 17, 2009

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