October 20

North.
A homeless man was killed by a hit-and-run driver on Falls Road at 40th street in Hampden-- the driver's car had been found.
[Not considered a homicide-- should it be?]

A woman parked on the 3600 block of Malden Lane in Woodberry called to complain that a bunch of juveniles took rocks and materials from a city construction site and piled them on her car.

West.
Someone was "stabbed in the butt," another in the chest at La Palapa on Main Street, Ellicott City.

Northwest.
Rod Rosenstein: "The Rice brothers lived the gangster lifestyle for a few years and now they will pay the price for the rest of their lives."
Included in "gangster lifestyle": minivans, NW split-levels.

A female officer responding to a call about a baseball-bat weilding woman was stranded in the 2400 block of Denison Lane when she got no response from the radio dispatcher for a request for backup.

After someone broke a car window, four police cars and a couple of officers à pied chased a pack of 15 black male youths who'd been gathered on the corner of 3900 Labyrinth.

East.
Police conducted a "centralized debriefing initiative" in the parking lot of Old Town Mall in East Baltimore.

Northeast.
On Lily Pound Court in Edgewood HarfCo, as an old man, a 9-year-old girl, a pot plant and two dogs were minding their own business, someone threw a firebomb through a window . The people were okay, the two dogs were killed, house was wrecked, don't know about the plant.

South And Elswehere.
The CSA will hear Kevin Clark's O'case.

The City got $500k from the federal government to put surveillance cameras in schools.

Bill and Martin at the rally! Bill ♥s some Ben Cardin, those two were all huggy and whatnot... but not so much as one picture of Bill with O'Malley! That could be just how the photo opp worked out ... but note M'O's placement on stage-- back left-- not where you place someone if your point is to show the world your hot sweaty love (right)!

O'M's talking opening a big drug treatment lockdown if elected, Ehrlich says he'll expand RESTART, which provides services to inmates.

Steven I. Platt, an associate judge on the PCG Circuit, wrote a smarty editorial for the Doily Wretched. <-sub. required

An important issue when we select our leaders in November is how they plan to ensure efficiency by insisting on responsibility and accountability in the criminal justice system ... The issue: whether Mayor O’Malley's policy of zero tolerance of "quality-of-life crimes" in Baltimore City is efficient and wise ... the governor and ... Judge William Murphy, contend that this policy... has resulted in "mass arrests" of individuals in the city ... Critics say a disproportionate percentage of those arrested are African-American or other minority citizens. Following their arrests, these individuals are either never formally charged or find the charges against them summarily dropped.

... this policy has resulted in a substantial reduction in crime in Baltimore City. However, as far as its critics are concerned, the reduction is not enough to justify the large percentage of arrests that are not followed by formal prosecution. There is no mention in any of the governor's ads about any positive effects of the policy, specifically the reduction of crime ... Conversely, the mayor's ads tout the reduction of crime without mentioning the downside of the policy -- the large number of arrests that are subsequently deemed to not be worthy of prosecution and, therefore, perhaps of dubious legality. ... [But] this debate can be developed into something more useful than a get-out-the-vote technique.

Zero tolerance is a law-enforcement strategy that seeks to reduce all crime by not tolerating any crime. It has worked in one form or another in New York, Boston and Philadelphia, as well as in Baltimore. In all those cities, the same criticisms have been made.

The policy is more controversial than it would be otherwise because this strategy is not shared by the Baltimore City state's attorney, who is independently elected and who, in the criminal justice system, has the final say over whether a person arrested will be prosecuted. The state's attorney and her assistants choose not to prosecute many of the people arrested for a variety of reasons, including a cost-benefit analysis. This cost-benefit analysis begins, and in many cases ends, with the fact that even though technically the case could be successfully prosecuted, it is not worth it because the arrest itself deters further criminal activity by the suspect, which is the only purpose for detaining the person even briefly.

The police know that, in many cases, the State's Attorney's Office will not prosecute individuals arrested for these minor crimes. That being the case, critics suggest that the mayor and police are violating the civil rights of certain citizens, ostensibly to make other citizens safer by preventing crime. The critics then question whether it should continue.

The question that the governor and Mr. Murphy do not answer in their political ad is: Are they willing to trade off the reduced crime rate and the improved quality of life that accompanies it to return crime to the levels that made the city more dangerous prior to Martin O'Malley becoming mayor? The governor should answer this question if he wants this policy to be an issue in this election.

This hammer, of course, should swing both ways. Does the mayor believe that arresting large numbers of minority citizens who are then not prosecuted is acceptable and appropriate because crime is deterred by this process? If so, is there a tipping point where these arrests become abusive? The mayor should answer this question if he wants the reduction in Baltimore's crime rate to be a reason to elect him governor.

Finally, we may want to ask the mayor, the governor and the state's attorney whether any of them think not having a joint law-enforcement strategy on this, as well as in other areas, is in the interest of the citizens of Baltimore and the state. Do they believe the criminal justice system can ever work efficiently if the law-enforcement strategy of the state's attorney is not coordinated with that of the police department? The answer logically must be, "Of course not!" If so, the next question must be: "Don't you think you have a responsibility to move beyond your electoral posturing to devise a coordinated strategy that will work for all of the people? Doesn't this political and other criticism visibly undermine public trust, confidence, and respect for law enforcement and the courts?”

The overriding principle of accountability in the criminal justice system is not confined to governors, mayors and state's attorneys.

Judges, too, should be willing to accept responsibility for their decisions and ... should acknowledge that media coverage and scrutiny, as well as proposals for judicial evaluations, are not threats to judicial independence.

... We are all, however, accountable for electing leaders who will work together to produce a law-enforcement system that is coordinated, efficient and economical. This principle should shape our debate. It has not done so to date.