The most recent female strangling victim (#107) was ID'd. "Friends" and police "departmental reports" (?) claim Brenda Hatfield, 45, had been selling certain skills on the open market. Her family denies it, though, and Hatfield has no drug or prostitution charges on her record.
Matthew Haarhoff, who allegedly helped his mom set her "boyfriend"'s body on fire, is now trying to make a new start.
The NYT has a criminal-justice series running, "American Exception," examining "commonplace aspects of the American justice system that are virtually unique in the world."
The "Baltimore Exception" would be whole other series,
featuring
"Abated by arrest"
gag orders for retiring police officers,
and, of course, a lady Mayor who's going to get indicted!
20 comments:
In the news, one fatal shooting and a strangulation identified.
And the Worrell family maintains 'we wuz done wrong'.
And one or more other shootings.
Cases like the Worrell one would not happen if BCPD would learn some self control and basic decency. However, after decades of failing to control crime and their endless excuses for such, they've rightfully lose the respect of the community.
Seriously, this is a police force that failed to catch your favorite criminal (Norris), lost control of housing projects two blocks away from it, and wastes valuable time spying on hippies and peaceniks because its officers lack the courage to their GED level jobs.
Hell, these guys cannot budget overtime properly.
I think I'll go down to the farmer's market for some tomatoes and to check out that rally! We get plenty of rallies but not usually at the farmer's market.
ncbUm, you who are so wise---if you wanna make an argument that the police need some self-control and basic decency, the Worrell case is probably not a good one. I mean, like, police were called to the house in the early morning hours, (who ya gonna call then, besides them?!), arrested one of the people beating and fighting with Worrell [causing the others to disperse]. {BTW, you wonder why they were beating him?}
Then, because they were so nasty evil people, the cops offered Worrell a ride somewhere else so he could be safe. But I was taught long ago not to put anybody in my car without checking for weapons. And the story went down from there.
I agree that there are some officers lacking in decency, but as Sergeant Joe Friday said, you gotta recruit from the human race.
Crime control, in a high crime, drug-infested city like Baltimore, cannot just be a police thing (just look at all the suspended sentences heavy-duty, deceptive, manipulative thugs get by naive, "compassionate" judges).
And, you don't seriously expect the police force to catch the police commissioner in wrongdoing, do you? {In any event, he was caught, prosecuted, publicly humiliated, housed with hardened criminals for a time, did his time, and is now earning a living and supporting his family and paying taxes.) Wise people perhaps would have compassion and feel that he's paid his debt to society for what he was convicted of.
I wonder how someone so wise would "control" high-rise housing projects in Baltimore? (There's always a limited budget, ya know.)
I agree wholeheartedly about this "spying" stuff. I volunteered to spy on the possible Bloods infiltration of the Block. (Buz likes to watch strippers!) MSP said I was too old, fat, and stupid. And their intelligence officer would get around to it anyway, when he was done with his report about the death penalty protest.
Courage? Hmmmmmm. You're right; I was a scaredy cat. When I went to work on midnight shift, I put on my body armor, kissed my wife "see ya in the morning", and went out with my troops and patrolled the mean streets--almost all of us by ourselves in our cars, with only the radio, and I was very careful. Lacking in courage at times was healthy. Being Rambo can get you hurt or killed or maimed. Just ask Gene Cassidy.
By the way, at the start of the budget year, the police department is, for some bureaucratic budgeting reason NEVER budgeted for proper overtime. I dunno why; ask Ed Gallagher.
Peace,
Buz ( barely made it out of high school and not so wise).
i am so wise,
Look up the Worrell family's court case history on MD Casesearch. They were evicted from two houses under the city's drug nuisance statute. They were arrested multiple times on drug and weapons charges dating back to 1992. A few months ago, several Worrell family members and their friends threatened some neighbors who were participating in our weekly Citizens on Patrol walk. They still loiter outside of their houses 24/7 making life miserable for the decent people who live on that block. There are several rehabbed houses for sale on this block, but it's pretty difficult to convince potential homebuyers to move there when the first thing they see is 20 thugs loitering in the street.
Bryant Worrell was not an innocent victim of the BCPD's lack of self control- he was a thug. The dumbass (oops, I mean mentally challenged person) would still be alive today if he hadn't pulled out a gun on the cop.
That's odd, no one at the farmer's market but farmers. and marketers
should someone tell Buz's wife that her fat old husband likes to watch strippers, or do you think she already knows?
She already knows, but I haven't done it for a while. I was just hoping to make some extra money volunteering for the State Police intelligence unit. In the interest of public safety, you know.
By the way, did you see how quickly the county police solved the Lake Roland shooting? Maybe they went further than high school. Or......I know, the city and county po-leece have intelligence officers monitoring the uncontrollable criminal activity on the Block already! Shucks!
Maybe I could volunteer to watch the demonstrations against the Keswick purchase of Baltimore Country Club property, or the widespread unleashed dog-walking at Lake Roland.
Some of the "American Exception" articles are pretty interesting. I wasn't aware that pretty much every other common law country in the world had gotten rid of the felony murder rule. It's also pretty interesting to see how other countries are less strict about suppressing evidence. That's something the US should definitely do differently, way too many criminals are let go because of minor errors by the police (see Leander Blake as a fine example, although that injustice was eventually righted.)
The article about how so-called "hate speech" is being restricted more and more in Europe is also scary, and makes me grateful that free speech is so strongly protected in the US. Muslim fundies are slowly taking over Europe, and what do they do? They restrict people's right to criticize Islam. Unbelievable.
Also left this on the Examiner site:
Go to the unit block of South Robinson right now. They are still dealing from that house even after the shooting. It is just a matter of time before they are booted from there and end up trashing another block. The hard working people of Highlandtown are keeping an eye on them as well as the dealers they work with in the 100 block of South Bouldin and 3300 block of East Lombard. We aren't scared anymore and the good folks of the BPD are making sure we have backup. Good riddance to the Worrells.
You guys rolled around in Crown Vics, with body armor, and a full complement of weapons and a rather liberal leeway when it comes to using them. Yeah, you're real brave. And let us not forget the back up, the fat salaries, and the limited need for results.
As for Norris, he is just an unrepentant criminal who blames everyone but himself for his illegal behavior. He, and some of the readers here, need to accept that O'Malley didn't make him break the law, that City Hall didn't make him break the law, but Ed Norris, for his personal gain, broke the law.
And yes, I sort of expect that police police themselves. Given that police are traditionally hostile to their internal affairs units, it seems they dislike supervision and discipline.
Fat salaries? Baltimore PD? Ha! Ignorant jackass...
By the way, did you ever read the Citypaper's series of articles on Ed Norris? They're a very lefty publication, and not the sorts of people who'd give a crooked cop a pass, and they definitely made it seem like Norris got shafted.
Why did the federal prosecuter of Norris get fired? Felonious prosecutions....
Go on supporting that malignant dwarf, O'Malley. The only effing governor who raised EVERY one of our taxes with no budget.
Mel:
What does supporting O'Malley have to do with Ed Norris's prosecution? The US Attorney who went after him was a Bush appointee.
ppatin, city police officers make $41,058 to $66,527 with an additional $10,000 worth of benefits for a job that requires a mere GED.
Seriously, police work is so easy that you can flunk out of the Baltimore City school system, go pass a single test, and still be smart enough to patrol the streets of Baltimore.
As for Norris, I read the "stories" which were more like uncritical Norris whinefests. Geez, if he had so much difficulty in recalling why he was in trouble, all the had to do is Statement of Facts he pled guilty to. Or City Paper could have done their jobs and referred him to it.
Wow, the county really did solve that wacky park shooting with some lightening speed, didn't they?
... though I still haven't heard the backstory. What were two ladies doing in the woods in the dark before dawn?
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