Would You Stop?

Tevin, Traqwan

Sometimes ye olde Stop n' Frisk is used correctly: two 19-year-olds, Tevin Graham and Traqwan Pipkins, were apprehended avec handgun following a robbery* in Belair-Edison.
Prior to these two, the police have only communicated one other arrest since last Thursday. Have they not arrested anyone since last Thursday, or are these guys being singled out?

And while the Tavon White impregnations were something, there is the hint of even worse jail scandals in the wind: O'Malley has announced that most highly esteemed bwana and jefe of the jails, Gary "I will be hitting the ball with great intensity" Maynard, has "stepped down." Entirely voluntarily, we're sure. To spend time with his family. Coincidentally, the legislature is to issue recommendations for reform of the Detention Center tomorrow,* and the WaPo has gotten its paws on said recommendations. To make a long story short, they involve reducing the entire jail to rubble.
   TIL the jail in Baltimore is the only jail run by the state, which I vaguely remember is due to some sort of federal do-it-yourself-or-I-will-do-it-for-you-and-cut-off-your-allowance order based on a previous series of fuckups, but I am too tired to Google that right now.

Maynard joining non-profit Criminal Justice Institute; Gregg Hershberger, deputy sec for operations for DPSCS, will take over...
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) December 10, 2013

Tyrone West

Prosecutors claim that Tyrone West's death in custody on July 18 was due to “cardiac arrhythmia due to cardiac conduction system abnormality complicated by dehydration during police restraint.”* A related protest is scheduled for tomorrow at 5* at City Hall.

And surely totally completely unrelated to the in-custody deaths of Anthony Anderson and Tyrone West, which were most assuredly handled in superlatively lawful and appropriate ways, the BPD has announced it will change the way it deals with in-custody deaths. “Our focus and our goal is to be transparent, whether we do things well or whether we don’t do things well,” said Commissioner Anthony Batts.  So starting tomorrow requests for public information will no longer delayed for years and cost a thousand million dollars, right?  Even the FOP is calling BS on this unrestrained fart-in-your-face of a claim:

1. Baltimore City FOP ‏@FOP36h

   @BaltimorePolice You claim to be open & transparent. So why a secret commission? And who was even interviewed? Glad you have faith in us.

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2. Baltimore City FOP ‏@FOP37h

   @BaltimorePolice Your own detectives completed their criminal investigation. The SAO and OCME completed theirs as well. Why a commission?

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3. Baltimore City FOP ‏@FOP37h

   @BalimorePolice So how much death investigation experience do your so called "experts" on the Anderson commission have? @MayorSRB

... and let's not let the quick and painful deaths of a few distract us from the slow, painful deaths of many: the owner of the delicious and expensive Black Olive restaurant is skeptical of the Harbor Point developers' assurances of safety. "If there is a need to stop the project because [chromium] levels are so high they are dangerous, would you stop?"

Nascent socialist David Simon will be hosting a $50-a-head signing of his cookbook TREME: Stores and Recipes from The Heart of New Orleans at Johnny's restaurant in Roland Park this Sunday at 2.