Everyday Creepers

Oh, Batts. He has stepped in it again, this time asserting to Jayne Miller that while murders and shootings are up, crime is down for "everyday citizens."* Whatever might he mean by that?

"It's very localized and unfortunately, it's with African American men who are involved in the drug trade and 80 to 85 percent of the victims are involved in the drug trade going back and forth." 

Well. Not only is this offensive as the dickens on many levels, as Fenton points out it's not even factually correct. According to the police's own information, in only 3 of last year's homicides listed something drug-related as the motivation, and furthermore, larcenies, car thefts and street robberies are actually up. The only categories that are down are carjackings, burglaries and rapes (a number that, as we all know too well, could easily be attributed to a refusal to take reports). So disturbing was this the Sun editorial board put in their dentures and gently opined* that his attitude kind of sucks.
     What would have been more honest, and true, as the CP points out, would be to say that as much as the police may try, it's not always a police problem. Sometimes it's a jury problem, sometimes a prosecutor problem, and at its heart it's an anger-management problem. And even if the victims are not Everyday People and some kind of 3/5ths people, we've got to live together! Batts needs to take us higher! And now he's got that song stuck in my head all day. Thanks Batts. And it sounds like it's Code Elmo for his job:

WBAL's Jayne Miller asked Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake if Batts' job was secure.
"He should feel the same way any person that is part of my administration does, and that is just as I am called to show up and perform every day with no guarantees, that's the same way," Rawlings-Blake said. "Everybody should have a little bit of anxiety. I know I do."

Anyway, for those keeping score at home, the city saw 235 homicides in 2013. In 2012 we had 217, in 2011 we had 197(!),
2010 = 223
2009 = 237;
2008 was 234;
2007 was 291;
2006 was 274; 
2005 was 269. 
One good thing about last year: fewer juveniles killed than usual,* with only 3  11 kids under the age of 18, though the first homicide of 2013 was a baby. The average age of the victims was 31, and 95 percent of the victims were black.

The first two homicides of 2014 were a father and son,* identified as Frank Turner, 48, and Anthony Turner, 21. There were five shootings on New Year's Eve.

Rapist guy

Bad news, everyday citizens: a sexual assailant/rapist is on the loose and has attacked four women in their homes.

One Paul "Paulie" Eugene Sessomes, owner of a swank condo at 414 Water Street, was revealed by the DEA to be a trusted contact of Colombian drug dealers.  Also, there are DEA agents who still don't know the diff between Columbia and Colombia.

CP: "After a prolonged and Herculean effort to claim the government unconstitutionally monitored his movements to build its drug case against him, Richard Anthony “Richie Rich” Wilford yesterday was found guilty of cocaine-conspiracy charges by a federal jury."

Another body pulled out of the Inner Harbor.

Brown

Alleged awful mother Alicia Denice Brown, 24, is accused of locking her 4-year-old in a freezing car for eight hours to go gamble at the Maryland Live! casino on New Year's Eve.

Attorney Isaac Neuberger, 66, has been accused of groping a waiter at a urinal. Assault, or manly advice taken the wrong way?

Cash in your old cell phones now-- mall managers at the Pale Swamp are removing kiosks.*

Apparently undaunted by Joe Vallario trapping his previous pot-decriminalization bill in committee, Jamie Raskin and Kurt Anderson is bringing their bill back next year. They estimate that legalizing it could earn the state as much as $100 million in tax bucks.

The two Justins are doing a Q&A tomorrow at noon, you can submit questions now if you'd like.*

In happier news, 2013 was the safest year for police officers since 1887.

Not crime, but big news: there's a new fire chief in town, name of Niles Ford. He's a former city manager from Chamblee, Georgia, population 9,800, a job he was fired (heh!) from. Prior to that he was the fire chief of Lincoln, Nebraska. I guess no one in Baltimore was qualified?

Over in Salisbury, accusations of "extreme hazing"*