Gears Ground

George Vonn King Jr.

Wat. Nineteen-year-old George Vonn King Jr. was Tased five times, sedated. City prosecutors determine he died of "natural causes."* If only there was some way to record interactions between police and citizens...

So, apparently in spite of whatever lip service they've offered up in the past SRB and Batts are fighting police cameras tooth and nail, arguing that the city council doesn't have the authority to force them on the police department. Admin's lawyer: "you can argue all you want." Meanwhile I got a long message from a purported cop about this--

"listen i know we have bad cops out there. I want them gone just as much as the next. i was born and raised in this city and a cop myself. cameras on cops will not fix the problem in this city. cameras are going to make the good cops like myself a robot for many reasons. just because a camera is on it will not change a cop who has a bad adjective. He will just find other ways to get the job done." 

Oh, okay, so retail stores, banks, etc. shouldn't be able to train cameras on the till even if $5.7 million goes missing, because the "bad" employees will just figure out another way to steal? If cameras are such an outrage, where was the mayor's office as we all became subject to license-plate scanning technology, when our tax money was frittered away on hundreds of (apparently worthless) surveillance cameras all over the city, and that time we all became test subjects for military drones? Also total bullshit: the claim that it'll cost $7 million to equip the city's 2000-something officers with cameras-- that's about 10 times more than the companies that make the cameras claim they cost, 10 times more than other jurisdictions claim to pay. And even if cameras do cost $7 million, so what? That's sofa-cushion change compared to the largesse this administration has ladled out to developers (eg. $393 million for Harbor Point*), a veritable Starbucks tip compared to the ridiculous overtime costs and other hinky business police stick us with.

In East Baltimore, a "torture house." The Sun has helpfully included a selection of Tweets if you want to share this information with your "social networks."

Ps. If you missed the 10+-something hours of Frank M. Conaway Jr. rambling on like a lunatic before he took them down,* a helpful citizen set up a mirror site.

Black, silver and green at JHU

A man was stabbed to death at around 5 a.m. this morning in the 200 block of W. Lombard,* right downtown

It's that time of the year again-- move-in day yesterday at JHU and four female students were robbed* flagrantly on the east side of the 3500 block of N. Charles Street near Greenway at 11:41 p.m. by two pistol-wielding small black males with black bandanas with a silver gun who took the girls' stuff and drove off going the wrong way on Greenway in a small black car.
    You gotta love that the first thing JHU has to say about the incident is that it's Off-Campus, even though it was literally in their front yard. Don't worry, parents, of course the school paid 1/1,000th of a year's tuition to put a security camera there, because they care about the community! I'm sure they'll release pictures of the perps any minute. ... So is this a new bunch of roving robbing hooligans in North Baltimore, or are some of the five arrested the other week* out already? Hrm..

A man selling stuff on Craigslist was pistol-whipped and robbed across the street from the University of Baltimore on W. Biddle*

In the county an officer was killed whilst serving a warrant in Catonsville.*

Men in reflective vests claiming to be from BGE and asking to check an old lady's water stole her jewelry instead in Pikesville.

A woman from Annapolis was found dead from huffing paint in Florida

Happy surprise drug test day

Two shootings Saturday night.

Trial is scheduled to start today for Quinton Bass, the man accused of murdering Alex Ulrich in Mt. Vernon.

Whoa, man. Apparently 6,005 people were arrested on marijuana charges last year,* which is, incredibly, the lowest number since 2008. Of those, the majority had less than two teaspoons of pot, and 93 percent of arrestees were black.

by Fenton

Here's the full story on Friday's dirt bike and puppy seizures*

Harry Davis, 22, was convicted on 2nd-degree murder charges. "Davis approached four young men sitting on the porch of a home in the 500 block of East Lynn Avenue and asked if they wanted to join his gang. When they declined, Davis laughed at them and said, "I'm gonna rob ya'll." Several hours later, he returned, pulled out a shotgun, and started shooting at them. He struck two of the young men. Stray bullets also hit a woman who happened to be exiting a neighboring home with her husband at time. She suffered eight gunshot wounds and died from her injuries."

Deeply Creepy Music Teacher
Lawrence Joynes, 54

Remember that deeply creepy MoCo music teacher with child porn on his computer? Apparently some of the videos were actually made in his classroom, and parents are understandably freaking out wondering where the images of their children have wound up. Also, he had the name of one of his students tattooed on his shoulder.

Raven Rolando McClain was arrested for disorderly conduct in Alabama.

Ever since it burned down and was re-opened, the Towson CVP has been a hotbed of nefarious activity. There was that shooting last December, and then a guy was stabbed and two guys were arrested Saturday night/Sunday morning. UPDATE: stabbed guy was ID'd as Ryan Scholthauer, a former U of MD football player, and the fight was over some girl's honor.*

Colin Wolf, 19, was arrested for killing his two-year-old neice in HarfCo, and a 50-year-old man was murdered in Edgewood

Media blabber: sounds like the Koch Bros are pretty serious about buying the Tribune Co. (NYT link)

Never mind that the Feds already monitor everyone's email and millions of people's cell phone activity, yet no one noticed one of the Boston bombers posting YouTube videos re. jihad, or that ubiquitous cameras did catch the bombers-- the "national security" lobby is using the Boston tragedy to push for even more surveillance. 

Brightness falls

BPD photo

Surveillance pictures show the killers of 16-year-old Daniel Pearson* swaggering across the 2700 block of Greenmount Avenue on November 20, guns in position.

Thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty-three bucks  per camera those picturemakers cost us,* and this is what the images look like? How could anyone solve anything from a picture like that? Officials claim cameras solved 1,236 crimes last year.. somehow. So that's $20.7 million spent on the camera hardware, plus $1.4 million a year to run them, about $8 million spent last year, or $6,526 per crime solved. A good deal?

Cham Green

You can tell its the holidays. Fatal female stabbing on 200 Atholgate(southwest, somewhere in a big bunch of public housing units off of Fred Ave near city line).

Also, missing from Carroll County, says the Internet, 15-year-old Kenzie DiGiacomantonio, see below.

And

Baltimore County Breaking News

Ok folks. Just so people can stop commenting with it on so many posts...

We are well aware of multiple threats at multiple schools in Baltimore County. After speaking with a source within the Baltimore County Police they do not believe that ANY of these threats are credible. There will be extra police presence at selected schools which will not be named just as a precautionary measure. We will make sure to inform you IF any situation does occur. (02)