Your comment: "arguably, the two people ultimately responsible for rectifying Baltimore’s high crime rate." reveals the misguided nature of your quest. People like you and others always think that a police action sits on top of any crime reduction concept. The truth is the ultimate people responsible for rectifying baltimore's high crime rate is either the mother or the father of the people committing crime in the largest numbers. You, and others, dance all around this fact. Blaming the police. This community group., That community group. Everybody can have a significant piece of the article except the one(s) that matter. Why don't you do an article on how the parents actually transmits good morals, high ethics, responsibilities and character to their offspring? Right.

You missed another group who you need to talk to...

The doctors and nurses of the Emergency Departments around the city. Why don't you go interview the folks at Shock Trauma, Hopkins, Bon Secour, Maryland General, etc. who deal with this stuff on a daily basis.

They see the casualties first hand every day - the drug overdoses, the GSW, the stab wounds. They bring them back to life, patch them up, send them out, only for them to show up again.

I'm sure that might be a bit different than your hospital system in England.

I understand what you are saying..to a point. However the blame does not rest on the mayor or the police. They can not control what someone else is doing out in the streets. The parents have the responsibility to make sure that thier kids "act like they know better" while they are out. The adults that commit crimes just plain know better. Now to what you said about "The Wire". You can call it negativity to the city, it is just how things played out in the life of Baltimore city people...not all of them though. It is a very good show. You would understand more if you had to live through it. The show basically went through almost every situation that has happened to someone living in the inner city of Baltimore. You want to get to the grind of a lot more information, go to the hospitals and talk to the staff to get the real deal, go to the prisons and talk to the inmates. Talk to the people who lived through the times that are depicted in "The Wire". They will give it like it is...real and true!

the alcohol industry was no different than what activity we see today with other substances on the black market. This is what a market looks like without a public forum to settle disputes. Without a forum, War is the only means left to settle disputes.

You can't fix the problems a black market creates, without first normalizing and legitimizing the trade in question.

Arguably, the USA is better off as a society having now legalized and regulated the alcohol industry. As unfavorable as many black market activites may be, the benefits of tollerance far outweighs the benefits of prohibition. Tolerance leads to accountability.

Isn't that what everyone is craving in politics these days? There's no Accountability in Prohibition!

Mark,

First, as someone who can trace his roots in the Mobtown, AKA, Baltimore, PLEASE accept my sincere apology for the rude and disrespectful treatment you have suffered at the hands of Madam, Mayor Sheila Dixon and her police commission, who serves at her pleasure. ( He might want to meet with you, if it were his choice.)

Unfortunately, unlike the police commissioner of London, our officials shy away from real interviews with real reporters. My God, man, they can hardly handle a photo op!

Please, thank the civilized people of Great Britain for teaching some of our so-called public officials the basics of polite society, which I fear our brutes will never learn.

Finally, you did not lose much by not begin able to interview them, they would only give you talking points that really wouldn't match your questions anyway.

HERE'S A TIP:

Want they to talk to you? Carefully check out inconsistencies in police statistics that some say are massaged on a regular basis.

Better yet, delve into our Mayor's indictment and see how Mobtown's politics really work.

If you raise enough questions in your article, lo and behold the queen of Baltimore may actually grant you an audience.

Best of luck, and please do judge the rest of us based on the disgraceful treatment Ms. Dixon and company are giving you.

Less God = More laws. Many have worked long and hard to remove God from our society. The outcome: Far too many folks feel that breaking laws is alright as long as you don't get caught. There is little downside to criminal behavior. The disadvantage of believing in God is that He is Omnipresent...the law keepers are not. What have we done to ourselves? :(

The only persons to blame are the men and women who sit on they juries that hear these cases. I have seen many times when someone is arrested for a shooting, gives a statement admitting to the shooting, and still a jury will find him not guilty because they do not want the responsibilty of convicting someone. The police do their jobs, most of the states attorneys do their job but the final decision rests with a jury or a judge. This city has been declining for over 20 years since I have come to work here. The criminals are more younger and more dangerous now. Unfortunately when they are under the age of 18 they must be tried as juveniles and nothing is done to them in juvenile court. The parents know what must of them are dong but they do not discipline them, but many protect them once they are arrested. Fighting crime in Baltimore is a losing battle!

The real cause of Baltimore's high crime rate is World War II. Baltimore expanded beyond its capacity in the years immediately before and during WWII in order to create steel and ships for the European war. The expansion of Baltimore's industrial capacity required lots of brute force. Most of the imported industrial workforce came from the South or from the mountains of Pa.

The laborers stayed here after the jobs left. Their children and grandchildren are the folks who are clogging the criminal justice system. They have been adrift in the economy for decades. No one bothered to train them for the post-industrial era.

After the parents and the community, the cops on the street are the ones with the second most power to change the crime rate, but ultimately the person most responsible for the mess we are in is Patricia Jessamy. Everything is about her ego and her petty feuds, so no matter how many arrests are made, they are all back on the street in minutes. The "joke" is no joke - a criminal has a better chance of being shot in Baltimore than in being successfully prosecuted and incarcerated.

Okay, people need to stop looking for someone to blame because there is no one person responsible for crime. Patricia Jessamy? What does she have to do with crime? There is only one way to significantly reduce crime. History tells you that you have to legalize drugs. The mobsters we watch movies about were killing each other like crazy over alcohol and territory just like the drug dealers do now. Arrests and stricter laws had no effect because there was too much money involved so people took their chances. Once alcohol was legalized again, did you still have the same amount of crime? Of course not. The problem is that nobody wants to be the politician who says drugs should be legalized. They know that's the solution but it's not the popular thing to say which means they won't get votes.

And please don't use the ridiculous argument that legalization will lead to more people using drugs. That is so ridiculous! If they were legal, would you start smoking crack? No. The reason people don't do drugs is not because they're illegal. It's because they know what effect it has on you.

I was pleased to learn that this whole exchange was transpiring.Many times baltimore is portrayed as many things by people whom have never stepped foot on these grounds.Yes crime is bad hereand drugs are a major factor.I should know I grew up in east baltimore and have lost freinds to the streets.i have seen very horrible things happen to people.Not all were bad .Some just a product of their enviroment.But every city has a tale to tell,im just glad we got a chance to tell ours.Our crime has been a problem for years and will probably always be.no fingers should be pointed in one direction,but the soulless politicans need to remember.....we all started out as humans first.

Mark - perhaps you should look into the fact our mayor is a criminal herself, she is too busy standing trial right now to talk to you

It is unfortunate that our Mayor and Commissioner were not "available" to speak with you during this visit. Nonetheless, I am sure you heard and witnessed sufficient evidence that our city is fighting a drug war and failing miserably. Speaking to the top cop and Dixon wasn't necessary; you got the real deal from the people on the street - our residents (on both sides of the law) and the police that protect us and enforce the present laws. As printed in your article, the stats speak for themselves. The continuation of the prohibition of drugs will suffocate the overall growth and improvement of Baltimore. Without the underworld economy running the streets, homes, and lives, societal issues could actually be addressed directly. I am forever hopeful.

I hope your visit was enjoyable and informative. Please don't forget to sent Justin home. :-)

Baltimore's troubled youth are part of a self perpetuating cycle of poverty. Young girls find themselves pregnant in their teen and grandmothers by the time they are in their mid-twenties. They lack the education and money to help their children further themselves. The break down begins at home and is exacerbated in a school system that spends more money on Administration than pupils. Billions of dollars have flowed into this education system over the past two decades. This is not a money issue. This is an accountability issue. #1 parents, #2 School administrators, # 3 teachers, and the students themselves.
Break this cycle of poverty and lack of educational urgency and you have one answers to the many problems facing Baltimore. When our education system becomes more about the 3r's and less about psychology then you may have another answer. When we stop thinking that a computer is going to teach an inner-city child better than a lecture you will have another answer. When our education administrators stop 'dumbing down' test scores and teaching the students then you'll have another answer. This is a billion dollar conundrum and industry in which many people make a lot of money. Police, lawyers, teachers, dealers, prison guards and judges. It's the kids who are being set up for failure over the carcass of social ills.