I enjoy reading the work of Mark Hughes. He states details that are often forgotten. I like his style.

So glad you're "keen to see crime in Baltimore." How keen were you to see Mr Taylor dying in that car? Go home and stop exploiting our city.

Great article, I think you two should do this more. It gives us a better insight on what really happens out there.

A homicide and a drug bust are only prelude to the "intense action"; welcome to Baltimore, Mark.

Oh, and be sure you expense a couple of Faidley crab cakes back to the Independent. Sounds like you earned them last night.

Mark, I know you're here to see our city, warts and all, but your comment that you're "keen to see crime in Baltimore" really struck me as callous and insensitive. This isn't a TV show. It's real life. I suspect you saw just how real it was last night on your ride-along. And I'm sad to see that you are focusing entirely on the dark side of our city, as I suspected you might but hoped you wouldn't. You are not giving your readers back in the UK the whole truth, and that's too bad.

Recently it has become vogue to compare the U.S. with Europe - from healthcare, crime, geopolitics etc..

While some in our culture use these to expoit the problems, the same do not seem to state the differences. In Europe the wealthy live downtown, they invested a lot into mass transit, thier history is diffent and have less diversity (in fact they are losing population). They also have not stepped up when it comes to military efforts, they depend on us. They restrict private ownsership of guns. They don't allow malpractice lawsuits, and do not prevent the elderly and terminsally ill to die. There are a ton of differences that should be noted, but usually are not. Tiawan has the lowest healthcare costs, Singapore the lowest crime rate... Why not study them? What you would find is that they do not let trial lawyers rule the legislative branch, and they imediately and publically punish. We have none of these in place - for good or bad. We used to celebrate our freedoms and were celebrated for them.

"You can judge a nations health by the state of its urban core."

I think Mr. Hughes's "keen to see crime in Baltimore" remark may have been misinterpreted by a few people here.

First, it seems to me that it's perfectly natural for a crime reporter to want to see crime in order to be able to report about it and, hopefully, spread the word that it's occurring. One should always be interested in being an agent of change however one knows how.

Second, "keen to see crime" in this case appears to be equivalent to "WANT to see crime," which, in the appropriate context, does not seem ghoulish or callous.

Tabloid journalism at best.

"during the short time I have spent in the Baltimore, I have never once felt in any more danger than I do when walking the streets of London or any other large city"

Hey Mark, get out of the police cruiser, wait untill they leave, then call us back and let us know how you feel

You got to see the rot beneath the skin of Charm City. Is it any wonder why this once-great city lost so much of its tax-paying population over the past several decades. Our politicians let it happen.

Mark, I have enjoyed your articles. Keep up the good work.

From the little I have seen of the Wire, I think that it unfortunately shows Baltimore pretty truthfully.

Jim and Anonymous 2 - do you guys even live in the city?

I can assure you - while "bad stuff" happens - there are also plenty of places where crime and violence are not everyday occurrences and the sense of community is alive and well.

Mark, after your Cop Walk tonight in Patterson Park, stop by Three for Burger Night and talk to the people hanging around. Don't know what kinda stories you'll get - but it'll be more of the way locals feel about crime who are not necessarily as engaged as the Cop Walkers..... Pity it isn't earlier in the fall and you could see everyone eating at the tables outside, but I think it might be a little cold for that now....

N. - Yes, I have lived downtown near Camden Yards for about 2.5 years.

While there are a few nice places in Baltimore, the unfortunate thing about downtown Baltimore is that it goes from bad to worse depending on where you are walking around.

True, I'm not really afraid of getting murdered, but when you have gangs of kids beating up random people like happened several times over the Summer and shootings at the Inner Harbor, it's hard to feel safe after dark.

Guys,
Appreciate all of the comments. Just want to clear up the "keen to see crime" comment.
Some of you feel it sounds a bit callous and, upon reflection, perhaps you are right.
However I would like to clarify that what I meant was that I am keen to get out and see the city, crime and all, rather than sit in an office and write about it. That's why I'm here and not writing bad things about Baltimore from my office in London.

As a city resident who enjoys living in Baltimore, I find myself disappointed that you are focusing solely on violent crime. I understand why you are doing so, but it does not give a complete description of our city. The truth is that most violent crime, especially our murder numbers, happens between about 2,000 members of our population. What about the other 638,000 of us. The numbers are disturbing, and believe me, I wish we could go even just one month without a murder, but I plead you to place them in the correct context - if you are not involved in a gang or the drug trade, life is fairly peaceful and friendly in Baltimore.

Frankly I find the whole concept of this project to be more than a little disgusting. "The Wire" was a television show. A great television show, but a work of fiction nonetheless. I'm not saying that anything in "The Wire" is inaccurate, but as David Simon himself has said, it's not a complete picture of Baltimore. In an article in one of your own papers (I believe it was the Guardian) he stated that he meant the show as a wake up call to Americans--to show the other side of America which usually isn't represented on television. In other words, it was intended for domestic consumption. But now the first questions I am asked when I meet any European, and tell him or her that I am from Baltimore are, "isn't it dangerous? Isn't it like on 'the Wire.'" I live in a thriving neighborhood in which I feel as safe as I have anywhere in the world. The point is, if you come here looking for things that seem ripped right out of "the Wire," you'll certainly find them. But you will be perpetuating an image of Baltimore which is false insomuch as a grossly incomplete portrait can never be deemed accurate. So far it seems you have only reported on one supposedly positive story, and that was about a community patrolling to keep crime at bay...That does nothing but add to the image of a people under siege (which certainly isn't true of the people of Riverside). Baltimore has grave problems, but they are only part of the story. And even if you are intent on covering the city's ills, you would do well to focus on things Simon didn't already cover in greater depth. I would suggest taking a ride fifty miles south on 95 if you want to uncover the real source of most of Baltimore's problems. Make no mistake, almost all the stories about crime, are in reality stories about jobs, and politicians of both parties have been selling us down the river for over fifty years.

Did someone from Three just plug their restaurant while discussing murder in Baltiomore?

Keen to whatever, I don't care. If you actually want to see this city, put your little notebook away and leave the 5-0 behind. Start walking, go east, go west. Meet the people on the steps, the kids on the corner. Then write your little stories. At that point you might know something.

Mark, welcome to our city. It is a place of many wonderful people and beautiful things. We're just fighting a failed drug war. Don't mind us. Write what you experience.

Patterson Park Cop Walk? Are you freakin' kidding?!? Mark, ditch the minders leading you around the city - and find youself a good corner guy, hint -somebody not white, and have him tell you what's up in Baltimore.

"I have to say that, during the short time I have spent in the Baltimore, I have never once felt in any more danger than I do when walking the streets of London or any other large city."

I'm afraid this comment has more civility to it than nous. I've been in riots in London that felt safer than parts of Baltimore in daytime.
The plain fact is that London is reasonably (and no more than reasonably) successful at containing crime. Baltimore isn't. Hundreds of Baltimoreans die violently every year. Many thousands more are dissuaded from living or working in the city, permanently depressing its economy. This is a tragedy and a failure. False equivalence, and talk about crab cakes and neighborhood restaurants, can't mask it.

An interesting idea to compare cities and news stories, however, I think it would have been a good idea to compare similar sized cities, maybe Baltimore with Manchester England, which is thought to have the highest number of gun related crimes in the UK per head of population.

Enough: You are in a churlish, inhospitable mood towards our visitor. I like to think that we Baltimoreans are much more civil and friendly to our guests. Shame on you.

The British reporter is only doing his duty and Baltimore gets some great publicity out of it over in the UK.

Lighten up on his use of the word "keen", people. He's not using it in the way you're interpreting it.

Remember, he's a visitor from London. He doesn't speak English.

Stick around, the Mayor was indicted by a Grand Jury on 12 counts. Her trial begins November 9th. Having lived in the UK for a year, I am very interested in your interpretation of our city. Your focus thus far is spot on. Don't listen to the sensitive posters, they're the ones who'd rather look the other way.

No, Pete J, the commenter is a resident of Patterson Park, not the owner of Three. How do I know? Three no longer offers the Burger Night special on COP walk night. They hired a new chef- I guess he didn't like the idea.

What is it with the suggestions that he ditch the cops and "meet the real people" in these neighborhoods by himself? Sounds like a good way to get a perfectly good reporter killed.

The economy is causing the city to go even more nuts than usual. Turning a blind eye to that is just stupid.

And yes, I live in the city (Mt. Vernon). I walk and bus it everywhere....the sidewalks are a lot more dangerous than they were 8 months ago and I don't care what neighborhood you're talking about.

Hang in there Mark. your doing great! Excellent reporting. Love your style!

mr. taylor is my cousin your article is right about the city... really dont think u should have put lee name in there though....

Read this story.

This is what happens to strays in Baltimore - I was kidding about walking the streets alone Mark. You'll need several armed police officers at all times.

For all those who see this as tabloid journalism: truth hurts. As someone rooted in this city for many years, and whose job takes me to all walks of life, I see projects like this as enlightening to the rest of the world. Like it or not, he is describing Baltimore as seen from an outsider. Is it a completely accurate picture in terms of what you & I know? Of course not. But it is a perspective we don't often get to hear. For that reason alone, we should absorb his commentary & reflect on it as a new perspective. To Mr. Hughes: Keep up the good work.

thanks for coming to baltimore and shining a light into the dark corners of the city. we need more of this so that the roaches operating in those corners get the heck out of town.

Two factors are responsible for the high incidence of inner city crime in the US. Number one is our "War on Drugs", fittingly once described by president Obama as "A civil war directed against black people". The second is an "honor culture" among inner-city males, which leads them to fight duels with each other. Both are missing or much less significant in the UK.

Still, we free range Americans are and always have been more violent than the Brits, internally a singularly peaceful folk. The germinal tome "Against All Odds" notes that 17th century London had a dozen or so murders a year. while Paris typically had one a day.

I am a Brit who has lived in Baltimore City for a number of years, and Manchester in the UK for many more before that, and I think there is real value in this reporting. Mr. Hughes' enthusiasm may upset some - but objecting to his professional interest in Baltimore City is an exercise in denial. Obviously, Baltimore has much to offer - including many, many fantastic residents and organizations that are a credit to themselves and the wider USA, but compaining that Mr. Hughes, a crime correspondent, is doing a diservice to the city by failing to mention its merits (or in this case the things that merely make it more normal and therefore like any other western city) is just another way diverting the conversation away from the key issue: for some reason, Baltimore is one of a handful of American cities disproportionately affected by violent crime and murder. I hope that by expanding open discussion of our city's problems to other people on other shores there is a chance that Mr. Hughes might, even inadvertently, expose us all to additional insight and solutions for Baltimore, and just as importantly allow others to more critically assess our problems and learn from them.