Allan Kaufman from Owings Mills wrote me this email raising some good questions about Michael D. Sydnor, who is charged with breaking into two cars in a downtown parking garage and has a long criminal record:

In your article "If a car's near, break-in artist is on the job,"
you describe one particular serial criminal who has been arrested
101 times and convicted more than 30 times, Michael D. Sydnor.
This guy keeps getting caught and convicted, so how come he keeps
getting out without doing hard time for a long time? Why did you not
ask that question and find out why the authorities in Baltimore City
keep letting this bad guy out on the street?  Isn't anybody in charge?
Isn't anybody accountable to the citizens of Baltimore and the surrounding
areas who come into the city? This is why I tell my wife I do not
like to go downtown to Baltimore City.  It is not safe for me and my
family nor my property.

I haven't had a chance to study Mr. Sydnor's complete criminal record, but a look at some of his recent cases does partially answer this question. He was convicted of theft for breaking into a car in 2007 and sentenced to 18 months in prison. He served his full time (he got out earlier for earning credits) and then served another 18-month sentence for being disorderly.

The reader asked why he keeps getting out. In this case, both getting and serving a maximum sentence for what typically is considered a minor charge, even in the suburbs, is rare. He got this harsh penalty because of his background.

But I agree more could be done.

Previous posters have noted that the cops usually respond to thefts from cars to write a report for the insurance company and don't do complete investigations, such as dusting for fingerprints (crime lab technicians are usually called out to burglaries and other such crimes) and that hampers their ability to put these guys away for long sentences. What typically happens is they arrest one guy caught in the act, he pleads to the one case in exchange for confessing to dozens of others that prosecutors couldn't possibly convict him on anyway. It allows police to clear their books and get an understanding of who on the street is doing what. It's valuable intelligence, but doesn't result in much jail time or satisfaction for the victims.