It's hard not feel a little snark at Bealefield for having gone on such an aggressive campaign in recent weeks to spin the FBI crime statistics.

For as much sympathy and respect one has to afford the beleaguered BPD, it's worthy of concern when the chief gives the impression that he's more concerned with PR than addressing the serious problems the city faces.

In his defense, one of his essential points rings true; that the failures lie in many places, from the mayor's office, to the decrepit school system, right on down to the community.

But leave it to our municpal government to take credit for a drop in overall crime -- not only premature, but one that lacks critical analysis of data.

he statistics can be very misleading, indeed. I believe these latest FBI stats only measure murders within city limits, not the surrounding areas.

St. Louis always gets a bad rap when it comes to the number of murders per capita, but consider this: St. Louis encompasses only about 60 square miles. Contrast that with Houston, for example, which has nearly 600 square miles. If you included the surrounding areas of St. Louis just beyond the city limits but which many observers might consider to be part of "the city", the rate would be more middle-of-the-pack.

Just wanted to point out that the statistics must be taken in their proper context.

...and not just solving murders, but ALL violent crimes. Just because someone wasn't killed the last time, or it was a dog set on fire instead of a person, doesn't mean it won't be a murder the next time. Just like marijuana can be considered a gateway drug, the case can be made that violent crime against people and animals is a precursor to murder.

I believe the stats are based on murders per 100,000 residents, not the square miles of an area.
The numbers in Baltimore are high and unacceptable no matter how they are reported.
More police and more patrols will not alone solve the problem. So many issues; education, crime, poverty... are interconnected and all need real solutions.
Change will not come easy or quickly, but with time and perseverance.

The stats are based on murders per 100,000 residents, which is exactly when the square miles come into play. As an independent city, our population number is very firm (x amount of people within y border that is very compact).

Houston, for example, or Philadelphia, would include areas we consider in Baltimore as suburbs in their total.

For example, including the Towson area and much of Baltimore County would give us a million more people, and statistically, a much lower murder rate per 100k people.

Though, as mentioned above, we still have a ridiculous amount of murders for a city this size.

Not sure what's going on with the blog, but the above post attributed to bdc was in fact my reply to bdc
--blarg

Unfortunately, this comes as no surprise. Did anyone who's had the unlucky occasion to deal with Baltimore City cops think they could actually be doing something right when it comes to fighting crime?

The cops in this town are all too often lazy, bumbling, and disinterested in anything resembling police work. That's the truth. And these are some of the major reasons they've lost the respect of the community. Now I'm not claiming for a second Baltimore is an easy place to police. Far from it. But the cops here are a net negative in regards to our crime situation and they have been for a long time.

It is little surprise that Baltimore leads the nation in murders - to put it bluntly, the criminal justice system in the state is broke! Leadership from the govenor on down is sadly lacking when it comes to crime - consider:
A recent article on the Judicial Watch web site ranks Baltimore as one of the "most corrupt" cityies in the country (not surprising when one reads the headlines); approx. only 25% of criminals are ever brought to trial (due to plea bargining, poor police work, and incompetent prosecutors and judges); the recidivisim rate is well above half for the state's criminals, most fatal accidents involving drugs/alchol are perpetrated by repeat offenders with a long history of drunk driving arrests (yet, they are still allowed to operat a motor vehicle), murders and outlaws continue to operate unabated from prison - even using cell phones to direct their activities, gangs run rampant in our schools and murder our children at will ("communication" and hand ringing, and useless words of "staged outrage" will not solve this epidemic); witness intimedation is is all too common - so bad that many are afraid to testify; it took a threat from the federal-government to not recognize Maryland driver's licenses as a form of ID to stop the state from issuing licenses to illegal aliens (even though the 9/11 terrorist used illegal ID to facilitate their operation and the fact that various terrorist groups and criminals use driver's licenses to come and go across our borders) ... I could go on but my point is this - unless we deny public office to those who have demonstrated their incompetence, lack of concern for the safety of Maryland's citizens, and little to no desire to completely reform the state's criminal justice system (and sack the incompetent leaders and judes) this problem will not only continue but, as the facts attest, get ever increasingly worse. Bill O'Malley would better serve the public in this area were he more concerned with giving his crime fighters the tools to make the streets safer rather than less safe (i.e. doing away with the death penalty - despite the fact that more than half of the state want to keep it as a badly needed deterrent to the run away crime problem). Elections have consequences and four years is a long time - unless the people make their concerns clear and vote accordingly, local and state officials will continue to allow the crime problem to excell.

It is little surprise that Baltimore leads the nation in murders - to put it bluntly, the criminal justice system in the state is broke! Leadership from the govenor on down is sadly lacking when it comes to crime - consider:
A recent article on the Judicial Watch web site ranks Baltimore as one of the "most corrupt" cityies in the country (not surprising when one reads the headlines); approx. only 25% of criminals are ever brought to trial (due to plea bargining, poor police work, and incompetent prosecutors and judges); the recidivisim rate is well above half for the state's criminals, most fatal accidents involving drugs/alchol are perpetrated by repeat offenders with a long history of drunk driving arrests (yet, they are still allowed to operat a motor vehicle), murders and outlaws continue to operate unabated from prison - even using cell phones to direct their activities, gangs run rampant in our schools and murder our children at will ("communication" and hand ringing, and useless words of "staged outrage" will not solve this epidemic); witness intimedation is is all too common - so bad that many are afraid to testify; it took a threat from the federal-government to not recognize Maryland driver's licenses as a form of ID to stop the state from issuing licenses to illegal aliens (even though the 9/11 terrorist used illegal ID to facilitate their operation and the fact that various terrorist groups and criminals use driver's licenses to come and go across our borders) ... I could go on but my point is this - unless we deny public office to those who have demonstrated their incompetence, lack of concern for the safety of Maryland's citizens, and little to no desire to completely reform the state's criminal justice system (and sack the incompetent leaders and judes) this problem will not only continue but, as the facts attest, get ever increasingly worse. Bill O'Malley would better serve the public in this area were he more concerned with giving his crime fighters the tools to make the streets safer rather than less safe (i.e. doing away with the death penalty - despite the fact that more than half of the state want to keep it as a badly needed deterrent to the run away crime problem). Elections have consequences and four years is a long time - unless the people make their concerns clear and vote accordingly, local and state officials will continue to allow the crime problem to excell.

To Anonymous/PAFR:

The Governor's name is Martin O'Malley, not Bill. However this error is not surprising given the silly, ill-informed, talking point conservatism on display throughout your post.

Failed City Hall

These statistics are a reminder of the incompetence of City Hall. The murder rate in Baltimore is staggering. The leadership has consistently failed to remedy this problem. The Mayor is to busy defending her own criminal activities. Baltimore citizens should hold the Dixon Administration responsible for this dilemma.

The people of Baltimore should be outraged. People are being killed and the Administration talks about a decline in the murder rate. There is a sense of denial and frustration. It is apparent that the lives of citizens have been reduced to numbers and statistics. These numbers represents the lives of family and friends. They deserve more respect from the Mayor and City Council.

Unless the people rise up and fire the Mayor and the entire Democratic political system, there will be no change for people in this town. It is fair to say after several Democratic Administrations, the Democrats cannot, will not, and do not have a handle on the crime in Baltimore City. The people of Baltimore deserve a better Mayor, City Council and Police Commissioner. It is evident that this administration is out of touch with the problems that avail this city. May God help us all?

Unfortunately, the problem is much bigger than simply replacing the ruling political party in the city, as jackson suggests above.

Our violence problem is cultural. There is a culture of apathy that has evolved in this city over decades, if not longer, in the police department, criminal justice system and public at large. Our cops are lazy and incompetent and their leaders are more concerned with ass covering and PR than they are with the welfare of the city. The public is no better. The amount of ignorance and the lack of education one sees when they drive around this city, in both black and white neighborhoods, is astounding.

It's not hard to get through high school in America. But people choose not to at an alarming rate and these decisions are accepted in their communities. Decisions to stand around street corners like an ignorant fool rather than working to better oneself and ones community are accepted as well. Until these fundamental cultural issues in both our bureaucracies and population at large are addressed, you can put any political party in the world in City Hall and it will make no difference whatsoever. Government can only do so much.

I totally agree with Patapsco Jones. We need a second party in this city. We need leadership! We need someone to be honestand make really tough decisions! With the perception and reality that crime is running rampant in this town, I see employers leaving and more and more people starting to avoid the inner harbor. Confirming this flight, I know many of my neighborhood, grade school and high school friends, all saw what was going on in this town and left long ago! (they were the smart ones)You know,it is pretty bad to live all your life in your hometown (I am almost 50)and can count the fingers on just one hand, how many times you have run into and old school friend at a grocery store or movie house. Tells you something about the faith of the citizenry in this town ever becoming a "Finer City".

We certainly also need, at least, one other political party in this city. The problem is that the only other (semi)viable national party if the Republican party, which simply is not going to ever get votes in Baltimore, nor should it, in my opinion.

So we're stuck with some other as yet to be determined option which has no national financing and basically needs to start from scratch in the political game. This is no easy feat, especially in a town as corrupt as Baltimore.

But as I say above, if the culture of the city cannot change, it doesn't really matter what political party is on office. A scumbag criminal, who would, for instance burn a pitbull to death, rob a nanny with a baby carriage or hold a knife to his own granddaughter's throat (all true stories from the past 6 months) doesn't really care about politics. What is needed is a change in culture to make sure a child never turns into someone like that.