After a blitz of media reports that crime is out of control in the downtown area, Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III not only hit the streets this past weekend (left), he eased back on his defensive stance that stats show crime is down and therefore people's fears are overblown.

It's been a telling difference. Earlier this month, he went to the harbor on a sunny afternoon and played tourist-in-chief, practically begging people to come and enjoy the waterfront attractions. And people should. But while assaults may have been down by 40 at that time, people still felt scared. Both were right. Crime is down, but the type of crime people were experiencing downtown and in adjacent neighborhoods had changed.

People were being assaulted in apparent random attacks. Several people in Federal Hill were hit but nothing was taken; two people in Mount Vernon were attacked, and again nothing was taken. A visiting police officer from New Jersey and his girlfriend were jumped on Pratt Street. Put that together with the disturbance at the harbor a few months ago in which two people were stabbed (a dispute over a girl) and a double shooting outside a club at the Belvedere (a dispute from the bar that spilled onto the street) and it adds up to mayhem.

Bealefeld's show of force downtown and his replacement of the district commander shows he understands that people's fears are just as important as the crime numbers. Much of it is perception -- it takes one stolen pocketbook to ruin an otherwise uneventful visit for a family, and they leave town not thinking they were one in a hundred but that Baltimore just like all the TV shows they've watched.

I spent time with Bealefeld at the Harbor early Saturday and with other police monitoring the survillance cameras at the command center on Howard Street. Police panned over crowds (Lt. Matt Johnson left, watches a monitor) and focused in on potential troublemakers, but even the packs of youths that people fear so much didn't do anything but simply walk around.

Bealefeld was articulate, stern and compassionate, like when he dispersed a group of young men playing baskeball at Federal Hill court after midnight. Two slayings last year in the neighborhood forced police to enforce the closure times of parks, and the commissioner very nicely explained that to the group. "Looks like you guys are playing ball. Glancing around, I don't see any 40 ounces. It look like you guys are really playing ball. I don't want to jump on you guys but I just can't have anybody plaing ball on the courts after dark. ... Help me, I need to get the message out that the harbor is a nice place to come, especially in the summertime when it's hot. ... So thanks, sorry guys."

Perhaps in other times the young men could stay. They weren't loud, they weren't drinking and the courts near the American Visionary Arts Museum are away from homes. But it was after midnight and police have been uniform in enforcing the closures. To a 16-year-old Bealefeld encountered at 1:30 in the morning on The Block: "Look, it's not optional," he said of the curfew. "You hae to be home by midnight." The kid protested he wasn't doing anything wrong. "Yea, you are doing something wrong. You are not where you are supposed to be."

Below is a map of police cameras: