Shootings and the response: no excuses
Over the past 16 years covering city cops and violence (with a five year break) I've seen a parade of mayors and police commissioners standing grim-faced in front of television cameras and talking about violence.
On Monday, though, Sheila Dixon and Frederick H. Bealefeld were done with the excuses. (photo at left by Amy Davis is the aftermath of a cookout on Ashland Avenue where 12 people were shot).
They were angry and frustrated but refused to show it. They didn't want to talk about programs or vigils or stop snitching ("That's crap," the mayor sternly warned. "You have innocent people shot and could've been worse," she said.
How true and how sad. At least 18 people shot (see full coverage) in one half of the city in one night and, with only two dead, it could've been worse. And so the mayor and her top cop didn't want to talk about Operation Safe Streets, or about another cop walk, or the focus on violent offenders, or even lecture people about coming forward.
To underscore just how violent and brazen some can be in Baltimore, Bealefeld said that at one double homicide scene, on Conkling Street, a police commander stopped a man from barging through the crime scene tape. The cop arrested the man and then found a loaded .44 caliber handgun lying on the front seat of his car. He had driven to a crime scene full of cops with a gun in plain view.
Talking about the violence, Bealefeld and Dixon were stoic, reserved, almost subdued. Bealefeld rightly noted that people don't want to hear about what the city already does but wants to know what the city will do. The gut reaction is always more cops and the mayor, in introducing that subject, said, "Of course" they would boost resources in the area. But Bealefeld went a few steps further: 37 uniformed foot patrol officers, two overlapping shifts in the neighborhood where 12 people got shot at a backyard cookout on Ashland Avenue, 20 more detectives as part of the Violent Crime Initiative, an additional SWAT platoon.
But Bealefeld also complained that an investigation that started 15 months ago, after the younger brothers of one of the targets in yesterday's shootings were kidnapped, sparking a wave of retaliatory violence, had somehow languished. And the cookout shooting was on the anniversary of the deaths of two main players in the bloody saga, something the commissioner said his intelligence officers should've known.
"This was a very well planned and thought out event," Bealefeld said. "The timing of this is not lost on us. The targets are not lost on us. And we are certainly going to Monday morning quarterback every aspect of police operations connected to this incident, as we should do. We should be evaluating our connections to this community so we have good information about community events and whether there are memorials or large cookouts. We're going to hold people accountable for that and push harder to make sure we have coverage. We're going to be evaluating our effectiveness as it relates to some of these specific organizations and individuals that are operating in East Baltimore, and in Southeast (above, Dixon talks with the media in a photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor).
"I can tell you our investigative efforts are continuing. I can tell you standing on the scene of 12 people shot last night, I can safely speak for the top levels of command in the police department, we are concerned about the pace and progress of some of these investigations, and we're going to do everything we can to speed those efforts along and to put these guys out of business just as expeditiously as possible."
Bealefeld did note that people in the community, including the shooter's friends, had to know what was about to take place. "There was a lot of work that went into that hit," he said.
But Dixon was clearly fed up: "There is no reason for me to stand here and rant and rave like a maniac. I am disturbed. It comes to a point where there's no personal responsibility. People have to begin to make choices. I don't know all the details of this incident, but you can see there's a pattern. Folks are going to have to set what they're going to accept and not accept in their homes and in their communities. I don't want to hear excuses."
She continued: "People have to be outraged. You know, standing on a corner and having a candlelight vigil, that's fine and good. But what happens now to those families in the midst of what happened? What are they going to do for those children so they don't get exposed? ... I don't want innocent bystanders to be involved. If they want to take it out between themselves, fine and good, but that shouldn't impact our communities."
Comments
Dixon is right. The city has come to a point where nothing will help except the individuals in this city making better choices. Enough with the retalliation, associating with known gang members, and turf wars. The individuals involved need to grow up and act like real men and women. The city and its police force can't do anything to help residents that won't help themselves.
Posted by: dcdiva | July 28, 2009 9:00 AM
we need to lock these people up for good and stop crying about the poor and the uneducated and so forth. Lock these thugs up and forget about the costs, id rather pay higher taxes and feel safer. The victims need to grow up as much as the gang members too. If you know something and you don't say anything it's your fault too that even took place. People you don't deserve protectiong if you don't make efforts to protect yourself. What people also need to do, is to demand more from the SA office and our judges. Hold the people who are really letting these people go, the judges and SA and not the Police. The police are doing what they can. People protest at torist attractions till thugs are locked up for good and things change. You need to hit the cities income, make a fear of loss come over the system, then you will see more resorses poored into cleaning this dump we call baltimore up. Demand more, of yourselves and the legal system.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 28, 2009 12:12 PM
something is seriously lacking in the collective mindset of this city.
Posted by: tom brown of baltimore | July 28, 2009 12:38 PM
WHAT THEY NEED TO DO IS TAKE THOSES THAT CAN'T BE REHABLITATED OVER TO THE WAR AND LET THEM FIGHT SINCE THEY'RE SO TRIGGER HAPPY. IT'S SAD WHEN YOU HAVE CHILDREN THAT'S NOT INVOLVED IN GANGS AND DRUG DEALING THAT THEY STILL MAY BECOME A VICTIM JUST WALKING THE STREETS TO A NEARBY STORE, SCHOOL OR WORK. I'M SO SCARED FOR MY BOYS THAT I DON'T WANT THEM TO GO OUTSIDE AT ALL BUT I KNOW I CAN'T KEEP THEM HELD HOSTAGE IN THEY'RE HOME. AND I SHOULDN'T HAVE TOO BUT IT'S SO FRIGHTING HERE IN BALTIMORE. I DIDN'T MOVE COMPLETLY OUT OF THE CITY BUT I'M IN A QUIETER NEIGHBORHOOD THAT I DON'T SEE THE VOLENCE BUT. I HAVE A FEELING THAT IT WON'T BE LONG BEFORE IT GET'S THEIR. I JUST MOVE AGAIN, AND AGAIN AND AGAIN. I HOPE BALTIMORE BECOME A BETTER PLACE FOR OUR CHILDREN. AND LIKE SHIELA DIXON SAID LET THEM TAKE THAT CRAP OUT ON EACH OTHER AND AND LEAVE THE INNOCENT BYSTANDER OUT OF IT. I BET OUR PRESIDENT IS PROUD OF US.
Posted by: TEE-TEE | July 28, 2009 12:52 PM
Isn't it time to declare a state of emergency. What is Dixon waiting for? Residents in fear of being shot while driving down the street doesn't seem to be enough. Drastic action should be taken! I am about to buy a home in Baltimore City and am reconsidering.
Posted by: Anna | July 28, 2009 1:21 PM
No number of police officers or patrol cars will stop this violence. Until the people stop fighting and using guns, knives or anything they can get their hands on, we will have this same thing happen over and over again. If I had a son or daughter, and I knew he/she was out and up to no good, I would call the police on my own child. In Baltimore, it seems the families protect their own even if they have committed murder. I have been in the courtroom as a jurist and heard a mother scream that her son did not commit the crime when everyone in that room from the judge down to the security people knew he was guilty. They do not have finances to go to school (college) in order to prepare for a good job, but they sure find the funds to buy weapons, drugs, alcohol and cigarettes.
Posted by: M. S Leonard | July 28, 2009 1:52 PM
The mind set missing is reporters with no social or historic intelligence.
Posted by: Dunn | July 28, 2009 2:16 PM
Its simple: take the profit out of drugs. It's all about $.
Posted by: jeff | July 28, 2009 2:20 PM
So part of the Police Commissioner's analysis is that police detectives - agents of the government - should've somehow been aware that a private family was planning a private gathering?
That's so ridiculous it's laughable. Since when are the backyard plans of a private citizen any business of the government or its agents?
The shooting is a tragedy, more so for the pregnant woman and small child that were two of its victims. However, having sworn law enforcement agents of dubious professionalism (remember the kid that was "transported" to Howard County?) blundering around in the private doings of everyday citizens is nothing but trouble.
Posted by: Non Sum Qualis Eram | July 28, 2009 2:27 PM
Dunn wrote: "The mind set missing is reporters with no social or historic intelligence. "
Like who?
Posted by: tom brown of baltimore | July 28, 2009 3:31 PM
We put our home on the market simply because it's time to leave. The police can't stop these thugs. We live in Harbor East/Fell's Point area and the crime is even coming into this usually safe, at least from violent crime. 20+ years and we are off to Baltimore County.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 28, 2009 8:26 PM
Yes, Dunn---
Who are you referring to? Peter?
Please help us out here. What is it you would like our intrepid reporters to be socially or historically cognizant of?
Posted by: Buzoncrime | July 28, 2009 9:51 PM
The City sure has changed. I'm not sure what will help. Programs aren't helping. I remember a time when you could have cookouts and do things outside, walk the streets at night and feel safe. I still have relatives there and worry about them getting hurt.
Posted by: Kitty | July 29, 2009 9:00 AM
And what will all the gang members do once we take the money out of drugs do; go back to college?
Get serious. New York City turned it around.
There' s a reason we can't turn it around we're just not allowed to talk about it. It's the 800lb gorilla in the room. Some people like Cosby try to talk about it but it's hopeless.
Nothing will change until something extreme, very extreme happens. And even then there's still a strong chance it won't happen.
Sad, but true.
Posted by: Wastedyrs | July 29, 2009 2:28 PM