While we're awaiting a verdict in the mayor's trial, let's not forget that there' s still penty of crime going on out there.

A brief update:

Police have identified the woman found killed in a vacant lot in East Baltimore, a slaying that occurred in midst of a manhunt for at least two suspected rapists.

A Baltimore police sergeant's son was arrested after authorities said they found a half-pound of marijuana inside a house in which both he and the officer lived in East Baltimore.

A woman was fatally shot Thursday night after stepping outside a funeral home she had been visiting to pay respects to her boyfriend, who had been shot and killed a week earlier. Justin Fenton took the picture above of a bullet hole in the door of the funeral home.

City police say they probably thwarted a killing Wednesday night when they rescued a teenager who had been aducted and held in an abandon rowhouse for ransome. 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Baltimore police held a community meeting Thursday night to explain their investigation into a series of East Baltimore rapes and to answer questions from scared residents.

Police have a task force set up that includes homicide detectives and sex offense detectives. Anyone with information (sketches of two possible suspects are at left) is urged to call 888-223-0033.

My colleague Justin Fenton attended the meeting:

Maj. Melvin Russell, the commander of the Eastern, said that he'd been driving around his district in the early morning hours recently and was surprised at the number of women walking around by themselves.

"We need you to stay off the streets from midnight until the sun comes up," Russell told a crowd assembled at the Knox Presbyterian Church in East Baltimore's Oliver community. "Let us catch these people and get them off the streets."

As Russell spoke, a stack of fliers circulated the room showing drawings of two suspects in recent rapes. A string of at least seven sexual assaults - occurring at bus stops and in homes - have been reported in recent weeks, and a woman with a record of prostitution was found dead in the area this week.

The meeting was called by police to inform the public about what police were doing. An extra 30 officers have been poured into the area to patrol between 3 p.m. and 7 a.m., and police have established a task force made up of homicide and sex offense detectives, as well as a tip line that has attracted more than 100 calls.

Police originally believed that one suspect could be responsible for the attacks, but DNA evidence showed that at least two of them were the work of two separate suspects, which Russell said "may or may not be better."

Russell talked about two of the incidents, including giving new details on an attack on a 55-year-old woman who was leaving church. A spokesman for the department initially said that she had been attacked in a grassy field, but Russell said CCTV footage showed that the man tried the doors on several parked cars until finding one that was unlocked, and assaulted her inside of it.

But police made no mention of the attacks that took place inside homes, one of which, police told The Baltimore Sun, involved a woman being raped in front of her boyfriend, who had been tied up. Posters circulating the area also do not address the burglary/sex assaults or descriptions of possible suspects.

The first few residents complained about lighting and vacant homes in their neighborhood. The last several were sharply critical of the way police alerted the neighborhood about the incidents, with one chastising the media for not promoting the story more heavily.

the Police Department publicized the string of incidents Nov. 2 after receiving inquiries from The Baltimore Sun, and has since swarmed the community with thousands of fliers and traffic stops along Harford Avenue.

"He's scaring people, even people he's not touching," one woman said. "You're killing me mentally and spiritually; people shouldn't have to worry about stepping outside or their children going to school."

A number of politicians attended the meeting, including State Sen. Nathaniel McFadden, who was wearing a tuxedo so he could leave straight for an event at Coppin State University. Mayor Sheila Dixon, who is awaiting a verdict from a jury deliberating theft charges against her, also arrived at the end of the event.

"As a woman, I can understand the fear," Dixon said. "Police are on top of this, its a priority. Hopefully, sooner than later, we won't have another."

Dixon next stopped at the Oliver neighborhood's community meeting just a few blocks down, where she assured residents that police were working hard to solve the rapes. But the residents gathered there didn't want to talk about sexual assaults or the mayor's criminal trial - the mayor instead heard a steady stream of complaints about trash pickup.

"Things is happening in the neighborhood that shouldn't be happening!" one resident shouted at her.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Bill Toohey, the longtime public face of the Baltimore County Police Department, is gone, to be replaced by a uniformed officer in front of the cameras. It's a loss, not just for the media that grew to trust Bill, but for the citizens as well.

With Bill, they got a person who spoke and sounded like them, who could translate the most arane police verse into English. As former city police spokesman Robert W. Weinhold Jr. told me: "The most important message is the message received."

I'll let Nick Madigan's story on line and in today's print edition speak more about Bill (he also has a Facebook page). I don't know whether it matters that a police agency has a civilian or a sworn cop as it's mouthpiece; there are various schools of thought.

In one corner: police officers know the ins and outs of the department, are trusted by cops who don't trust outsiders, and can explain to the public how cops work and think. Even departments with civilian spokespeople like to have uniformed cops addressing the public at crime scenes. They say it adds credibility to the reports.

In the other corner: citizen spokespeople can challenge the police command in ways sworn rank and file cannot, can find ways around the bureaucracy, bring a fresh, outside perspective to a problem and add credibility when something controversial is going down. As Weinhold said, people may trust the spokesman in a suit to defend the department and see a uniformed cop as part of a coverup.

The Baltimore Police Department has had a civilian PIO for as long as anyone can remember, but they've hired people from diverse backgrounds. Two in recent years were cops in the spokesperson's office who had to resign to take the chief spokesperson job. Two others had been reporters for local television stations who had to quit to take the job.

As Prince George's County spokesman Maj. Andy Ellis told me: "I like the civilians because many times they bring experience in the media that our sworn officers just done't have. I think they can give the chief a fresh look on things. But the sworn commanders have an intimate knowledge of the police department. Much of what our PIOs do is educate the public through reporters as to what our police officers so. It's invaluable to have a police PIO who can explain police procedures. Getting information inside a police organization to give to a reporter is many times challenging. ... Cops are a funny bunch. Many times they will not trust a civilian to give them information." And, he added, "The uniformed officer in front of the camera is able to explain police procedures better than a civilian."

At the same time, Ellis said one of his biggest challenges is to get his police spokespeople to talk like a civilian. "We have to get them out of policespeak. That's where a civilian PIO excels. They talk in a language people can understand."

And that's why this is important to people. Police agencies are communicating not to other cops but to the public. A terse 'no comment' or "we can't tell you because it's part of the investigation' leaves too many people wondering why they're not being told something. A civilian might be able to explain it better. Cops are paramilitary and are used to short answers and unused to giving explanations. Follow oders. But the public demands more.

Cops might want to keep news of a serial rapist from the public to avoid raising alarm or thinking that their investigation will be ruined if details get out. A sworn cop may feel compelled to agree, or may in fact agree. But a civilian spokesperson might argue that the community needs to know that a rapist is out there and if the public learns they weren't warned of the danger they'll be upset.

Bill was good about things like that. When a county police sergeant e-mailed crime summaries to a community group but got upset when that same information wound up in the paper (he threatned to cut off residents who sent the info to the media) Bill stepped in to remind him and others that if he sent the info to the community, then he made it public and he can't control it after that.

In 2006, my colleague Nick Madigan wrote this about the way Bill handled a big story:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

More fear for East Baltimore where nine women have been attacked and raped near bus stops after police find a body of female in her 20s behind a convenience store on East Eager Street.

Police have been hunting for at least one rapist in connection with a string of attacks since Oct. 20. Some or all may be related. In this latest case, police are trying to match evidence from the body to determine if there is a link.

The body was found Tuesday about 4:30 p.m. in a grassy area. A cause of death has not been determined but police said the woman had been injured. Anyone with information about the body should call Baltimore police homicide unit at 410-396-2100. Anyone with information about the rapes should call 410-396-2076.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

Many readers responded to Ryan Jones' memorial letter about his slain student, Jason Mattison Jr., and it was that letter that prompted colleague Brent Jones and I to do more with this case and write a fuller profile. Jason was found dead in a closet of his aunt's house and police charged a family friend, who had just gotten out of prison for murder, with his death.

A big unanswered question, even after two days of reporting, remains: where did Jason actually live and how did he come to be with his aunt and the suspect, Dante Parrish? His paternal grandmother suggests he somehow left his mother's (we can only speculate it had something to do with Jason being gay, which his family was struggling to accept).

The family in the Llewellyn Avenue house insisted Jason was just visiting when he was killed; police will only say he was "staying" there. But the cops also say that he had "forced sexual relationship" with the suspect; both statements suggest Jason was in the Llewellyn Avenue house as more than a part-time visitor. It was in that house he met up with Dante, and his grandmother questions how they could have allowed a man with a violent criminal past be so cose to a young boy (pics of police taking Dante Parrish to Central Booking).

Police declined to be more specific about Jason's living situation; too bad, because that could clear up a lot and answer some questions, not just for us but for the family, which seems at odds about how Jason was treated.

Everyone at his school told me Jason talked nonstop, but not about how he lived. Was he in that Llewellyn Avenue house for months (Parrish was released in January) and in constant fear all this time? And if so, with so many friends at school, why didn't he say anything. His grandmother told Brent that Jason "didn't keep any secrets from me."

It appears he kept his biggest secret until his death.

His funeral is today at Unity United Methodist Church on Edmondson Avenue.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Breaking crime
        

It appears to be a quiet morning in the city, but Monday brought some grim crime news. Baltimore had 13 killings in 15 days, pushing the count past the 200 mark and toward the 2008 number of 234, which was a 20-year low.

In today's paper, Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld addresses the numbers, saying he less worried about the monthly totals and more concered with patterns in the statistics. Several of the killings in November, he said, were premeditated. He's right, in that we've gone through several periods this year with a week or more without a killing, only to see a spike.

In other news, the opponents of Suite Ultralounge, the troublesome club at the Belvedere Hotel, could finally see a padlock. A hearing administrator agreed with police on Monday that the club is a public nuisance and the commissioner can now shut it down if he wants. Let's see if the owners come up with another last-minute plan to try and save the place, though they're facing a liquor board hearing (examiners have already shut the place once).

And not to be missed: feds charge three in a string of brazen robberies that netted them more than $300,000 and in which one business owner was left duct-taped to a chair. Here are the details of those crimes from the U.S. Attorney's Office:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Breaking crime
        

The tragic stabbing death of 15-year-old Jason Madison Jr. last week, allegedly at the hands of a convicted murderer who had a forced sexual relationship with the boy in his aunt's home, brough a tearful letter from the victim's teacher.

The boy was found in his aunt's upstairs closet, gagged with a pillowcase and stabbed in the head and throat. A suspect, Donte Parrish, was arrested a few days later at a convenience store in Northeast Baltimore.

A spate of other killings this week has brought Baltimore's homicide total to more than 200 for the year, a grim statistic as we end the year. A map of city murder is here.

Here is the note from Jason's teacher, Ryan C. Jones (note, he uses a different spelling for the victim's last name):

Hi friends and family,
I am writing you this in hope you can do me a large favor. As some of you know, I lost someone very close to me this week. A student of mine was taken from us in a violent manner. His name was Jason Mattison and he was a 15-year old student, whom I have had the privilege to teach through his 9th and 10th-grade years, since he arrived on our campus during the summer of 2008.

There has been extensive news coverage of Jason’s death over the past few days. He was brutally attacked, abused, fatally injured and left for dead. His attacker, a 35-year old previously convicted murderer, has been arrested, and will meet his doom in one way or another.
However, I am writing because not enough positive things have been shown about Jason. As is often the case, the majority of news has revolved around the graphic nature of his death and the circumstances relating to his attacker. Too often, we hear news that a young, black male from Baltimore City was killed and we think nothing of it.

Jason was not just another statistic! He was a lively, unique individual who brought smiles to the faces of countless people every day. Jason was an above-average student, who excelled in many areas of academics and social life. He dreamed of finishing his career here and moving on to college, medical school and then to his own pediatric office. God, how kids would have loved his big smile and booming voice! You need to simply look at his exotic dress, flare for the dramatic in class and with friends and talk to those who knew him to understand what a loss we have all been dealt.

Jason was in no way involved with gangs, drugs or weapons. He spent his time after school doing homework in teachers’ classrooms and hanging out with friends. His nightly routine of chatting on MySpace is the same one any of our kids have, and the same one as kids all across America. But for as “typical” as Jason seemed, he was so unique. He hated normal! He was different because he could be. He wore his skinny jeans and fashionable sweaters and blazers because it made him stand out.

I’ve included a few pictures of Jason as a way to expose what a great child he was, and to allow those who didn’t know him to see more than the news coverage allows. In my eyes, this tragedy has focused so much on the negative and what is truly being lost is what a great child we had the pleasure of being around. It hurts me to watch the news and see a murderer’s face and story being told and not that of Jason!!!!!

Please do me a favor and honor Jason! I am asking that you simply forward this e-mail and pictures to everyone you know. I want Jason’s story to be told and I want everyone to see that we have lost an innocent child! And maybe more importantly, I want everyone to see how beautifully wonderful this child was!!!  
Ryan C. Jones, M.A.T.
English II Instructor

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (27)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

Baltimore police lost the football game but came away with $22,000 to help its embattled Mounted Unit. Cops played in the annual Shomrin game on Sunday at Northwestern High School. The group of mostly Orthodox Jews serves Northwest Baltimore witha private foundation and crime patrol.

The folks from Shomrim won 24-21 and then donated $15,000 to the horse unit; another $7 came from Boost Mobile. The horse unit needs $150,000; Sunday's donation gives it about $96,000 in donated proceeds.

Here is a statement from Mayor Sheila Dixon and a link to donate money to the horse unit: 

Mayor Dixon and Baltimore City Police Department Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld joined Baltimore City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Baltimore City Councilwoman Rikki Spector, State Delegate Sandy Rosenberg, and Baltimore City Orphan’s Court Judge Karen Friedman at the annual Shomrim vs. Baltimore City Police Department Northwest District flag football game at Northwestern High School.  Today’s game raised $21,000 for the Baltimore City Police Department’s Mounted Unit. 

“Today’s friendly competition highlights the collaboration and partnership of efforts between the Baltimore City Police Department and Shomrim to keep the citizens of the Northwest District safe and secure,” stated Mayor Dixon.  “I want to thank Shomrim and Boost Mobile for their donations that raised $21,000 towards the Baltimore City Police Department’s Mounted Unit.”
                
Shomrim beat the Baltimore City Police Northwest District today 24-21 in a close and competitive game that was full of good sportsmanship and mutual respect. The true victor of today’s event was the Baltimore City Police Department’s Mounted Unit who received $21,000 in much needed funding. Shomrim donated $15,000 to the Mounted Unit and Boost Mobile donated an additional $7,000.

About Shomrim:
In response to increasing crime trends in our local community, a group of concerned citizens founded Shomrim of Baltimore, Inc. in October-2005, as a 501(c)3 non-profit community organization whose overall mission is to improve public safety and security.  Currently, Shomrim has over 30 volunteer incident responders who provide security and safety assistance in the Northwest Baltimore Neighborhood which encompasses parts of Baltimore City and Baltimore County. 

Shomrim works closely with both police departments by assisting them in deterring crime, being additional ‘eyes and ears’ in our neighborhoods; thereby helping them make more arrests and improve the overall quality of life in our neighborhood. 

About Baltimore City Police Department’s Mounted Unit:

The Baltimore Police Department's Mounted Unit is the oldest, continuous Unit of its kind in the nation. Founded in 1888, the Mounted Unit is still going strong.  The unit is most effective at maintaining crowd control and getting to places where vehicles can't go.
Due to recent budget cuts, the Mounted Unit has been accepting donations through the Baltimore City Police Foundation Fund.  Donations can be given online at http://www.bcf.org/content/files/customcart/mountedunit.aspx.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

Dante L. Parrish, charged in the brutal killing of a 15-year-old boy, confessed while being interviewed by homicide detectives, according to police. He's in the picture at left after leaving police headquarters, on his way to Central Booking. The picture was taken by The Sun's Kim Hairston. 

Recently released from prison on a murder conviction, Parrish is charged with gagging the youth in his East Baltimore rowhouse (owned by the victim's aunt), raping him and then stabbing him in the head and throat before stuffing him in a closet.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 2:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Breaking crime
        

After 20-year-old Johns Hopkins neuroscience student Miriam Frankl was struck and killed by a vehicle on St. Paul Street, a man from Southeast Baltimore complained that he had called police 90 minutes earlier but felt ignored.

See complete coverage here.

Now, the Baltimore Sun has obtained, through a Public Information Act request, a tape of his 911 call (listen here). Police tell me they're reviewing the procedures to determine whether the appropriate steps were followed.

The caller, Nicholas F. Walters, was particularly angry (he first spoke to WJZ-TV, and then to me this week after we listened to the full recording) that the operator appeared to immediately dismiss his complaint:

"I'd like to report something," Walters said.

The dispatcher answered: "We don't make reports over the phone."

That appears now to be a slight miscommunication (Walters wanted to report a crime; the operator assumed he wanted a report filled out), but it set the tone for the rest of the conversation. Part of it is a communication gap -- Walters wanted to get the cops to put out an alert for a white pickup truck he saw speeding erratically and blowing red lights on Broadway. The operator needed to get very specific questions answered to decide whether to sent a police car.

At one point, Walters had to ask the operator whether she wanted the license plate of the vehicle he saw. At the end, he refused to leave his name.

In listening to the tapes, there appears another problem. A police dispatcher does indeed inform an officer -- a supervisor in the Southeast District -- about a car possibly driven by a drunken driver speeding north on Broadway. He does not give the officer the license plate number.

The officer asks: "How old is the call?"

Dispatcher: "Um, three minutes, maybe four minutes.

Officer: "Edward no."

That's the code for coding out the call, a determination of unfounded. It's impossible the officer could've responded to the location, 200 N. Broadway, and come to that conclusion in an instant unless his patrol car was at the intersection.

But the dispatcher had also told the officer he was informing the Eastern District, and the officer could've concluded that by the time he got to the location, the pickup would already be in the Eastern. A police spokesman told me the department is reviewing the case to determine what happened to the call and whether it was handled appropriately.

We know the suspect in the case, Thomas Meighan Jr., has been convicted of drunken driving nine times in the past and that he's been charged with numerous traffic offenses, though not at this time with manslaughter or driving under the influence of alcohol. Another looming question is how a car allegedly driving so erratically managed to elude authorities for so long.

Here is a transcript of Walters 911 call and the initial police response:

Man: “... No, but I’d like to report something.”
Operator: “We don’t make reports over the phone.”
Man: “OK. OK. .. I, I, .. No, I’ve just been following this drunk driver around and I called ....”
Operator: “Where at?”
Man: “Well, last time I saw him blowing through three red lights on Broadway heading north.”
Operator: “What hundred block? Or what was the cross street?
Man: “Across Fayette. And I don’t know. ..He’s been down around here around Highlandtown but I couldn’t keep up with it. I....
Operator: “Is it a male or female driver?”
Man: “It’s a male, white male, in a white pickup with electrical boxes, a ladder and an orange cone on it.”
(She verifies his description of the truck. He confirms it.)
Man: “He’s got a sticker on the back that says Tate Engineering. ... I called that company and they say that’s not their truck. I have his license tag, if you like.”
Operator: “Is it a Maryland tag?”
Man: “Yes.”
Operator: “What’ the tag number?”
Man: “94W412... I even watched him jump out of his truck and urinate right there by Patterson Park. He appears to be looking for something around here because he keeps [garbled] all around here. But I’ve lost him with his last little activity.”
Operator: “Do you want to leave your name and telephone number?”
Man: “No. I don’t need to do that. I just wanted to let you guys know. Thank you.”
Operator: “Police will be out.”
 
Dispatcher: “Baker 10”
Officer: “Standby
Dispatcher: “I wonder if you can advise on this and I’m going to send this over to Eastern District. Heading northbound on Broadway from 200 block there was a white pickup truck, Maryland tag, Tate Engineering on the back, electrical boxes, et cetera on the vehicle. Caller believes that the guy’s intoxicated.”
Officer: “How old is the call?”
Dispatcher: “Um, three minutes, maybe, four minutes.”
Operator: “Edward No.
Dispatcher: “10-4”

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Baltimore police have released another sketch (at left) of a suspected rapist in East Baltimore. Authorities are investigating a series of rapes, and have said some may be linked.

This latest picture is of an attack that occurred about 2:45 a.m. on Oct. 31 in the 400 block of N. Colvin St., near Hillen Street. Police said a 55-year-old woman was leaving a late-night church event and was making her way to a bus stop when she was approached by a man who grabbed her by the throat. He brandished a shard of glass and dragged her to an abandoned parking lot, where she was raped.

Police said this sketch is based on information from a new witness. Police had released another sketch earlier this month of a suspect in connection with the attack on Covin Street and another one that occurred at a bus stop in the 1300 block of Harford Ave. A 19-year-old woman was dragged to North Central Avenue, where a man punched her in the face repeatedly, stripped her naked and sexually assaulted her. The woman, suffering from a head injury, flagged down patrol officers.

That sketch is here:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 4:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Breaking crime
        

Dan and Mary Jane McCann, the parents of Annie McCann, gave me the letter the city sent to them after complaints that police mishandled and then closed the investigation into the death of their daughter about one year ago.

City officials had refused to give me their response, even after I posted the letter the McCanns sent to them (see earlier posts here). The McCanns are still fighting to get answers to how and why their daughter apparently ran away from home and was found dead near a trash bin in the Perkins Homes public housing complex in Southeast Baltimore.

Police have concluded that Annie killed herself by drinking a 5-ounce bottle of Bactine, which contains Lidocaine, though the McCanns dispute this and have a letter from the manufacturer and an outside forensics expert saying there is no way Annie could've died only from drinking Bactine. Police never took Annie's fingerprints but did take her DNA, which they say they found on the bottle. The Medical Examiner has ruled her death undetermined.

Annie's parents are convinced their daughter was lured to Baltimore and was either killed or helped in taking her life. They've put up billboards, held news conferences, hired private investigators, hunted down people who may have seen Annie in Baltimore and pressed to file charges against youths who admitted to finding Annie's body in her car, and moving the body to the parking lot.

Police have now charged two youths as juveniles in connection with stealing Annie's car and leaving it several blocks away. Police say they've invested more than enough time in the case and point to a note Annie left behind on her bed. They say it's a clear suicide note. The family notes that Annie wrote she wanted to take her own life but changed her mind and decided to run away instead.

It's a difficult case. The Baltimore Sun published a two-part series (Part I and Part II) on the case last year. And here's the letter the city's deputy mayor sent to the McCanns:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Annie McCann
        

Baltimore police have identified the suspect in the brutal slaying of a 15-year-old boy who was found dead on Tuesday inside a closet of an East Baltimore rowhouse. Authorities are searching for the suspect, Dante Parrish, 35 and have put out a citywide alert for him. He is pictured at left.

Alert Message has been issued by the Baltimore Police Department:

Wednesday November 11, 2009 17:27 PM EST

BPD needs help in locating 35 yr old Dante Parrish for brutal sex assault & murder of 15 y/o boy. 410-396-2100

Dante Parrish is wanted in connection with the Nov 10 slaying of a 15 year old Baltimore boy. Parrish sexually assaulted and brutally murdered the victim before leaving him for dead in a bedroom closet. Please help BPD homicide. Contact us at 410-396-2100

This case is particularly gruesome. Police say the victim, Jason Madison Jr., was allegedly killed by a person he knows who had sexually assaulted him. Police said a pillow case had been stuffed in the victim's mouth, and that he had been repeatedly stabbed in the head and throat. 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Breaking crime
        

A group of Iraqi police officers and representatives from the Pentagon are scheduled to visit with Baltimore police next month to learn about informing the public about crime and interacting with residents.

The public will get a chance to interact with the Middle East visitors at two events -- a community forum (the details are being worked out) and a community walk in Southwest Baltimore. Should be an interesting visit.

Here are some more details put out by the Southwestern District Police Community Relations Council: 

This is our neighborhood, take a walk!
Taking back the City, One Community, One Walk at a time.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
NEWS FLASH           NEWS FLASH           NEWS FLASH           NEWS FLASH
           
I have been authorized by Major Anthony T. Brown to report the following limited information.  
On December 12, 2009, the Great Southwestern Police District along with The Southwestern District Police Community Relations Council's  Citizens on Patrol Program has been asked to conduct a special Citizens on Patrol walk with Dignitaries from the Pentagon and the Police from Iraq.  
As soon as additional information becomes available, I will forward to all.
Stephen "Steve" Herlth, Sr.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

I had a chance this afternoon to see the German shepherd, Blade, who was mistakenly shot by a police officer about 6 p.m. Sunday in South Baltimore. The dog was in her cage, being petted by her handler through an open door.

While was in the room, the dog got up and turned around. He had a bandage on his left leg; Officer Steven W. Sturm told reporters outside the Falls Road Animal Hospital -- doggie Shock Trauma to some -- that the dog suffered a gunshot in the left shoulder from a .40 caliber handgun.

He said it appears that the dog might be able to go back to work. "He's a tough dog," Sturm said, explaining he went for a walk on Monday and put pressure on his wounded shoulder. He said the bullet appears to have hit soft-tissue and missed bones.

Blade was shot while pursing several people who bailed from a car whose drive evaded a traffic checkpoint. The dog's handler released Blade from his leash and commanded him to track down the running suspects. A police officers who responded to help approached from the opposite direction and the dog attacked him, prompting him to fire. Police said the officer had no idea he was being attacked by a police dog.

Sturm said being a police dog is dangerous (I'll have more on this part in tomorrow's Baltimore Sun). "They were just both in the same spot at the same time, and Blade was doing what he was taught to do," Sturm said. He added, "It's dangerous because unlike us ... we see somebody with a gun or a weapon, or whatever, we will get out of the way. Dogs react totally the opposite. They go. No matter what they see, they're going to be going unelss we call them off."

To watch video of Blade:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

I see that city prosecutors have charged two youths in connection with theft of Annie McCann's car. This is the girl who last year disappeared form her home in Virginia and was found dead at the Perkins Homes Public Housing complex in Southeast Baltimore.

Annie's parents have been pressing for police to do more; police have closed the case, saying she died from drinking a 5-ounce bottle of Bactine, which contains Lidocaine, and that they suspect she took her own life. Her parents dispute that and have pressed cops to charge the youths who admitted to moving her body out of her car and taking it for a short joy ride. They believe the youths know more than they've told cops and that charges might press them to talk.

The McCanns were angry last month when they said they tried to file charges against the youths but a District Court commissioner talked them out of it or refused after talking with the city police homicide commander. At the time, they felt police were not only refusing to adequately investigate their daughter's death but then tried to prevent the parents from contining the probe themselves.

This morning, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the homicide commander did not tell the district court commissioner not to file charges but told him "We have this case" and that they were still planning to do something. Guglielmi said police couldn't tell the family that they were planning to charge the youths, and that is what happened on Monday. (I'm sure the family will feel the charges came about only after they exerted public pressure on police).

Guglielmi said that at the onset of a homicide investigation, "the primary focus is on the cause of death." He noted rightly that there are always lesser crimes involved, such as a break-in before a murder, that must be "put on the back of the notepad for a while" during the active part of the investigation.

"If you charge people right away, chances are they aren't going to cooperate with you," the spokesman said. "It stonewalls the investigation."

Here are some of the McCanns complaints:

August 24, 2009

The Honorable Sheila Dixon, Mayor of Baltimore
City Hall, Room 250
100 N. Holliday Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21202

Dear Mayor Dixon:

Our 16-year old daughter, Annie McCann, was found dead in Baltimore on November 2, 2008.  Since then, we have been systematically victimized by gross incompetence and callous disregard by your police department.

In December, recognizing the Baltimore Police Department’s lack of progress, or even effort, in investigating our daughter’s death, we engaged private investigators to assist in the investigation.  Significant new leads thus developed were completely ignored by the police.  In at least two instances, police actions directly undermined our private investigation.

Following a family press conference on March 2, Police Commissioner Bealefeld’s personal spokesman assured us that “all available resources” would be dedicated to a renewed investigation.  In fact, next to nothing was done.  The only detective assigned to the case spent the next two weeks in training.  Incredibly, police even reneged on their high-level commitment to develop reward flyers and “flood” neighborhoods with them.

On March 20, pounding a table and wagging fingers, senior police officials informed us that, “This investigation is over!”  They later corrected that position, explaining that the case was “suspended.”  They said they didn’t care about the circumstances under which Annie had crossed state lines, nor in whose company she was.  To the press, police spokesmen said they were certain that Annie had killed herself, adding plaintively, and falsely, that, “We gave it everything we had.”  In point of clear fact, they had given it next to nothing.

Officially, Annie’s death has been ruled “undetermined.”  While it is possible that she killed herself, that is very, very far from settled.  If a suicide, Annie’s would be the first recorded instance of suicide by Bactine, an over the counter medication.

What is certain is that there remain simple and sinister circumstances, unexplored, surrounding Annie’s disappearance and death.  Just as certain is the fact that Baltimore police have made a mockery of the investigation into the death of our daughter.  From November 2, when they somehow failed to take Annie’s fingerprints, to March 20, when they grossly misinterpreted simple DNA test results, their actions have been consistently ineffective – sloppy, misguided, or insensitive.
We can recite numerous failings; here are two:

• Five juveniles have been placed at the scene where Annie’s body was found.  By their own account, probably understated and self-serving, they dumped Annie’s dead or dying body and stole her car.  Baltimore police have interviewed one of these five juveniles once, and another twice…and no others!  Zero arrests.  Three juveniles never interviewed.  And no follow-up when private investigators, including retired Baltimore city detectives, elicited materially different versions of what happened.
• Police have failed to investigate Annie’s documented exchange of text messages in late October 2008 with a telephone registered to a man in Gainesville, VA with reported ties to Baltimore and a record of narcotics production and distribution.

Our attorney, currently indisposed, has been trying for several weeks to have the police return to us Annie’s personal belongings, including her rosary and baby blankets.  Shockingly, he has been stonewalled.  Except for an initial acknowledgement, zero response.  The lack of professionalism shown in this simple matter, and the unfounded arrogance, speak volumes as to the quality of the investigation itself.

We could go on.  Indeed, we may have occasion to do so in the future, in another forum.  First, though, we would like to appeal to you, Madam Mayor.  Please take this matter under advisement; examine it objectively.  Discuss it with Commissioner Bealefeld.  If he tells you that the department devoted more than 1,200 hours to the investigation, ask him what there is to show for that effort.  Ask him how, with that effort, the lead detective did not have a photograph of Annie four months after her death, and did not know there was alcohol in her system.  Ask him how the City of Baltimore can defend itself in a multimillion dollar suit, for taking stout actions against a 7-year old boy for sitting on a dirt bike, when city police blithely ignore far more serious offenses by older juveniles with lengthy criminal records.

Please help us here, Mayor Dixon.  More than nine months ago, we suffered life’s cruelest blow.  Since then, our anguish, and our financial expenses, have been compounded needlessly and meanly by the Baltimore Police Department.  Please right this wrong.  We are asking, not for extraordinary measures, but basic police work.  Please re-open, and invigorate, the department’s investigation into the death of Annie McCann.

Sincerely,

Daniel J. McCann  Mary Jane Malinchak-McCann

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Annie McCann
        

Please forgive no posts yesterday -- I took the day off to rest up after a virtually non-stop week of helping out our British crime reporter from The Independent. I see there's quite a bit of catching up to do ...

In another blog, I'll talk about new developments in the Annie McCann case, and of course the DC sniper is set to be executed tonight, the mayor's trial continues, the police dog Blade, shot in a case of friendly fire, is well on his way to recovery, prosecutors dropped charges in an alleged brothel in Patterson Park and two more people were killed.

First off, Mark Hughes seemed to enjoy himself though he left with no interview with either the city's police commissioner or the mayor. In fact, we tried to catch Sheila Dixon on Saturday at a tree planting ceremony in North Baltimore but she declined to speak. "I'm planting trees today," she said to a spokesman, but in earshot of both Mark and I. There's much more on their Tale of Two Cities blog.

Too bad. For all the city does to counter the image of Baltimore as The Wire, the silence of the two leaders on the topic of crime left him the impression they've got their heads in the sand. And coupled with the crime he did see -- a murder while out with union cops and a shooting just moments after he arrived at the train station -- our leaders didn't do much to dispel the notion of a dangerous city to our friends overseas.

We followed the mayor as she bicycled around a neighborhood delivering trees; she could've saddled up to Mark and used the moment to talk about her initiatives and how she thinks they helped bring crime down. We were in a park that had a murder a year ago; she could've used that to explain how planting trees gets the community energized and is indeed a part of combating violence. We were on the street where a community activist lived whose house was firebombed several years ago by angry drug dealers. She could've used the tree moment to again talk about reclaiming the streets.

Instead, mark went home feeling snubbed and our image of crime and our inability to deal with it only reinforced.

On the other side of the pond, our very own Justin Fenson found that cops in London don't report breaking crime, usually until an arrest is made. He quoted one spokesman saying that reporting, say a body that was found near where Justin is staying, would only incite the public into thinking crime was worse than it really was. I can't imagine that line going over too well here! Justin had some quiet nides riding with cops, but I was more heartened by some of the comments from people who wanted to make sure he got to the really bad parts of town.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Annie McCann, Confronting crime
        

My colleague Justin Fenton has arrived in London and is about to head out with a police gun unit. Should be an interesting perspective. Too bad the reporter visiting here from The Independent, Mark Hughes, wasn't offered the same opportunity here.

Just the same, Mark has seen cops in action on a ride with the city police union chief and one two Citizen On Patrol walks in Riverside and Patterson Park. He was impressed by the way citizens get involved and how active the cops were in talking with them and trying to address their problems.

Both are now cross-writing about their experiences -- today's paper has Mark meeting drug addicts and Justin learning about limits placed on reporters covering crime. We grouse here about restrictions in terms of access, but it would drive me crazy to work under the circumstances I'm hearing about in London.

While out with some colleagues last night, Mark noted that some people are defensive about this city, mostly because of the image from The Wire. I told him there are roughly two groups -- people who hate what the fictional HBO drama did and want to never speak of it agan, and those who thought it uncovered a side of the city in way that truth sometimes can't.

I'm in the latter group. The Wire is important and shouldn't be ignored, and we need to confront these troublings aspects of Baltimore. They won't go away simply by ignoring them. At the same time, this is a vibrant city and I and I think others want to show him that it's liveable and people have fun.

After a COP walk in Patterson Park, we stopped by the park to watch a late-night kick ball tournament under the lights. Last night, we headed up to Joe Squared, a restaurant at the edge of the new arts district, on North Avenue. It showed Mark that restaurants and thriving neighborhood joints can make it even in areas others have long given up on. Let's not hide our problems; but lets not hide our success stories either.

At the end of the Tale of Two Cities blog are two comments that found particularly interesting. Now that Justin is in London, people are urging him to hit certain areas off the tourist track, where complaints of violence mirror our own: 

if you want to see gang and gun crime,jump on the train from manchester picadilly to liverpool lime street,only an hour,there is a gang war going on between croxteth and norris green,both suburbs of liverpool.bet you will have more to write about,than you will in moss side.hope you have a good time in the uk,becarefull in the nw of england, this is a deprived area of the uk,we dont have the money the south has,therefore the crime is rife. 2weeks ago there was an attack on the police helicopter,followed by high speed car chase.go see liverpool,you"ll get plenty of scoops there.

Posted by: colin jones | November 6, 2009 9:39 AM

CJ, you are right about that. I never realized how bad it was until I took a trip there and saw the ghetto's and trash flying in the wind. In Liverpool, two herione addicts were trying to hustle/rob a group of us tourists after their high wore off. We were at the bar when we first ran into them and the bar tender was yelling at them. Surely as bad as Baltimore in a different light.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Three young men admitted in court this morning to stealing Cal Ripken Jr.'s Number 8 sculpture back in September from in front of Camden Yards. None said a word in court, other than to answer basic questions.

So we still don't know why they did it, other than a prank. It turned out to be an expensive one -- they all had to chip and write a check to the Orioles for $7,618. That's for the theft of a single digit!

That prompted the quote of the day from defense attorney John Grason Turnbull III, who told me he told his client, "You're lucky you didn't take the Number 33. It would've been twice as expensive."

Remember, this is the case in which Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld commented, "Don't come to Baltimore to be a moron." Three of the four defendants are from Essex.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Breaking crime
        

Baltimore police have released a sketch of a possible suspect in at least two rapes that occurred last weekend in East Baltimore. These attacks may not be connected to a string of other sexual assaults, possibly seven more, that have occurred in the city, most on the eastside, since Oct. 20.

The person in this drawing may be connected to the following incidents:

The first occurred Friday just after 6 a.m. at a bus stop in the 1300 block of Harford Ave. A 19-year-old woman was dragged to North Central Avenue, where a man punched her in the face repeatedly, stripped her naked and sexually assaulted her. The woman, suffering from a head injury, flagged down patrol officers.

On Saturday, at 2:45 a.m. in the 400 block of Colvin St., a 55-year-old woman told police she was leaving a late-night church event and was making her way to a bus stop when she was approached by a man who grabbed her by the throat. He brandished a shard of glass and dragged her to an abandoned parking lot, where she was raped.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Baltimore Police Department's Sexual Assault unit at 410-396-2076. Here's a map of recent attacks.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Breaking crime
        

My colleague over in sports, Outdoors Writer Candus Thomson, sent me this gem from a different sort of police log:

On Sunday Nov. 1, 2009,  a Sparrows Point, Md man was rescued after becoming lost off Marumsco Rd. in Somerset County. Ronald Andrew Mesaris, 49 of Sparrows Point, Md went into the woods about 8 P.M. on October 31  to look for keys he had lost while hunting earlier in the day. When he didn't return by 1 a.m. his hunting party reported him missing to the Maryland State Police who called Maryland Natural Resources Police for assistance. Officers from both agencies as well as a State Police bloodhound and volunteers from the Marion Station Volunteer Fire Company, took part in the search. Natural Resources Police officers located the man nearly a mile back in the woods. Mesaris was cold and wet but otherwise unharmed.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Mark Hughes, the reporter from The Independent who is here trying to see if Baltimore is indeed like The Wire, is unfortunately finding it easy to find our dysnfunction.

Already, the top prosecutor has told him her office's relationship with police is "schizophrenic," which must get him wondering why the two primary law enforcement agencies can't get along, which in turn must be one reason crime is so high.

The top cops won't talk to him, but he's met a few on Citizen On Patrol walks and Tuesday night he hit the streets with the police union president, who took him to a fatal shooting and other intense calls. Here's a bit from his blog, "Crime: A Tale of Two Cities":

The scene was one which must be familiar to officers, but was new to me. A car riddled with bullet-holes was crashed into another vehicle. Through the open passenger door I could see blood soaking the seat. And on the ground were multiple bullet casings, circled with red chalk and each marked with a yellow number. After listening to detectives exchange theories on what might have happened we left and headed to a project block nearby. There we met two patrolmen who suspected some men in the projects of holding a drug stash. The four police officers split up, two went one side, two the other. Justin and I followed the union guys. Two minutes later, amid the shouts of “five-0”, we heard a scream. The union cops ran in the direction of the shout. Justin and I, for some reason, ran too. When we reached the other side of the projects we learned that the scream was that of a man who was now in handcuffs. After some questioning and a search (no drugs were found) he was released and told to go home.

Later, Mark wrote about how most victims of homicide and most of those suspected of killing them have criminal records, which helps explain that while Baltimore has the country's second-highest murder rate, it's still not terribly dangerous for people engaged in legitimate activities.

It does hearten me that Mark is surprised that so many people seem to be following his work on line and in the newspaper. He always seems surprised when someobody recognizes him, such as when he went out on a walk in South Baltimore's Riverside neighborhhood. And even with the top cops not talking to him, he's met plenty of officers and citizens who have gone out of their way to help him.

Last night, we went on a Citizen On Patrol walk in Southeast Baltimore, in the Patterson Park area. He met a new group of residents striving to keep their neighborhood safe, though it was much quieter than one he did earlier this week in Riverside.

None of the residents or the cop, Officer Eddy Arias (above, chatting with Mark, in a picture taken by The Sun's Gene Sweeney), made any arrests (unlike in Riverside) but he did overhear a call on is radio for a report of shots fired two blocks from where we were at the time, Ellwood and Fairmount.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

The case of the Stolen Number 8 is one step closer to ending.

One of the four young men charged with stealing Cal Ripken Jr.'s statue from in front of Camden Yards back in September pleaded guilty this morning to theft. Jason Stoneburner, left, got a two year suspended jail sentence, probation, community service and will have to pay the Orioles $1904.50.

I guess that's how much the statues outside the ballpark are worth. Three others charged in the crime that left the city marveling at its brazenness and audacity have requested a jury trial that is scheduled to begin on Friday.

As you might remember, the statue was torn off its base, put in a pickup truck and driven around the city until the suspects got into an argument that prompted a resident near Patterson Park to dial 911. Cops came, found the statue and arrested them.

It prompted Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III to proclaim on television: "Don't come to Baltimore to act like a moron."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Breaking crime
        

Our visiting crime reporter from The Independent, Mark Hughes, got a taste of some our problems on Tuesday when he spoke with city State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy. Long documented animosity between her office and the cops once again showed itself, with her describing the relationship between the two as "schizophrenic."

Relations between prosecutors and cops seemed to have improved since the 1990s when they went at it tooth and nail (who can forget O'Malley's profanity-laced tirade against Jessamy) but it appears that there's still some mending to do. I know prosecutors are upset over cop no-shows at trials and over a list Jessamy keeps of officers she deems unfit to testify, rendering them practically useless as cops. And her office has always complained over the quality of policing and what they feel are "abatement" arrests that clog the system but don't go anywhere.

Police routinely complain that Jessamy's office doesn't win as many convictions as they would like and dumps cases by the truckload.

It's an old argument and one that Mark saw first hand while touring the Riverside neighborhood on Monday. He watched cops arrest two strung-out addicts for being disorderly -- they refused to leave the area after an officer told them too. The community love the cops for taking swifty action, but the charges will never hold up.

A perfect example of bad charges, prosecutors say

A perfect example of good community policing, the residents say

The only way to solve a problem and prevent something more serious later on, the cops say

And around and around we go.

Here's the broader picture this argument presents to our visitor: that police and prosecutors, who should be on the same side fighting crime, don't have the same priorities. And that makes the system appear dysfunctional at best.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

One of the most tragic and painful cases I can remember ended today when a man pleaded guilty in connection with the killing former Baltimore Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm's stepdaughter. Details of the plea deal are here (it appears she was killed by someone she knew in a dispute over drugs) and the New York Times profile is here.

It was just last near that the body of Nicole Desiree Sesker was found in Northwest Baltimore, the day after her 39th birthday. In 2005, the New York Times talked at length about her for a story on Baltimore, and how a big-city police chief handled a relative strung on drugs and surviving by prostitution. Above, in a picture by The Sun's Andre Chung, police officers question Sesker after arresting a drug suspect in Northwest Baltimore a day after The Times story was published.

Hamm, a product of Baltimore, was one of the first police commanders I had ever met, and he called me angry about one of the first stories I had ever written. He was commander of the Central District at the time, 1994, and I had written about a man wounded in a hatchet attack. It was a short story, but the then-Evening Sun gave it big play above the fold for its early afternoon edition. He thought we had hyped the story, and he was right.

The New York Times wrote about Hamm and his daughter because it showed how, in a city already known for its addiction to drugs and violence, even the police chief's daughter is not immune. Hamm talked about how difficult it was given she refused all help, and when we had reporters go out the next day, we found police, the very ones who worked for Hamm, arresting a man and giving a lecture to Sesker. In the profile, the New York Times ran a picture of Sesker standing on a corner prostituting herself.

A difficult time for the city. A telling story about how drugs has ravaged some neighborhoods and some lives. And proof that arrests won't get us out of this problem.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 4:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

Our visiting British crime reporter Mark Hughes ended his first full day in Baltimore by walking with the South Baltimore's Riverside community group. They spent about an hour walking through the neighborhood with police, who even made a couple of busts.

He chatted with residents about crime (they're most concerned with car break-ins, loitering and grime) and learned that these walks are an opportunity for people to point out everything from dangling power lines to trash that needs to be picked up to blighted houses. At left, Mark is talking with the Southern District commander, Maj. Scott Bloodsworth, in an alley near Heath and Light streets.

One of the sergeants on the walk ended up arresting a man and a woman on a disorderly charge (the woman was high and both refused to leave), at least temporarily abating a problem for the night.  Mark is here in part because The Wire is so successful in Great Britain (The Sun's Justin Fenton is headed there on Wednesday), but walking through Riverside was a chance for him to see a neighborhood with other, more pedestrian problems.

Mark has a blog up to recount his experiences, and he and The Sun's crime reporter Justin Fenton are on the Ed Norris show, (105.7-FM) this morning at 8:10 a.m. At left, Bloodsworth chats with a woman one of his officers had just arrested on a disorderly charge at Light and Heath streets.

Just before the walk, the spokesman for the mayor's office, suggesting a better column than one was planning to write, sent me a suggestion of his own (NFS stands for non-fatal shooting):

"The Mayor was sworn in on January 17, 2007.  She has been Mayor for 1,022 days. In that 1,022 days, there have been 2,276 combined homicides and NFS. In the 1,022 days before she took office (April 1, 2004 to January 16, 2007) there were 2,558 combined homicides and NFS.  This represents 282 less combined homicides and shootings – a decrease of 11%"

If those numbers are accurate, in the 1,000 days before Sheila Dixon became mayor, the city averaged 2.50 shootings and homicides a day. Under her tenure, the average has dropped to 2.23 a day. There's a disconnect between fear of crime and stats that city leaders just don't seem to get.

Does a crime drop of a few tenths of a percentage point make you feel any safer? Do you even know what that means?

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

Today's report on a string of rapes, mostly in East Baltimore, but also in some other areas, over the past two weeks is troubling in itself, but it also fits a pattern Baltimore police started last year -- they failed to inform the general public.

They did a bit better this time than in the Mount Vernon area last year, when they didn't even tell the residents in the neighborhood, even as detectives were putting up posters with sketches of possible suspects. This time, as Justin Fenton reports, police say commenders were informing residents. But the department failed to update the general public with postings on Twitter and Facebook, or through the news media.

They do a good job of notifying the public about shootings and slayings -- often with posts just moments after the first reports come into 911. But a serial rapist (or possibly two) that triggers a large-scale police operation (and rightfully so) in which women are targeted at bus stops and in one case walking home from church, requires a citywide alert.

Reading Justin Fenton's story in today's Baltimore Sun, the attacks are vicious, in some cases women were threatened with shards of glass and dragged into abandoned parking lots. Many occurred over the Halloween weekend.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
Categories: Breaking crime
        

The embattled Baltimore Police horse unit is hanging on but still needs more money. As you might remember, the city cut its funds last year in the budget crunch and since then the cops have been soliciting money to keep the mounted unit going. Photo of one of the city horses at left by The Sun's Barbara Haddock Taylor.

They need $150,000 to survive the year. A fund-raising effort has netted $70,698.34. Sheryl Goldstein from the mayor's crime office is emphatic that the mounted unit is not going away. "The Unit is intact and the plan is to keep it that way," she told me.

It turns out that Baltimore's is not the only horse unit in trouble. In Boston, supporters of that department's mounted unit started a Facebook page, called Save the Boston Police Mounted Unit, where it was noted the Boston Red Sox donated $400,000 to the department.

But it seems to have gone for naught -- the 140-year-old Boston Police mounted unit disbanded this summer and the Boston Globe reported the horses were bought by a local sheriff and are now resting comfortably on a farm. Five other horses went to the New York Police Department.

To donate money to help the Baltimore Police Department's mounted unit:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

Mark Hughes, our exchange reporter from London's The Independent newspaper, had just gotten off a train from Washington Sunday evening when crime reporter Justin Fenton and I took him to a shooting in McElderry Park in Southeast Baltimore.

What an introduction for a reporter who wants to see if Baltimore measures up to The Wire.

His first view of the city: heading south on St. Paul, east on Orleans to Milton Avenue where a man had been shot in the stomach. I pull up to the crime scene tape, his suitcases still rattling in the back, to find cops looking for a 9mm handgun. The victim survived. It was the first shooting in this neighborhood in a number of months, which for here is a good sign.

Crime scene tape blocked the street; overhead a neighborhood sign showed an image of a body outline and the words "Enough is enough." Up the street, blue light surveillance cameras blinked nonstop.

I want Mark to come away from Baltimore feeling the way I do: yes, there's violence, and more of it than in London and other American cities, but this is a vibrant, exciting and fun place to live, safe in most neighborhoods. We left Milton Avenue and had dinner in Federal Hill, where bars were packed with Ravens fans celebrating the victory, a world away from Milton Avenue and blue light police cameras.

In addition to updates here, we have a blog set up for Mark and Justin to talk about their experiences. Justin heads off to London on Wednesday and will be reporting back on what he sees there. Both reporters will be on the Ed Norris show on Tuesday. As soon as I get a time confirmed, I'll post here.

Meanwhile, welcome Mark to Baltimore.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Breaking crime
        

Today marks the first anniversary of the death of Annie McCann, the 16-year-old from Fairfax, Va. (left), who somehow came to Baltimore and ended up dead near a trash bin in the Perkins Homes publich housing complex.

Many questions remain, and much has been written about this grieving family. I did a two-part series last year and many blogs. The family wrote an op-ed piece last month for this newspaper, and today the Washington Post did an anniversary story). Baltimore police concluded she took her own life by drinking a bottle of Bactine. The Medical Examiner's Office has ruled the death undetermined. Her family says there are too many mysteries to let this case go. (Part I and Part II of a a two-part series last year)

Among the questions:

-- notes left behind indicating suicide but with substantial parts crossed out and one, which left on her bed, indicating she had changed her mind and decided to run away instead

-- how did she get to Baltimore, a city she had only come to a few times in the past, and given she had a terrible time following the simplest of driving directions

-- Could she have killed herself by injesting a 5-ounce bottle of Bactine, which contains the poison lidocaine? Baltimore authorities say yes; a private pathologist hired by the family says no.

-- Police and private investigators have located some if not all the Baltimore teens who say they found her abandoned car, moved her body out of the back seat and took it for a joy ride. The car was found several blocks away. Police have not charged any of the youths with crimes and the family their efforts to file charges to press them to talk have been thwarted by police.

-- The family  has talked with several people who saw Annie in Baltimore before she died but none of their leads, and sketches, have panned out. Was Annie with anyone in the city or did she come alone? Was she lured here by a predator in Virginia (there's still some mysterious calls on her cell phone)?

Here is an updated letter the McCanns have put out on the anniversary of their daughter's death:

Justice for Annie

Today marks a cruel anniversary for us.  Family and friends join our son Sam and us in mourning the loss one year ago of our beautiful daughter, Annie.

Since March 20th, we have known that the Baltimore Police Department has concluded, wrongly, that Annie’s death was due to suicide.  They continue to acknowledge that many, many circumstances surrounding her disappearance and death are unanswered. They are convinced, though, that Annie killed herself by drinking from a partially empty container of Bactine, containing a tiny amount, perhaps a thimbleful, of lidocaine.

We can confirm reporting today in The Washington Post that Dr. Michael Baden, one of the world’s pre-eminent forensic pathologists, has effectively ruled out suicide as the cause of Annie’s death.  Dr, Baden adds further, and with inescapable conviction, that it would require several full containers of Bactine to produce the levels of lidocaine found in Annie’s system.  He concludes that Annie almost certainly died as a result of murder, manslaughter, or accident.  “I would have to know more about the circumstances of the lidocaine ingestion,” said Dr. Baden, “but in no way can this be classified a suicide.”

Who should we believe?  Dr, Baden, a world-class expert who has been consulted on autopsies from President Kennedy to Michael Jackson?  Or the State Medical Examiner, who has lost Annie’s internal organs?

We are stunned to learn from the Post that the Baltimore Police Department believed from the onset of its investigation that Annie death’s was a suicide. This completely undermines the fundamental integrity of the entire investigation into Annie’s death, by the only agency to look into it. What leading questions were asked? What clues were missed, ignored, or discarded? 

Has any witness or any evidence been examined with any rigor? Apparently, the Baltimore Police Department has been completely wrong, and completely close-minded, from the very start.
Told loud enough, the story of what happened to Annie in Baltimore, and what has happened to us since, could blow a fair-sized hole in Baltimore’s three billion dollar a year tourism industry.

The story involves still-misplaced organs…a homicide unit being slowly crushed under the weight of accumulating bodies…an autopsy leaked to the press in February, but withheld from the family until June…senior police officials, armed with handguns but no facts, pounding a table and shouting at grieving parents…the Mayor and other city officials taking as long as four months to answer explicit requests for a beautiful girl’s baby blankets and rosary…police officials fabricating non-existent fingerprint evidence, and concocting preposterous alibis for thugs who have already admitted to dumping a body and stealing a car – but maybe, say the police, the dead girl gave them her permission…

We hope soon to be able to tell tourists that a visit to Baltimore does not place them in mortal peril…that if harm does befall them during a visit, the City will respond with professionalism and compassion…that the Police Department and City Hall will not systematically brutalize victims’ families… that if the Baltimore police somehow leap to, and cling to, demonstrably wrong-headed, unfounded, and close-minded conclusions, and are exposed as having done so, that they are capable of admitting grave error, and newly pursuing the truth.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Annie McCann