Cops, prosecutors and our British visitor
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.
Comments
and...How many murderers are walking the city because Jessamy's office won't try them with only one witness?
Posted by: Herbert | November 4, 2009 12:03 PM
Bingo. I wrote about this on my blog last night, and how the bottom line for Baltimore residents is that they lose out while these public servants bicker.
Keep up the great work and analysis Peter.
Posted by: Jason | November 4, 2009 2:37 PM
Crime: A tale of two cities is perhaps the best initiative I've seen in the Sun in 5 years. Instead of only using crime to sell pulp, the Sun has made the "plague" interesting, comparing B'more's incompetence to another nation's. We know "The Wire" is true and accurate, now we'll have verification. Of course, as long as the cops, the pols, the admin are as dirty as the street thugs, they'll be no end or improvement. we've all grown used to it and now simply exploit the situation where we can.
Posted by: spike | November 6, 2009 10:19 AM