The Sun's Justin Fenton, having recently returned from our reporter exchange in London, brings us a story today about a murder investigation and a special squad of British cops called Trident. What strikes me is that they've got 40 cops assigned to one killing.

The Trident unit has 300 officers and a $44 million budget. Baltimore cops have about 70 homicide detectives investigating murder; the homicide unit has a budget of $5.3 million (the Criminal Investigation Division's budget is $38 million).

London, a city of about 7.5 million, has had 110 homicides this year, 17 of which involved guns. Baltimore, a city of about 640,000 has had 208 slayings so far this year, most with guns.

It's impressive that London puts so many resources into homicide, and this unit specifically targets black-on-black gun murders in London's ethnic neighborhoods, where police, as in Baltimore, complain that distrust of law enforcement hampers their ability to solve crime.

It's an interesting read; you'll notice many similarities and differences between Baltimore and London.