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.