Back to the Future
Peter Hermann writes in today's "Crime Scenes" column that two years of Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III has "basically brought Baltimore back, with improvements, to where things stood when Norris left in 2002."
The 234 murders recorded in 2008 was indeed a 20-year low, but is it or the next year's total, 238, considerably different than the 253 recorded in former Commissioner Edward T. Norris' last year? Overtime spending is half of what it was in 2007, but it's projected to be the same as it was in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Non-fatal shootings are down below Norris' tenure, as are arrests and total violent crime. but in between, under the watch of Kevin Clark and Leonard Hamm, all of these measures soared, and officials say it's taken renewed focus and targeted strategies to get it down to where it was.
"We're doing the same job with less," a spokesman said.
Now that the numbers have returned to whre they were in the early part of the last decade, Bealefeld thinks the systems and philosophies are in place for bigger things in the years to come: "We've just started. We really are at the tip of the iceberg at getting the full buy-in from the patrol forces. But if this city stays committed to this strategy over the long haul, you're going to see incredible results."
Comments
Dear Mr. Fenton,
As a member of the Baltimore Guardian Angels I have the privilege of working with many officers throughout the city.
The Baltimore City Police continue to perform valiantly.
My thanks to all the rank and file who work so hard to protect the citizens of Baltimore.
To the citizens of Baltimore City.
Answer this:
Can Baltimore City have a police officer stationed at every corner?
Can Baltimore City have a police officer stationed in front of every house?
Are you so complacent that you think the government should do everything? Are you so brain washed that you believe the government can do everything?
Wake up Dorothy you ain't in Kansas anymore.
May communities in Baltimore conduct COP walks. Jack Baker is considered by many as the foremost authority on COP community walks.
If you community does not have organized COP walks on a regular basis and you want to know how get in touch with Jack. I have never know him to turn down any community who wants to take back their streets.
The Baltimore City Police are partnering up with you to fight crime in your city and in your neighborhoods. But they can't do it alone.
Visit you local precinct. Find out what you can do as a citizen to help yourself, the police and your neighborhood.
Reports of criminal activity ARE KEPT CONFIDENTIAL.
BALTIMORE TAKE BACK YOUR NEIGHBORHOODS!!!!!
You can be part of the cure or part of the problem.
You decide....
Posted by: Taxman | February 4, 2010 2:37 PM