Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III said in a radio interview this afternoon that the police department is scaling back the security detail outside of former Mayor Sheila Dixon's house, which the Sun wrote last week remained intact during a blizzard and despite her resignation as part of sentencing for a criminal conviction.

"Like any of the other security details that we're associated with, they have to be phased out, and it has to be done in an appropriate way. You have to evaluate what the security concerns are... that's not an unusual practice. It's not something that's not without precedent," Bealefeld told Ron Smith on WBAL 1090 AM.

In our article, we noted that Mayor Kurt Schomke said his detail remained intact for a few weeks - and his house was promptly burglarized not long after. Sources told me that after the story, and subsequent editorial, appeared in the paper, police altered the deployment. For obvious reasons, I won't get into the specifics, but its fair to say its being scaled back.

"It's a balance," Bealefeld told Smith. "We've altered the way the deployment is conducted, and it's different from what it was. As we progress along, it'll change according to those assessments. It's a matter of transitioning from what she had, to eventually getting and having no security there at all."

Bealefeld also chafed at the notion that last weekend's snow was the reason that crime was muted over the past week. He noted that there was looting in 1979 and "cops got a pinch for that." "This team of people deserve a huge amount of credit for keeping this city functioning during that critical time," he said. "... Their work shouldnt' be cheapened by theories about cold weather and barometric readings."

Of course, as we've noted in this space multiple times, there were six homicides during the first two major snow storms that hit the area this season, including two on the weekend of Feb. 6-7, so it's hard to chalk up the past eight murder-free days solely to the elements.