A Baltimore jury today convicted a man of attempted murder and rape in the first of three sexual assualt trials scheduled for the supsect.

William Vincent Brown faces up to 50 years in prison. Baltimore Sun reporter Tricia Biship reports:

Brown was accused of acting as an illegal "hack" taxi driver and picking up the victim in April 2003, assaulting and brutally beating her. He nearly severed her ears from her head, according to the woman's pre-trial testimony, and dumped her comatose body in Leakin Park.

He has another trial scheduled for March in the rape and beating death of a 25-year-old woman, and a third trial scheduled for April in the rape and beating death of a 15-year-old girl.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Courts and the justice system
        

The city’s police and fire unions announced plans Monday to picket a national convention of mayors to be held in Baltimore in June, in an effort to force a compromise with Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake over furlough days and pension benefits, The Sun's Julie Scharper reports.

Fraternal Order of Police President Robert F. Cherry (seen at right at a Jan. 7 rally outside City Hall) said he was inviting police and fire unions from across the country to join the protest, which he hoped to spark a “a national discussion about prioritizing public safety.”

The police and firefighters unions have been sparring with Rawlings-Blake since she pushed through an overhaul of their pension system last year that saves the city money but cuts benefits. Tensions increased last month when city officials cut police officers’ pay by nearly 2 percent over the next six months.

A spokesman for Rawlings-Blake said in an emailed statement that it would be “counterproductive to disrupt an event that will generate economic activity and tax revenue to support city services, including police and fire.”

[Picture by Sun photographer Gene Sweeney Jr.]

Posted by Justin Fenton at 5:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: City Hall
        

City police today appealed to the public for help in solving the Jan. 2 killing of Hezikah Wilson, the 38-year-old autistic man fatally shot while letting out the family dog.

Wilson lived with his mother in the 5600 block of Plymouth Rd. in Northeast Baltimore and is the brother of a city police officer, and investigators have no leads in the case, Det. Jeremy Silbert said. He was wearing slippers and had only stepped out for a moment, and nothing was taken from him:

"Hezikah Wilson III didn't have an enemy in the world.

He didn't have friends, either. Aside from running an occasional errand, the 38-year-old autistic man rarely left the house he shared with his diabetic mother in Northeast Baltimore. He made sure she took her medication, and prepared her meals.

He also let the dog out, something he was doing Sunday night when someone shot him in the shoulder and killed him."

Police say they need the public's help to spark new leads in the case. Anyone with information is asked to call homicide detectives at 410-396-2100.

It's been a rough start to the year in general, with police making arrests in just one of the 15 killings so far in 2011, though a handful of cases from last year have been closed in recent weeks.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 4:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northeast Baltimore
        

Baltimore police are still working on their investigation into the Jan. 9 shooting at Select Lounge that left a city officer and 22-year-old civilian dead, officials say.

At a press conference three weeks ago, Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III said the investigation would take about three weeks, but officials say they are still awaiting an autopsy report. Cindy Feldstein, of the state medical examiner's office, confirmed that a cause and manner of death was promptly identified but that the full report has not been turned over. "We don't provide preliminary reports," Feldstein said, noting that a complete report often takes about a month.

In the meantime, Bealefeld is pushing forward with assembling a panel that will review the department's findings. Aides say that instead of referring the investigation to another agency, city officials want to form a commission of representatives from various organizations to review the case. 

Officer William H. Torbit and Sean Gamble were fatally shot in a melee outside the downtown club. It is believed that Torbit shot Gamble after being overwhelmed in a large crowd, then Torbit was shot by fellow officers who did not realize who he was. The five officers fired a total of 41 rounds. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: City Hall, Downtown, Police shootings, Top brass
        

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced today the introduction of bills in Annapolis to strengthen penalties for illegal gun possession and use.

She also introduced a new social media site to keep track of the bills as they wind their way through the legislature and to provide information on efforte to stem gun violence in Baltimore. The site is called Safer City Baltimore.

According to the mayor, the bills would:

One City administration proposal, SB239 HB252 would create a minimum sentence of 18 months for all defendants arrested with an illegal, loaded firearm. The other City administration proposal, SB240/HB241 would strengthen sentencing options for felons in possession of guns by creating a tougher sentencing range of 5 years minimum to 15 years maximum, giving judges more sentencing options when faced with a repeat gun offender.

The mayor and police commissioner on Friday held a news conference to highlight an arrest of a suspected violent gun offender. For more information, here is the text of the mayor's statement on the new bills:

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s two state proposals for tougher penalties for illegal, loaded guns were introduced on the behalf of the City administration to the Maryland General Assembly today. The Mayor urged Baltimore’s public safety unions to support the legislation. A new social media website, baltimorecity.gov/SaferCity, went live today to support the new illegal gun legislation.

“I urge everyone—business leaders, community leaders, and everyday citizens who care about the future of Baltimore—to join me in Annapolis this year for this cause,” Mayor Rawlings-Blake said. “I also specifically ask the leaders of our public safety unions to join the fight for tougher penalties for illegal, loaded gun possession so we can stop the revolving door of justice, continue to reduce gun violence in Baltimore, and keep our police officers safe when they patrol our neighborhoods.”

One City administration proposal, SB239 / HB252 would create a minimum sentence of 18 months for all defendants arrested with an illegal, loaded firearm. The other City administration proposal, SB240 / HB241 would strengthen sentencing options for felons in possession of guns by creating a tougher sentencing range of 5 years minimum to 15 years maximum, giving judges more sentencing options when faced with a repeat gun offender.

Mayor Rawlings-Blake and Police Commissioner Bealefeld have repeatedly noted that 44% of homicide suspects in 2010 have a prior gun arrest; yet 82% of all jail time imposed by Baltimore’s criminal courts for gun offenders charged with these crimes was suspended, and the average amount of jail time served by misdemeanor gun offenders is only four months.

“The current laws are not strong enough and support a culture that tolerates illegal, loaded gun possession on the streets of our city and state,” Mayor Rawlings-Blake said.

The new social media website, (Baltimore Safer City) contains information about the bills, links to related news articles, editorial commentary, and press releases as well as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube content. Maryland residents who support the legislation are urged to join a growing coalition of business, community, faith, government, and institutional leaders by signing-up with their e-mail address and linking with friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter. The website provides a fact sheet and will provide updates on the status of the legislation as it moves through the legislative process.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: City Hall
        

A fire tonight destroyed the Charles Village Pub in Towson, a popular hangout for Towson University students.

The blaze was first reported shortly before 7:30 p.m. and might have started in the kitchen. About 100 firefighters battled the blaze, near the traffic circle, which shut down numerous streets on a busy Saturday night.

The photo was taken by The Sun's Jerry Jackson. Reporter Arthur Hirsch reported:

 "I spent half of my college existence in that building," said April Shaw of Towson, who graduated with a mass communications degree in 2003.  "I just texted my college roommates" to tell them about the fire, she said.

Paul Donhauser, who took some classes at Towson University and now works as law clerk nearby, said he goes to the restaurant occasionally for lunch and went often when he was in school. "It was definitely a college bar," he said. The fire appeared to be under control by about 8:30 p.m. but firefighters remained at the scene, still showering the building with water, although most of the smoke had dissipated by 10 p.m.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore County, Breaking news
        

Anne Arundel County police are investigating the death of a 63-year-old woman who apparently was shot to death during a robbery in Glen Burnie. The Sun's Jessica Anderson and Scott Calvert report that her body was found in her car (at left).

The victim has been identified as Myra Elizabeth Cason. The shooting occurred Friday about 11 a.m. in a parking lot in the 7300 block of Ritchie Highway. She suffered a gunshot wound to the chest while inside her Suzuki Sidekick.

Anderson and Calvert write:

Cason was last seen leaving Maryland Primary Care Physicians around 7:50 a.m. She was discovered later in the parking lot in front of a Pep Boys and a Gavigan's furniture store, police said.

She was pronounced dead at the scene and was taken to the medical examiner's office in Baltimore. Police said the motive appeared to be robbery. Homicide Detective Michele Mangold said police believe the killer was in the car with Cason and forced her to drive to the parking lot around 8:30 a.m. Mangold said police believe Cason had been shot by 8:50 a.m., when a witness saw shattered glass in the parking lot near the Sidekick.

Mangold said it is unclear where Cason was between leaving the doctor's office and arriving at the parking lot. "We need the public to come forward to let us know if you saw her," Mangold said Saturday evening at the crime scene. She said Cason had no criminal record and belonged to a sorority that did charity work.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Anne Arundel County
        

In December, Tonya Gettis' husband was shot during a home invasion at their Northeast Baltimore residence. Men kicked in their door, claimed to be police officers, and bound her hands and covered her mouth with duct tape. Her husband, Christian, was led outside and shot multiple times.

After 15 days at his bedside at the hospital, Tonya Gettis said police told her she couldn't make any more visits. She complained to WBAL-TV, which aired a story that led to her being allowed to resume visiting him.

Tonya and Christian Gettis are in the news again this week - this time for being arrested on federal drug conspiracy charges. The Sun's Tricia Bishop reports that Tonya Gettis had her initial appearance in court on Wednesday, and she had a detention hearing Friday. 

Details of the case are unclear, as documents have yet to be made available on the federal court system's database, but it's believed that the case is part of a broader investigation. We'll update the case when additional details become available.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 6:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Courts and the justice system
        

They met through a chance encounter as youths in Pittsburgh, brothers born to different mothers who had grown up in the same neighborhood with no knowledge of the other.

Curtis Anthony Warren would go on to become a military veteran and federal law enforcement officer, while Curtis Anthony Pounds struggled to stay out of trouble. When they crossed paths years later, Warren would encourage his brother to move into one of his rental properties in Baltimore so he could help him straighten out his life.

On April 5, 2009, Warren fatally shot Pounds. He is charged with first-degree murder.

At trial this week, Warren maintained that the shooting was a tragic mistake. Sleeping in the basement of the Northeast Baltimore home where Pounds, 31, rented a room, Warren said he was awoken by men who he believed to be burglars.

The 38-year-old Iraq war veteran and investigator for the Department of Veterans Affairs said he fired a 9 mm handgun three times into the darkness at a shadowy figure he saw coming toward him, then flipped on the light to discover his brother lying in a pool of blood.

But police and prosecutors don’t believe Warren’s story. Another tenant in the home testified that he witnessed Warren – whom he called “Big Curtis” – argue with Pounds – “Little Curtis” – before hearing gunshots. Prosecutors are seeking a first degree murder conviction.

“When the defendant first pulled the gun, what did the victim do?” asked prosecutor Tonya LaPolla.

“Little Curtis put his hands in the sky like this,” testified tenant Damon Dorsey, 21, raising both arms.

“What happened then?”

“Big Curtis shot him,” Dorsey said.

To read more about this week's proceedings, click here.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 6:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, Northeast Baltimore
        

Baltimore's police commissioner and mayor are having a news conference (4:15 p.m.) to announce an arrest of a person they call a significant gun criminal. Police in Northwest Baltimore arrested the man, Michael Nichols, 31, Thursday evening.

He's at left in a police mug shot.

According to a police charging document, an officer got a call for an armed man in the 2300 block of Reiserstown Road. The man was wearing an Army camouflage jacket with a hat adorned with snowflakes and had just entered a location with an AK-47.

Police said the man jumped off a back second-floor balcony when the officer arrived but was arrested by a back-up officer. According to the court document, the man admitted that he had two guns in the house and thought the cops were there to arrest him for violating his parole.

Authorities then obtained a search warrant for the residence and confiscated several weapons. They include: a 9mm Luger handgun loaded with nine rounds; a High Point .45 caliber handgun loaded with five bullets; suspected marijuana; and suspected heroin.

The court document also says that the man told police he had a Tech 9 gun hidden in his mother's basement in a tool box on Bentalou Street. Police said they found the gun, loaded with 17 bullets, along with a box containing 28 rounds of ammunition.

At this moment, police and the mayor are giving more details (watch the news conference here). Check back to the Baltimore Sun for a more complete news story.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 4:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Breaking news, Confronting crime, Top brass, West Baltimore
        

The high school in Monroe, N.C., where 17-year-old Phylicia Barnes was senior, announced a reward of $25,000 for information leading to her recovery. The honor student disappeared Dec. 28 while visiting relatives in Northwest Baltimore.

The search has become one of the Baltimore Police Department's biggest missing persons cases, at one point involving half the agency's homicide squad. The FBI in Baltimore and Washington are still involved.

Here are some past news stories on Barnes, and the following is information from Barnes' school, Union Academy, in North Carolina:

"In November of this past year at the Annual Ultimate Charity Auction hosted by the Union Academy Foundation a fund was created to help students at Union Academy in financial need. This fund was named the Phil Hargett Memorial Fund in memory of the late City of Monroe Councilman, grandfather of Union Academy students and community leader. Over $25,000.00 was raised the night of the auction for this fund.

Since that time as you all know, Phylicia Barnes, a beautiful, loving and gifted student of Union Academy has disappeared while in Baltimore Md. during the Christmas Holidays. We continue to have faith that Phylicia is out there somewhere.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Breaking news, Northwest Baltimore
        

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's Open Baltimore initiative has made a trove of data about city crime available, and one of the first things I wanted to do with my limited technical skills was to use the crime by month data to analyze trends over the course of the year. We've long had access to weekly crime data, but haven't had a clean, month-by-month breakdown until now. One major hangup is that the data does not include December, but we'll work around that.

Since last year, people have been tweaking the city's crime declines as simply a function of the bad weather brought on by the "Snowpocalypse" early in the year. That's largely unfair, as there has been a sustained reduction in crime - particularly violent crime - going back three years now. But the data also confirms those assumptions that there was a dramatic plunge in most types of crimes in February, when the worst of the snow hit. Be it the overall cold weather, the snow, the fact that the month is the shortest of the year, or a combination of all three, February was unquestionably good for the bottom line.

Let's take a look first at property crimes:

As you can see, that's a drastic decline, particularly with larcenies and burglaries, which fell to nearly half of the totals recorded in the preceding month. They quickly snapped back in March, and continuing to climb as the whether got warmer, peaking in August. I'm struck less by the low totals in January and February than the relative consistency throughout the rest of the year. Keep in mind too that property crime might not necessarily have dropped to the extent we see here, but that police had limited ability to respond to such lower-priority calls for a stretch during the month.

What about violent crime? Homicides and shootings followed an expected pattern of rising and falling in the spring and fall. Robberies, however, followed a curious pattern.

Whether its an anomaly or some combination of street enforcement and other factors, robberies took a bizarre drop in June, even as the city recorded its highest number of aggravated assaults and third highest number of shootings. The June robbery figure was even 17 percent lower than the January total. I'll explore that in a subsequent post.

Lastly, here's a chart with reports of rape for 2010. You can see the huge spike after The Sun's story in June about the Police Department's ongoing "unfounding" of rape reports that prompted a change in policies for patrol officers and detectives:

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

The final police report on the death of Baltimore Police Officer Thomas Portz brought back some painful reminders of a horrific crash in which a cruiser crashed into the back of a fire engine in West Baltimore.

Understandably, it was particularly hard on the family. The officer's sister, Karen Portz, e-mailed me asking why we hadn't written more about her brother and the good things he did when he was alive. She asked that post her thoughts in their entirety:

I understand you have an article to write even though every time another person from the media brings this back up it rips back into us (his family) as if it is the day he died and we are just receiving that first phone call.

However when you say he was not responding to an emergency call as you put it you make it sound like he was not responding to a call. Tommy Portz is my brother. He is a son and a husband and a father. He is someone who you will never be lucky enough to meet or worse ever know.

He put his life on the line everyday because he BELIEVED in what he did. He moved from Long Island to a city filled with crime. He was offered numerous times to get out of the Western but stayed because of the bonds he had built with his district and on the streets. He talked to the businesses, he knew the owners. He played basketball with the kids in the neighborhood trying to show them the cops were not bad and were there to help them.

There are so many things you (the media) will never report about him that should make the front page.  Instead he dies and his picture is what is on the front page of the paper, my family is on the front page of the newspaper not for anything good. None of you cared about Tommy or my family before he died but now I can’t look anywhere without seeing him or us in print. My brother loved his job. He loved making a difference. Funny how no one will ever print all the good things he did.

For more:

I wrote back that restrictions placed on the media but top police commanders make it difficult for us as reporters to spend time with officers on the street, so we don't get many chances to write about them until they are involved in some sort of tragedy -- be it theirs or someone else's. Also, police had asked us not to cover Portz's funeral, at the request of the family, so that coverage was muted as well.

I didn't want to come off as defensive, but I wanted her to know that I too would have loved to write more about his brother during his life and after his death, but we are too often stymied by city officials who work hard to keep us on the periphery of the department.

Karen Portz wrote back one of the more heartfelt letters I've ever received:

I honestly didn't expect a response and such a thought out one as that.  I appreciate what you wrote. I am aware that you let us know before it was coming out and I am thankful for that and like I said earlier I understand you have facts to report.  It is just such a hard thing to continually have to relive.  
 
I understand as far as the reporters being asked  to stay afar for the funeral and when we received the 9/11 Flag. We were asked if we would want to say anything but to be completely honest with you we were in no frame of mind to be able to say anything without crumbling.  Walking through the airport that day was one of the most amazing yet difficult things we as a family have ever done.

That picture taken of us that was on the cover of the Baltimore Sun is the first picture of our family without Tommy. You can't see it in the picture but my 12 year old son is walking behind the officer carrying the flag. We as a family knew that none of us would make it through an interview at that time or even a statement.

We felt so much love and support from everyone involved with his funeral and would love to be able to thank every single one of them. All the people who stood on the side of the road saluting him as we went to the cemetery, little kids with their hands over their hearts watching us go by was so amazing to us. They will never know how that touched us. It is ingrained in our minds and hearts forever.  

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

Thursday's snowstorm that created havoc on area roadways and forced people to abandon their cars on the JFX also caused at least two deaths -- an elderly man hit by a snowplow in Anne Arundel County and a taxi driver trapped in a burning car.

Police said the taxi driver apparently got stuck in the snow about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday at Grenada and Norfolk avenues in Northwest Baltimore. His car caught fire and police said the man could not get out. He died in the car.

In Anne Arundel County, police said a 77-year-old man walking on Mountain Road was hit and killed by a snowplow. It occurred about 2:30 this morning and police said the plow driver didn't stop.

The accident is under investigation.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Anne Arundel County, Northwest Baltimore
        

A woman who was found fatally shot last month near Leakin Park was dealing drugs and providing information to police about three men who detectives believe took her from her home the morning of her death, according to court records.

Baltimore police confirmed Tuesday that they had made an arrest in the death of Cherrie Gammon, a 25-year-old mother and dancer on The Block who was shot multiple times on Dec. 12. Hassan Muhammed, 32, of the 1600 block of Guilford Ave., was arrested and charged with murder on Jan. 17.

Gammon struggled with drugs, and friends and family feared that it had played a role in her death. Court records show that not only was Gammon using drugs, she had begun selling and was providing information to police.

Anthony Guglielmi, the Baltimore Police Department's chief spokesman, said he could not confirm or deny whether Gammon was a police informant.

Witnesses told police that she was selling heroin and crack cocaine for Donte "Tay" Baker, Muhammed, who is known as "Rowland," and a man nicknamed "Miami," records show. The witnesses said the men took her from her home in the early morning hours of Dec. 12 and drove her to the area where she was shot and killed.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Downtown, West Baltimore, Witness intimidation
        

Via Balt Tech blogger Gus Sentementes:

Big news today out of Baltimore: the long-anticipated (by this blog) release of data sets by the city has finally arrived.

There's crime data, 311 data, tax data, parking citation data -- and much, much more. The data is available at this site: http://data.baltimorecity.gov/

What's cool about this new site is that it doesn't only allow you to view the data. Programmers and hackers and web geeks can export the data and come up with their own presentation methods for displaying the data.

There's several sets and subsets of crime data over several pages. Paul Smith, co-founder of EveryBlock, uploaded the overall crime data - which covers the time period of Jan. 1 to Nov. 30 - in a sortable Google map found here.

There's much to dissect.

I'm already astonished to see the amount of data points for certain types of crimes, though over the course of an entire year it's not really all that surprising - we've just never seen it like this. The Police Department's archaic crime mapping program, which allowed you to search 14 days at a time going back 90 days - was incredibly frustrating to use and ultimately ignored by the public. Equally surprising are some of the areas that show no crime at all. We'll be analyzing the data in the days to come, but post comments about interesting trends you are seeing.

Here's one quirk Paul already found: At least 170 crimes - including at least one shooting that is supposed to display in Perkins Homes - show up for a seemingly random data point in West Virginia. The FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program is located in Charleston, W Va., but that's not where this point is showing up. I'm seeking clarification from the city.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: City Hall
        

Baltimore police just announced an arrest of a car jacking suspect:

"On January 25, 2011, Northwest District officers were flagged down by an individual who stated he was just car-jacked. Immediately, officers began a search of the area for the victims vehicle.

Officers located the Honda mini-van a short time later. The suspect was subsequently arrested after attempting to elude officers on foot.

Along with the victims vehicle, additional property taken during the incident was recovered as well.

The suspect has been identified as Dion Williams, DOB: 1/14/75.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Breaking news, Northwest Baltimore
        

From today's Baltimore Sun (reported by Yeganeh June Torbati):

Gun control policies should focus on restricting access to firearms for dangerous individuals or repeat offenders rather than making guns illegal, a prominent gun policy scholar told a group of public health students on Tuesday.

Daniel W. Webster, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, touched on Baltimore police tactics and the Jan. 8 mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz., where six people were killed and 13 wounded, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Too often, he said, the national debate on gun control divides into groups — those claiming that guns are not responsible for people's violent actions against those who say there are far too many guns available in America.

"This discussion has gotten us to where we are today, which is nowhere," said Webster, who has served as an informal adviser to Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III. "We get in these silly sorts of discussions about guns are good, guns are bad."

Webster is well known around the Baltimore Police Department. Back in October, The Sun's police reporter, Justin Fenton, reported on a grant the city got from the federal government that will allow Webster to study the police commissioner's bad guys with guns strategy:

The $300,000 Smart Policing Grant will be used to support the work of the department's Violent Crime Impact Section, a plainclothes deployment of officers focused in East, West and Northwest Baltimore, and the gun offender registry, which helps keep tabs on people convicted of gun offenses.It will also fund an evaluation of the department's effectiveness in those areas

For two years, Webster and a researcher will compare crime statistics and police strategies to provide a template for other cities.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Confronting crime, Top brass
        

SNOWWWWWWWWWW! !

That's stating the obvious, I know, but it comes via Twitter, courtesy of the Baltimore Fire Department firefighters union #734. It's my way of passing along the latest public safety news!

Not to be outdone, Baltimore police put this up on Twitter: "DRIVING ADVISORY: Winter weather conditions are making area roads very slick. Please drive with care and consider staying home."

Of course, the rank and file firefighters and paramedics would be remiss if they didn't also remind you, again via Twitter, that the city continues to close fire companies to save money. So along with storm news, you get this:

Units closed to save money today are Engine 5 & Engine 8. Engine 43 is closed for maintenance. Use caution walking & driving in winter weather.

Engine 8 operates from a firehouse in the 1500 block of West LaFayette Avenue. The house also has a truck and a medic which are operational Engine 5 is out of the Roman Kaminski station in the 2100 block of Eastern Ave.

But enough politics. The last Twitter from Baltimore police was last night, with a man shot in the back in the 800 block of Lennox St. No word yet on his condition. Meanwhile, Liz F. Kay is reporting that the snow you see this morning is "just a teaser" of what we'll see later today and tonight.

Check out the rest of The Baltimore Sun for more snow news, including accidents and road conditions, and closing information. Or better yet, head to Frank Roylance's Maryland Weather blog, Let's see if the adage prove true -- more snow equals less crime.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Anne Arundel County, Baltimore County, Breaking news, Carroll County, Downtown, East Baltimore, Howard County, North Baltimore, Northeast Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore, Southeast Baltimore, Southwest Baltimore, West Baltimore
        

At the Northwest District's monthly community relations meeting Tuesday night, community leaders wanted to talk about drug dealers congregating outside of vacant buildings, juvenile curfew issues, and how they can educate residents to cut down on the volume of calls police field in a given day.

The assault case against two members of a Jewish patrol group in the area wasn't on the agenda.

The incident has been explosive fodder on talk radio and Internet forums, and drew a small group of protesters Monday to the downtown courthouse to criticize police and new State's Attorney Gregg Bernstein for their handling of the investigation.

Maj. Johnny Delgado told residents Tuesday night that those speaking out "have no stake or interest in our community and how we do business here" and urged residents to continue working together.

“I’ve never seen any of these people at our meetings – they don’t understand the partnerships in our community,"Delgado said. We had an incident, but we’ve been moving forward and working to solve crime issues together.”

Others said the incident has indeed reopened deep divisions in the community.

“It’s opened a can of worms that’s always been there, and I venture to say will always be there until people can talk honestly about their differences,” said Klondike Potts, president of the Garrison Hill Community Association, who said the incident conjures up racial profiling."We've all had things like that happen to us in our lives."

Her group's treasurer, Debbie Hines, nodded in agreement. "She said it all," Hines said.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 9:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

William G. Hillar of Millersville said he is an Army Special Forces retired colonel who's traveled the world fighting terrorism and advising foreign military organizations. He claims to have a bachelor's degree in psychology, a master's in education and a doctorate in health education.

And he frequently speaks out against human trafficking, claiming in marketing materials that his only daughter was kidnapped, forced into the sex industry and killed — a story that became the basis, he has said, for the 2008 film "Taken," starring Liam Neeson.

But authorities say they can find no evidence of a military background, other than a relatively tame stint with the Coast Guard in the 1960s, according to an FBI affidavit filed in Maryland U.S. District Court, reports The Sun's Tricia Bishop. The University of Oregon says it never awarded him a post-secondary degree, either, and others question the story about his daughter.

"This is someone that we still really don't know who he is," Maryland Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Wise said during Hillar's initial appearance in court Tuesday afternoon.

The federal case is the second one filed this month claiming that a Maryland man has lied about military credentials. On Jan. 13, a separate criminal complaint was filed against 25-year-old Joseph Lawler for falsely claiming to have earned a U.S. military medal. Lawler is scheduled to appear in Greenbelt U.S. District Court next month.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 6:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Anne Arundel County
        

A judge on Maryland's highest appellate court has announced plans to retire and join a Baltimore law firm, Liz F. Kay reports.

Judge Joseph F. Murphy Jr. has served on the Court of Appeals since 2007, after spending 14 years as a Court of Special Appeals judge, including 11 years as its chief judge.

Murphy, 67, also spent nine years as a Baltimore County Circuit Court judge.

His main focus will be to establish an alternative dispute resolution center for the firm of Silverman, Thompson, Slutkin & White, where his daughter is an appellate laywer. He will privately mediate state and federal litigation on the trial or appellate level, said managing partner Steven D. Silverman, but "ethically he feels it would be improper for him to appear before state court judges," Silverman said.

Murphy will represent clients in federal courts, however.

"Judge Murphy embodies Maryland's legal system," said Shaun Adamec, a spokesman for O'Malley. "It's not as though he can be easily replaced."

Posted by Justin Fenton at 4:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Courts and the justice system
        

Baltimore police have concluded their investigation into the October accident that killed a city police officer whose cruiser slammed into the back of fire engine.

The report concludes that Officer Thomas Portz Jr., 32, was most likely distracted by a film crew using the opposite lanes of U.S. 40 to record the final scene of an independent movie. The report, obtained under a Public Information Act request, says the officer was speeding at 71 mph (in a 50 mph zone) and was not wearing his seat belt.

Photo was taken by The Sun's Barbara Haddock Taylor.

From our news story:

Just before the accident, the city Fire Department received a call for a sick person in the area and firefighters on Engine 8 had stopped in the eastbound lane of U.S. 40, near the Stricker Street footbridge, and were looking for the source of the call.

Portz also was driving east on the U.S. 40, and the report concludes he was probably looking at the film crew and didn’t see the stopped fire engine. Portz was not responding to an emergency call at the time. Police identified the firefighter driving the engine only as a 41-year-old male.

The report says Portz had been speeding at 71 mph — the speed limit is 50 mph on that portion of roadway — but slammed on is brakes 2.5 seconds before impact. Detective Patty A. Baur, a traffic collision reconstruction expert with the police crash team, said in the report that the police car was traveling 62 mph a split-second before impact.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 3:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Breaking news, Top brass, West Baltimore
        

Anne Arundel County police are searching for a gunman who held up an Exxon gas station in the 8000 block of Crain Highway South on Jan. 10. The robbery occurred shortly after 10:30 p.m. at the Glen Burnie station.

Police said the man bought something, left, and returned a few minutes later with a small handgun. They said he threatened an employee and took an undisclosed amount of money. He was last seen running toward the nearby Green Tree apartments.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Detective Eric Wills at (410) 222-3432 (3566) or Metro Crime Stoppers at the following:

If you have information on the above incident, please call, email, or text your tip to Metro Crime Stoppers Hotline Available 24-Hours A Day Toll Free at 1-866-7LOCKUP or Text “MCS plus your message” to CRIMES (274637).

Visit Metro Crime Stoppers. . Phone calls are not recorded and callers remain anonymous. You may also be eligible for a cash reward of up to $2,000.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Anne Arundel County
        

Police confirmed today that Baltimore homicide detectives have made an arrest in the Dec. 12 killing of Cherrie Gammon, a 25-year-old mother and dancer on The Block who was found shot to death near Leakin Park. 

Hassan Muhammed, 32, of the 1600 block of Guilford Ave., is charged with first-degree murder and related charges, online court records show. He was arrested on Jan. 17 at 5:30 a.m., police said.

Gammon's body was found on the side of the road in the 1400 block of North Franklintown Road. Gammon struggled with drugs, and friends and family feared that played a role in her death. We're working to confirm details of the arrest.

Muhammad, who appears to have aliases making his criminal record unclear, is being held without bond, according to court records. At right is his mug shot from Central Booking.

The arrest comes as police have struggled to close cases early in 2011. Only one of this year's 13 killings has been solved - the New Year's Day stabbing of 21-year-old David Jones in Curtis Bay.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: West Baltimore
        

Carrying signs and bundled in down coats, about three dozen people marched through Cherry Hill on Monday evening, demanding an end to the violence that has left four people shot — two fatally — in less than a week, The Sun's Julie Scharper reports.

They gathered at the corner where a former high school basketball star was gunned down while in a friend's car and marched a few blocks to the spot where a football coach was shot while his wife strapped their toddler into a car seat.

"They were breathing air. They had a life. And now they're gone," said Janell Thomas, an organizer with the nonprofit violence-prevention group Safe Streets. "We have to stop letting guns take over our communities."

"We don't want this to be routine," she said. Organizers said the spate of fatal shootings is extremely rare for Cherry Hill.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: South Baltimore
        

From the Maryland Politics blog:

An emotional Montel Williams joined legislators today in Annapolis to urge the General Assembly to legalize medical marijuana.

The talk show host and Baltimore native suffers from multiple sclerosis and says he uses marijuana -- and nine other medications -- every day to alleviate pain. He tearfully said traditional opiates don't work for him any longer. "I've used too many," he said.

At his side were Sens. Jamie Raskin and David Brinkley, both cancer survivors who, though they said they don't use marijuana, can understand why some patients need the drug. They are among several Maryland lawmakers who are sharing personal stories this year to advocate for legislation.

The legislation is similar to a bill that overwhelmingly passed the Senate last year but stalled in the House of Delegates. Morhaim said that he took into account concerns expressed last year by fellow delegates, and this year's bill further tightens how physicians can prescribe it and explicitly prohibits all use in motor vehicles.

The bill is slated to be introduced this week, its sponsors said. It is expected to have bipartisan support: Even new Senate minority leader Nancy Jacobs is signing on as a co-sponsor.

[Photo by Kris Turner]

Posted by Justin Fenton at 6:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

A 36-year-old man was shot and killed Sunday night in East Baltimore when men began shooting from a white van that pulled up alongside him at a traffic light, and a 31-year-old man was killed Monday afternoon in Southwest Baltimore.

The killings mean the city, with 13 killings, has surpassed its total for all of last January, though the number is still below the average total for the month in previous years.

An officer found Antonio Lamont Lee, 36, in the driver’s seat of his vehicle, slumped over the passenger seat. Lee had been waiting at a stop light in a 2010 Acura sedan in the 1400 block of E. Monument St. when the van pulled up and suspects opened fire, police said.

The van turned northbound on Caroline Street then turned west on Madison Street. Lee was transported to Johns Hopkins Hospital, which is a block away from where the shooting took place, where he was pronounced dead at 11:20 p.m., police said.

On Monday afternoon, police were called to the 500 block of S. Fulton Ave., in the Carrollton Ridge neighborhood, at about 3:25 p.m. and found an unidentified man suffering from gunshot wounds to the head and stomach, police said.

He was transported to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead. Police did not have a suspect or motives and could not immediately identify the victim.

Anyone with information was asked to call homicide detectives at 410-396-2100.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 6:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: East Baltimore, Southwest Baltimore
        

If the city's most outspoken activists gave Gregg Bernstein a honeymoon period after being sworn in earlier this month as Baltimore's new top prosecutor, it appears to be over.

Two groups of loosely-affiliated community organizations and special interests protested on opposite sides of the Mitchell Courthouse downtown on Monday, accusing Bernstein of being tight-lipped on a racially-charged assault case and criticizing his "unholy" alliance with the Police Department.

On the west side, protesters formed a picket line, invoking the shooting of Officer William H. Torbit Jr. and carrying signs with such incendiary slogans as "Arrogant Racist State's Attorney."

On the east side, people who said they represent black media and civil rights groups called on Bernstein to say more about his office's decision to drop felony assault charges against a member of a Jewish community patrol group.

"'No comment' will not suffice in the African American community," said Hassan Giordano, a blogger, talk show host and campaign consultant.

Bernstein, who defeated 15-year incumbent Patricia C. Jessamy in last year's Democratic primary election, had been supported by Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III, who said a better relationship with prosecutors would help keep violent repeat offenders off the street.

Two high-profile and controversial cases are testing his public mettle early.  Read more here.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 5:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: City Hall, Courts and the justice system, Downtown, Northwest Baltimore, Police shootings, Top brass
        

Baltimore County police have announced an increase in a reward leading to the arrest and conviction of four men who who held up people lined up to pay rent at an apartment building last month.

Hendersen-Webb, Inc., owners of Wood Stream Apartments -- are offering $2,500 and Metro Crime Stoppers put up another $2,000.

Here are some of the details from county police:

On December 27, 2010 at approximately 9:45 a.m., four suspects robbed several victims at gunpoint while they were standing in line to pay their rent at 14 Hogarth Circle in Cockeysville. Investigators do not know the identity of the suspects. The four suspects are all described as black males, 25-35 years old, 5’8”-6’ tall, with thin to medium builds. The suspects fled the scene in an unknown direction.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

A 29-year-old youth football coach was killed Saturday afternoon after being shot in the stomach in the 400 block of Swale Ave., a few blocks from the Southern District police station. 

Police declined to identify him, citing the need to notify relatives, but family and friends confirmed his identity as Harry Hicks. A man and a woman who identified themselves as his aunt and uncle declined to comment further.

Kareem Abdul-Aziz, who coached with Hicks in the Maryland American Youth Football Conference, said the news spread quickly in the Cherry Hill community.

"He truly is going to be missed. It's a close-knit community. They are definitely grieving," he said.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: South Baltimore
        

The shooting of Baltimore police Detective Anthony N. Fata came just nine days after another officer, William H. Torbit Jr., was killed by fellow officers in a case of mistaken identity, and the night before the funeral.

It occurred in a city owned downtown parking garage a block of police headquarters, another crime near the harbor and another reason to stay away from Baltimore. Even the police are getting shot while parking.

But homicide detectives are now questioning how Fata, a 13-year veteran, was grazed in the thigh a bullet. There is some concern that the bullet came from the officer's own gun, and he made up an elaborate ruse to avoid either discipline or embarrassment.

Read more details of the case here. 

Fata, through his attorney, denies the allegations and the police department says they have no evidence to suggest the story is a hoax. But the department also says they have no evidence to back up the officer's story. They're examining ballistic evidence -- the bullet is being examined to see if it matches Fata's gun.

In 2002, Fata was suspended for a time after being caught on video dragging and punching a man in the Preakness infield. Other officers also were captured on tape that made national news on ESPN and showed some of the officers removing their badges as they doled out their punishment.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Confronting crime, Downtown, Police shootings
        

A second suspect has been charged in an alleged attack on a teen in Northwest Baltimore last year, and prosecutors say he is the brother of the first suspect. Both appear to be members of the volunteer community patrol group Shomrim, and the charges against Avi Werdesheim come a day after prosecutors dropped felony assault charges against the first suspect, Eli Werdesheim.

The incident rekindled tensions in the city's black and Jewish communities in Northwest Baltimore. The teen who was assaulted was black; as a Shomrim member, Werdesheim and others patrol the community and have been praised with improving public safety. But the Shomrim members have been accused of taking that too far, breaking the teen's wrist and shouting that he "didn't belong" in the neighborhood.

Critics had questioned why, given the accusation that three men were involved in the alleged assault, that police had only charged one person. In a statement, prosecutors say the charges grew out of a continuing investigation by prosecutors and police. Both suspects will have an arraignment on Feb. 16.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

A 21-year-old man was fatally shot in Cherry Hill on Thursday afternoon, breaking a streak of 10 days in which the city saw no homicides. The victim, Rhidel Price, is a former basketball standout at Northwestern High School who was picked in 2007 as one of The Sun's players to watch. Here's an interview from '07 that was posted on DigitalSports.com.

Price was a passenger in a parked vehicle when a van pulled up behind him just before 1:30 p.m., police told The Sun's Liz F. Kay. Price got out, and as he started walking away, someone shot at him, according to police.

Price ran and collapsed in the rear of the 2900 block of Denham Circle, where he was found by a police officer. Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 410-396-2100.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

If you haven't got enough of crime this week, check out the Midday with Dan Rodricks show on WYPR (88.1 FM) today at 1 p.m. I'll be on with Dan (also a colleague at The Baltimore Sun) to talk about the busy crime beat.

There's certainly no shortage of subject, and I'm sure the friendly-fire shooting of Officer William H. Torbit will dominate coverage. Among the topics -- the shooting itself and the independent review ordered by the mayor.

Here are just a few of the headlines:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: City Hall, Confronting crime, Courts and the justice system, Police shootings
        

There's been so much death this week -- the funeral for the officer shot on Jan. 9, the death of a Baltimore County firefighter -- but I still didn't want to forget that a man trying to get into the city police academy died during a training run.

Gilnord Charles is the subject of today's Crime Scenes, but space didn't allow a photo. Here's part of that story and a picture provided to us by his wife, Danielle Charles. It was taken when Charles graduated in 2009 from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore:

He circled the track at Northwestern High School six times, completing 1.5 miles in 12 minutes and 28 seconds — four minutes under the cutoff.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

A hours-long search behind an apartment complex in Southwest Baltimore Thursday night came up empty in the hunt for Phylicia Barnes. It's not clear what drew police to a backyard shed, but they pumped water from a well and found nothing inside.

Police described the search as one of many they've done since Barnes, 17, disappeared Dec. 28 from her sister's Northwest Baltimore apartment. Police have searched the homes of people who had access to the apartment and questioned more than a dozen men, but have reported not a single lead in the case.

On Thursday, authorities were at a property off the 400 block of North Bend Road, near Edmonson Avenue close to the Baltimore County line.  The photo at left by The Sun's Gene Sweeney Jr. shows the search.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

A man charged in a series of attacks in Guilford in January of last year was found guilty of violating the terms of his probation from an earlier conviction and sentenced to serve nine years in state prison.

This announcement comes from the new spokesman for State's Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein -- actually it's the spokesman's first statement, and it involves a case in which city police and former top prosecutor Patricia C. Jessamy had sparred over last year.

It's an indication that Bernstein is making changes and targeting some high-profile cases that had left police and the community angry. Police have routinely demanded that suspects given second and third chances with sentences of probation be held accountable when they screw up again.

This case involves John Couplin, who in 2008 put a knife to the throat of a Guilford woman and stole her purse on the front steps of her home. The woman, who has a doctorate, wanted to testify at the trial and said she could identify her attacker.

But prosecutors at the time refused, criticizing police for botching the way they had her identify the suspect through what they called a flawed mug-shot array. As a result, they allowed Couplin to plead guilty  to the robbery but got a suspended sentence. He walked free the day of the court hearing.

In January of last year, Couplin was charged with abducting a Johns Hopkins student from in front of his Guilford home and driving him around the community to withdraw money from bank machines. He also was charged with robbing three woman at gunpoint in the same neighborhood.

At the time, police and prosecutors argued about who was to blame for the suspect having got a suspended sentence in 2008, another in a long series of disputes between the two sides.

Bernstein vowed to end the squabbles and target repeat, violent offenders. While Couplin is scheduled to be tried in March in the most recent attacks in Guilford, Bernstein picked up the fact that the suspect was recently found guilty in Baltimore County Circuit Court with theft and sentenced to 18 months in jail.

That was enough for his prosecutors to convince a judge that Couplin had violated the terms of his probation from the 2008 attack on the woman and Baltimore Circuit Court Judge John Addison Howard reinstated his previously suspended eight year, 11 month and 10 day sentence.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Courts and the justice system
        

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution today ran a long story on the missing teenager from Baltimore. Phylicia Barnes disappeared from her sister's Northwest Baltimore apartment on Dec. 28 while visiting from North Carolina. She has family ties to Atlanta.

Police continue to say they're stymied by the case and believe that she met with foul play. Authorities have put her face on highway billboards, pleaded for national media attention and at one point assigned half the homicide unit to the case.

Here's some parts of the Journal-Constitution story:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

A youth counselor for a city-funded organization that worked to reduce crime in West Baltimore was sentenced on Thursday to 14 years in prison for leading a gang and organizing drug dealing, money laundering and robberies, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Federal prosecutors described Todd Duncan, 36, as the “city-wide commander” of the Black Guerrilla Family, a gang founded in California in the 1960s that authorities say is responsible for selling heroin and in Baltimore.

Federal authorities accused Duncan of using his outreach work with Operation Safe Streets as a cover for drug dealing, and for promoting violence even as he got paid to help stop the bloodshed. His attorney has said previously that his client is not a violent person.

U.S. District Judge James D. Quarles Jr. sentenced Duncan in accordance with a plea agreement reached with prosecutors in September, when he pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering and admitted his involvement in one of the most powerful and violent gangs in the state.

In a statement, prosecutors said Duncan ran the gang from 2006 through the summer of 2010 and helped supply heroin to various street-corner drug shops around Baltimore. They also said he arranged bulk sales of the drug to wholesale customers.

Duncan was one of 15 people indicted on charges related to the gang in July 2009. He started working as a youth counselor in 2007 as part of a “Safe Streets” program operated by the Communities Organized to Improve Life Inc., or COIL, at a West Baltimore community center.

Another counselor there, Ronald “Piper” Scott, has also pleaded guilty to drug distribution as part of the same case and faces 20 years in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 20.

Safe Streets is a nationally-acclaimed model that started in Chicago and uses ex-offenders to mediate disputes on the street before they turn violent. Authorities have credited the program on the Eastside, run by the Living Classrooms Foundation, with preventing many shootings and slayings.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake cut off $1 million in funding to Safe Streets in East Baltimore and another one in South Baltimore’s Cherry Hill after the allegations first surfaced about the program on the Westside. By that time, the city had already cut off payments to COIL citing deficiencies in standards.

The mayor restored the money to the two programs in May, saying a task force could not substantiate allegations that the mediation groups in those locations were controlled by gangs. The task force recommended that the city sever its ties and let nonprofits take over the groups.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Gangs, West Baltimore
        

Baltimore Sun's Liz Kay reports:

A Baltimore prosecutor has dismissed a felony assault charge against a member of a Jewish neighborhood watch group who was accused of striking a black teenager in November.

After appearing at a preliminary hearing Thursday morning in district court, Eliyahu Eliezer Werdesheim, 23, still faces misdemeanor charges. But the state's attorney's office did not pursue the most serious charge against the community college student, who is also a former Israeli special-forces soldier.

Werdesheim no longer participates in Shomrim, whose Orthodox Jewish members patrol Northwest Baltimore, said his attorney Andrew I. Alperstein.

More background from Liz's story:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Two days after a Baltimore homicide detective was shot during what is being described as a chance encounter with a gunman in a downtown parking garage, police officials have still not located the shooter.

The detective – who was heading to his car to retrieve a pair of running shoes -- suffered a graze wound to his leg and has been treated and released from Maryland Shock Trauma Center. The shooting occurred Tuesday night in a parking garage on South Frederick Street, a block from the Central District station.

Police have declined to name the officer, citing a policy of not publicizing names of shooting victims who survive their wounds. But department sources have identified him as Detective Anthony N. Fata, a 13-year veteran.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Confronting crime, Downtown, Police shootings
        

The funeral for Officer William H. Torbit Jr. is now over and we await word from City Hall on the details of how an outside review of the case will unfold. Torbit was in plainclothes when he was shot and killed Jan. 9 by four fellow officers who mistook him for a gunman. Torbit was shot while fatally shooting another man during a fight.

The incident has sent shock waves through the Baltimore Police Department -- the mayor called it a "tragedy that shook us to our deepest core" -- and homicide detectives and prosecutors are still pouring over the details. City officials say the outside review is designed to examine the practices and procedures of the police department.

On Sunday, we reported about a national study done by a Harvard University professor looking at police-on-police shootings across the country. Many recent cases involved black undercover or plainclothes detectives as victims (Read the full report here).

On Wednesday, we got an e-mail from the National Black Police Association, which stated in part: "The recent shooting of Baltimore Police Officer Torbit reminds us of the constant dangers we face as law enforcement. Even Black law enforcement professionals in plain clothes or off-duty are in danger when doing the job they have been sworn to do."

(Photo is from Wednesday's funeral for Torbit at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen and was  taken by The Sun's Karl Merton Ferron)

ere is the full statement from the group, which will surely add to the debate and discussion about plainclothes officers:

The recent shooting of Baltimore Police Officer Torbit reminds us of the constant dangers we face as law enforcement. Even Black law enforcement professionals in plain clothes or off-duty are in danger when doing the job they have been sworn to do.

New York has a history, dating back to the 1940s; Black officers in plain clothes or off-duty have been shot at, shot, or killed by their white counterparts and never in the reverse. The shooting of Police Officer Omar Edwards, Detective Christopher Ridley of Westchester, along with the incident last year involving NYPD Police Chief Ziegler -- the highest ranking black official in the NYPD, who had weapons drawn on him by white NYPD officers while he was parked in a NYPD unmarked car with NYPD badge and ID around his neck, reminds us of the challenges we face as citizens of color and for Black law enforcement officers.

Now this cancer has spread to other cities like Baltimore because law enforcement officials have not truly addressed the issue. We do know the full circumstance surrounding the shooting of Police officer Torbit. One thing for sure,  we a seeing an increase in black law enforcement being shot, shot at , or killed by thier counterparts.

Black law enforcement professionals must be extra cautious when they react to situations when they are off duty or as plain clothes officers. It is unfortunate that the only time we are truly recognized as law enforcement is when they wear the blue uniform. Until perceptions of Black males are changed in the institutional structure of policing, the Black law enforcement community and the Black community at large will remain at a disadvantage and in danger.

Who protects the Black Law Enforcement while we protect and serve our communities? Its time for state politicians and community leaders to finally have the testicular fortitude to address this ongoing issue with Revolutionary Change in policy and procedure in the culture of Law Enforcement on a local state and national level.

Damon K. Jones
North East Region President
National Black Police Association

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Police shootings
        

Prosecutors and police say DNA  evidence reveals William Vincent Brown to be a repeat rapist and murderer, who sexually assaulted two prostitutes and a 15-year-old girl in separate incidents over an 11-month period beginning in 2003.

The 44-year-old Gwynn Oak man is charged with killing two of the victims and attempting to kill a third, dumping her battered, comatose body in Leakin Park. He's scheduled for three trials on the charges this year, the first of which — involving the lone survivor — began late Wednesday.

The case is expected to last through the end of the month and could shed light on a series of killings and assaults — many against sex workers — that took place a half-dozen years ago, raising questions of whether a serial attacker was on the loose.

Read more from The Sun's Tricia Bishop.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 7:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

As we've lamented in this space before, we miss retired Sun scribe Dick Irwin and the police blotter, but the Baltimore Guide is doing its part to pick up the slack. Here's some excerpts from this week's edition for South and Southeast Baltimore:

"No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" Department:

Belnord Avenue, 400 block, January 16, 8:30 p.m. A man told police that he pulled over to stop a fight between two men he did not know. The men turned on him and hit him in the chest. The man got back in his car to drive away, then later discovered he had been stabbed and went to a local hospital for treatment.
Mt. Pleasant Avenue, 3400 block, January 14, 11:45 p.m. A man told police that his wife and another woman had gotten into a fight. He tried to separate the two women when a third man struck him on the head with a beer bottle, then fled. The wife refused to make a report, but the suspect was arrested later.

"Guide Blotter reporter Jacqueline Watts Correctly Calls you a Lowlife" Department:

Beale Court, 200 block, January 16, 7:30 a.m. Someone broke into a home through a front door and took a TV, two phones, DVDs and a player. The same lowlife also took the elderly resident’s wheelchair."

McElderry Street, 3000 block, January 5, 7:30 p.m. A woman told police that a teenager she knew only as “Spanky” had punched her for no apparent reason.

"Please Leave the Sculptures Alone":

800 block Key Hwy., Monday, Jan. 10, 9:45 a.m.: Two men stole two bronze sculptures from the front of the American Visionary Art Museum. Witnesses chased them, and the suspects dropped the sculptures and ran.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Best of the Blotter, South Baltimore, Southeast Baltimore
        

A 29-year-old accused of killing her baby and burying him in Druid Hill Park pleaded guilty Wednesday to involuntary manslaughter and was given a 10-year suspended sentence, The Sun's Nick Madigan reports.

While Lakesha Haynie was able to walk free for the first time since her arrest 10 months ago, she will be on probation for five years, must report to the Department of Social Services if she becomes pregnant again and is forbidden to have unsupervised contact with children ages 6 and younger. She must also attend a counseling program at Planned Parenthood on Jan. 24.

Baltimore Circuit Judge Charles J. Peters told Haynie that if she violates any of the terms of her probation, "this court will not hesitate to put you in jail" for the rest of the 10-year sentence.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, West Baltimore
        

A former Howard County police chief who rant he department from 1969 to 1975, has died. G. Russell Walters died Jan. 13 at the age of 92. The agency announced his death this afternoon. Before going to to lead the Howard force, he spent 23 years in the Maryland State Police.

"Chief Walters made important changes to the agency that we can still see today,” Howard County Police Chief William McMahon said in a statement. “We are saddened by his death.  Our heartfelt sympathies go out to his family from the entire Howard County Police family.”

In 1998, he ran for Howard County Sheriff, but lost. He was the lone Democratic candidate. He's pictured here during that campaign in a photo by The Sun's Doug Kapustin.

More from the police statement:

During his tenure as chief, Walters doubled the number of officers to over 100; quadrupled the police budget from $660,000 to $2.6 million; approved new uniforms; started the first police academy; and broke ground on a new police station, currently HCPD headquarters in Ellicott City.

At the age of 21, Walters enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served during WWII.  He was honorably discharged in 1945 and joined Maryland State Police in 1946.  He left MSP to become the Howard County police chief in 1969.  At the time of his death, Walters was the oldest living Maryland State Trooper. 

Walters’ family includes two sons, four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.  His wife, Mary Catherine, passed away in 2003.

Family and friends are invited to call on Thursday, Jan. 20 from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. at the Donaldson Funeral Home, 313 Talbott Avenue in Laurel.  Funeral services will be held on Friday, Jan. 21 at 10 a.m. at the First Baptist Church of Laurel.  Interment will follow at Meadowridge Memorial Park in Elkridge.  Police expect traffic may be briefly affected along Washington Blvd. between Laurel and Elkridge Friday.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 4:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Howard County
        

The funeral for Baltimore Police Officer William H. Torbit Jr. is just ending at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in North Baltimore. Hundreds of officers, family and friends filled the church on North Charles Street.

Torbit's sergeant and a colleague spoke, along with two brothers, noting the 33-year-old's dedication not only to arresting drug dealers along the city's Pennsylvania Avenue corridor but how he returned to that street when he came off duty to help children.

Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III noted that dedication in his tribute during the service. He spoke of Torbit's "love of his city" and his relentless pursuit of justice for the eight years he spent in a police uniform. The photo of the casket arriving at the cathedral was taken by The Sun's Karl Merton Ferron.

"He knew that making this city safer meant mentoring people," the commissioner said. He read from Torbit's last performance evaluation in which commanders recalled the officer's deep knowledge of community residents that helped them solve cases.

"He invested in children and in our neighborhoods," Bealefeld said. He told of how at a viewing Wednesday night, a woman approached him and said she had been scared to leave her home because drug dealers had taken over. She said Torbit ran them off. "He made her world safer," Bealefeld said.

Torbit was shot and killed Jan. 9 when four of his fellow officers mistook him for a suspect and shot him outside a nightclub during a fight. Torbit, who was in plainclothes, had been trying to calm a dispute, was knocked the ground and shot and killed his assailant. The other officers shot him by mistake.

Little was said at the funeral service of how the incident occurred, and there are several investigations and reviews still ongoing. But Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake told mourners that it was a "great tragedy that shook us to our deepest core."

The mayor said Torbit's family and city are owed the truth.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: North Baltimore
        

The funeral procession for Baltimore police Officer William H. Torbit Jr. took him on one last trip down Pennsylvania Avenue Wednesday morning, through the neighborhood where he worked on and off the clock to fight crime and build community.

Services were to begin at 10 a.m. at The Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. The interment will be at at Arbutus Memorial Park.

Some people came out of their homes as the sirens blared just after 9 a.m. but others had been waiting and watching.

Kevin Brooks, 22, said he got out of bed to see it go by. "I had to pay my respects," he said.

Brooks said Torbit had done much to help him and and his neighbors. "He was most loved around here. He got people out of trials and tribulations," Brooks said.

Priscilla Davis of T & Tees Grocery on Pennsylvania Avenue said the officer, a friend of her son's, was like a child to her.

Baltimore needs more officers like Torbit, she said. "They mind him. They respect him."

Posted by Liz Kay at 9:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Baltimore's new state's attorney, Gregg L. Bernstein, got elected by promising that his close alliance with police would help make the city safer. Opponents warned of an end to prosecutorial oversight that would let cops run roughshod over city residents.

What no one expected, Peter Hermann writes, was a case that could not only pit the community against police but also police against police. The Jan. 9 fatal shooting of plainclothes Officer William H. Torbit Jr. by four of his colleagues who mistook him for a suspect is the top prosecutor's first test, occurring just days after he took office.

Was Torbit wrong to fatally shoot unarmed civilian Sean Gamble six to eight times in the chest during a fight? Were four uniformed officers wrong to open fire on Torbit, not knowing he was a fellow cop? Three civilians were also wounded in the fracas.

Already, the mayor's decision to allow an outside review has sparked anger at the police union hall and added a new political dimension to the case. Bernstein's wife, Sheryl Goldstein, is the mayor's chief advisor on crime issues, and the order from City Hall for independent oversight on police policies and practices comes as her husband has to decide whether the officers involved committed any crimes.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 7:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, Police shootings
        

The FBI says initial forensic tests have linked the three fiery packages sent to federal and Maryland government officials, the Associated Press reports.

Richard McFeely, special agent in charge of the Baltimore field office, said Tuesday that while investigators believed they were linked before, they have determined that the letters that smoked and popped when opened were manufactured in the same manner. 

McFeely says investigators are chasing down more than 100 leads in the case and a separate "red cell" team of investigators is exploring what could have motivated the sender.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 7:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

UPDATE: The police commissioner told reporters outside Maryland Shock Trauma Center that the officer was getting something out of his car when the man approached with a small caliber revolver. He said the incident did not appear to be a robbery and called it a "random, chance encounter," Jessica Anderson reports.

Police are reporting that a homicide detective was shot in the leg and hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after an encounter with a gunman in a downtown parking garage near police headquarters tonight.

The shooting occurred in a parking garage on Frederick Street, across the street from the Police Department's Central District and headquarters. A spokesman said that based on preliminary information, the officer was getting into work early and was struck in the leg by an unknown gunman. Police quickly blocked off the area in an attempt to find the suspect, who had not been located as of the last update.

It's also unclear whether the detective exchanged gunfire with the suspect.

The shooting hits home for police not only because of its proximity to headquarters but because police are preparing to bury one of their own tomorrow morning when Officer William H. Torbit Jr. is laid to rest. 

Torbit was killed by friendly fire in a shooting near downtown, and in November an officer was shot at East Baltimore and North Calvert streets, just a few blocks away from tonight's shooting. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Downtown, Police shootings
        

"The Wire" creator David Simon, during a break between dubbing sessions for season two of "Treme," responds to comments made recently by Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III that the HBO show was a "smear that will take decades to overcome," reviving a debate that took place throughout the show's run:

It is my understanding that Commissioner Bealefeld - by finally choosing to emphasize the quality, rather than the quantity of arrest - has been able to reduce the homicide rate somewhat in our city. If true, this is not only commendable, it is a long time coming. Too long, in fact. 

Interestingly, the newspaper that covered his department began making the argument to do exactly that as early as 1994, in a series of articles entitled "Crisis In Blue" (Ed. note: part two can be found here) that carefully articulated the disconnect between the Baltimore department's aggressive street-level prosecution of the drug war and the root causes of violence in the city. The arguments were furthered in a book entitled "The Corner" that was published three years later. After a new election cycle, however, those arguments were ignored in favor of years of "zero tolerance" of minor street crimes and an obsession with street-level drug enforcement that actually de-emphasized quality police work and led to marked declines in arrest rates for major felonies.  

Later, when a mayor sought to become governor using public safety as an issue, the same police department went further down the path, emphasizing widespread street arrests of dubious quality and legality. This did not reduce crime so much as it violated the civil rights of many city residents and led to the widespread alienation of our jury pool, with many city jurors no longer willing to trust the integrity of testifying officers - a problem that will plague Baltimore law enforcement for years.

Furthermore, on behalf of Mr. O'Malley's political aspirations, many supervisors in many police districts were engaged in a prolonged campaign to improperly downgrade U.C.R. felonies to misdemeanors so as to further the political claim that crime was under control. This was common knowledge throughout the department and was much remarked upon privately by respected veteran supervisors and investigators, themselves frustrated at the practice. Nonetheless, aggravated assaults became common assaults. Armed robberies became larcenies. Rapes were unfounded.

I do not recall that Commissioner Bealefeld - when he was rising through the ranks during those years - made strenuous public objection to the department's misdirection, to its statistical flummery, or to the decline in arrest rates that resulted as quality police work was de-emphasized in favor of juked stats.  Perhaps he did so in private, to little avail. And perhaps now that he is in a position to act, he is taking a better path. Again, as a resident of Baltimore, he has my wholehearted support if this is the case.

But publicly, let me state that The Wire owes no apologies -- at least not for its depiction of those portions of Baltimore where we set our story, for its address of economic and political priorities and urban poverty, for its discussion of the drug war and the damage done from that misguided prohibition, or for its attention to the cover-your-ass institutional dynamic that leads, say, big-city police commissioners to perceive a fictional narrative, rather than actual, complex urban problems as a cause for righteous concern. As citizens using a fictional narrative as a means of arguing different priorities or policies, those who created and worked on The Wire have dissented.

 

Commissioner Bealefeld may not be comfortable with public dissent, or even a public critique of his agency. He may even believe that the recent decline in crime entitles him to denigrate as "stupid" or "slander" all prior dissent, as if the previous two decades of mismanagement in the Baltimore department had not happened and should not have been addressed by any act of storytelling, given that Baltimore is no longer among the most violent American cities, but merely a very violent one.

Others might reasonably argue, however that it is not sixty hours of The Wire that will require decades for our city to overcome, as the commissioner claims. A more lingering problem might be two decades of bad performance by a police agency more obsessed with statistics than substance, with appeasing political leadership rather than seriously addressing the roots of city violence, with shifting blame rather than taking responsibility.  That is the police department we depicted in The Wire, give or take our depiction of some conscientious officers and supervisors. And that is an accurate depiction of the Baltimore department for much of the last twenty years, from the late 1980s, when cocaine hit and the drug corners blossomed, until recently, when Mr. O'Malley became governor and the pressure to clear those corners without regard to legality and to make crime disappear on paper finally gave way to some normalcy and, perhaps, some police work.  Commissioner Bealefeld, who was present for much of that history, knows it as well as anyone associated with The Wire.

We made things up, true.  We have never claimed otherwise.  But respectfully, with regard to our critique, we have slandered no one.  And to the extent you can stand behind a fictional tale, we stand by ours - and more importantly, our purpose in telling that tale.

 

Respectfully,

 

David Simon

Baltimore, MD

Posted by Justin Fenton at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (140)
        

Despite major efforts last year by Maryland lawmakers to get tough on sex offenders and expand the offender registry, the state still is not in compliance with the federal Adam Walsh Act, a public safety official told senators today, according to Julie Bykowicz at The Sun's Maryland Politics blog.

Noncompliance could cost the state more than half a million dollars in federal grant money for law enforcement agencies.

In the wake of the December 2009 killing of an 11-year-old Eastern Shore girl who'd been in contact with a registered sex offender, lawmakers last year made reform of the part of the criminal code a priority. Gov. Martin O'Malley pushed a package of bills that included revamping the registry -- a move that lawmakers believed would bring them into compliance with the Adam Walsh Act.

The problem, said David P. Wolinski, who administers the registry, is that Maryland does not require lifetime registration of juveniles convicted of the most serious sex crimes, a necessity under the Adam Walsh Act.

Click the link above to read more.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

"The Wire" concluded its run on HBO in 2008, but Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III says Baltimore is still smarting from its depiction and that the show was a "smear on this city that will take decades to overcome."

At the Jan. 8 Amplify Baltimore event, Bealefeld told audience members that the show was the "most unfair use of literary license that we've borne witness to," according to video posted on YouTube (Thanks, Nate Mook of Localist.com)

"I heard all this stuff about, 'Well there's crime shows about L.A., about New York, about Miami,'" Bealefeld said. "You know what Miami gets in their crime show? They get detectives that look like models, and they drive around in sports cars. And you know what New York gets, they get these incredibly tough prosecutors, competant cops that solve the most crazy, complicated cases."

"What Baltimore gets is this reinforced notion that it's a city full of hopelessness, despair and dysfunction. There was very little effort - beyond self-serving - to highlight the great and wonderful things happening here, and to indict the whole population, the criminal justice system, the school system."

Those who have praised the show, including TV critics and universities that now teach courses on it, say it was that unflinching depiction of a part of society typically not dramatized on TV that made the show so important. Creator David Simon, a former Sun reporter, has said that the show was a larger indictment on the failings of inner city America - "ruminations on the end of an empire." We'd be remiss not to mention that The Sun took its own lickings in the final season, which Simon said was also intended to be a broader look at the role of the ever-shrinking media.

When the City Council in 2002 held a public hearing to try to find better ways to promote the city in light of "The Wire," Simon testified to defend the show's message. Here's what he said, excerpted from an article by reporter Gary Dorsey:

 "The first season of The Wire, which is fictional but based in large part on the experiences of Baltimore Detective Edward Burns," he said, "is nothing more or less than a treatise against the drug war and a policy prohibition that has turned vast tracts of your city, the city that this council claims to govern and administer, into a barren battleground in a neverending war of attrition.
    "Those of you who suggest such a viewpoint ought not be seen or heard in connection with Baltimore. ... I don't know what to say. I can only note that until we all begin to honestly assess the urban drug culture and our militarized response to it, there will continue to be more tragedies like the one that recently befell the Dawson family on the city's East Side. That got you more bad headlines around America. That got you more of a reputation around America than anything I put on HBO. That got you the editorials in The New York Times."
    As his voice grew louder and quivered, at times, in anger, any hope that Simon would spring with an idea that would promote something heartening about Baltimore faded. He did acknowledge his "love" for the city, mentioning that he is also a taxpayer and voter in District 1. But he offered only one suggestion for promotion. His own decision to live in Baltimore "as opposed to New York or Los Angeles, where my industry is located," he said, is "admirable ... and I think it's certainly worthy of the council's attention of how the city could be better promoted."
    Beyond that, he called the council "oblivious," the resolution "parochial," and their critique of his work "meaningless."
    "I voted in recent elections to reduce your ranks by five," he concluded. "I see now that it may not have been reform enough. ... A more deliberative body with real responsibilities and a relevant agenda would be ashamed."
    He turned to leave, but Council President Sheila Dixon called him back for a question.
    "Mr. Simon," she said, "I would like to compliment you on your good writing. I just have a question: Have you ever had a thought on writing something pretty or positive about Baltimore? ... Is there something that will give the children something to look up to about the city of Baltimore?"
    His answer: "I write what I know."

Posted by Justin Fenton at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (32)
        

Stephen M. Schenning has been named Maryland's first assistant U.S. attorney, described as "the highest ranking career position in the office," The Sun's Tricia Bishop reports.

He replaces Stuart M. Goldberg, who joins the U.S. Department of Justice as chief of staff to James Cole, the newly appointed deputy attorney general. Goldberg's new position was first reported by Baltimore lawyer Steven H. Levin, who wrote about it online Friday, in his blog "Fraud With Peril." The U.S. Justice Department confirmed the report Tuesday.

Schenning's promotion was announced Tuesday by Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein.

"Steve Schenning brings extensive front-line expertise as a state and federal prosecutor, a hard-earned reputation for diligence and integrity, a lifelong commitment to public service and hands-on experience managing a U.S. Attorney's Office," Rosenstein said in a statement. "His sound judgment and steady leadership will be invaluable as we continue to deliver on our commitment to give the citizens of Maryland the highest caliber of federal law enforcement."

Posted by Justin Fenton at 2:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Courts and the justice system
        

The mother of missing Phylicia Barnes is criticizing the response since the initial call for help to police in Baltimore.

Janice Sallis told CNN said pleas for help during the first 48 hours of the case were ignored, though she wouldn't say who was to blame. She made the remarks during an interview with the network news program, which were also reported in a story in the girl's hometown newspaper, the Charlotte Observer.

The mother has been outspoken since Phylicia disappeared from her sister's Northwest Baltimore apartment on the afternoon of Dec. 28, last seen by her sister's boyfriend. She apparently had left to get something to eat. The honors student was visiting Baltimore and hoped to attend Towson University after graduating early from high school.

The case has frustrated Baltimore police, which maintains a hot-line and at one point had half the homicide unit investigating. There hasn't been a single sighting or useful tip in the case, leading police to believe she was abducted and taken out of state.

Efforts by the city police spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi, to take the case national at first went nowhere, prompting him to complain of a double-standard for network news shows dealing with missing children. Since then, several national news shows have devoted space to Phylicia's case.

The mother, Sallis, has been at odds with Pylicia's father, who lives in Atlanta and flew to Baltimore to help police in their search. The mother has publicly criticized the missing girl's sister for not taking better care of Phylicia and lying to her about who had access to the apartment in Northwest Baltimore.

Police say that up to a dozen people were in and out of the apartment over Christmas but interviews with them and numerous searches at their homes and elsewhere have turned up no clues in finding what happened to Phylicia.

It's difficult to know who Sallis blames in what she described as a slow response. Unless the person reported missing in a small child or infant, or foul play is obvious, police generally start slow and methodically. It was after a few days it became clear to police that Phylicia probably did not run away and that she wasn't involved in anything that would cause her harm did police devote dozens of detectives.

Guglielmi, the police spokesman, piggy-backed on the mother's words to reiterated to CNN his frustrations over national media. He and and the commander of the homicide unit had been prepared to go on CNN's Nancy Grace but got bumped for an hour-long report on a missing Texas cheerleader.

"Day two, day three, when we were putting information out about Phylicia's disappearance, we were talking about birds falling out of the sky in Arkansas and fish coming up dead in Maryland's harbor," Anthony Guglielmi, the spokesman, said in a prior interview with CNN, according to the Charlotte Observer story.

"And this girl's in danger. And she needs help. And it was very frustrating for my office to see an anemic response from our national media partners."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Incidents of fatal police-on-police shootings are incredibly rare. But they do happen, and departments across the country have learned the hard lessons Baltimore is now facing after the killing of plainclothes Officer William H. Torbit Jr., The Sun reported this weekend.

A Harvard professor, who chaired a commission that looked into such incidents after two officers were killed in New York, said police will have to scrutinize not only the actions of the officers who fired on Torbit, but Torbit himself.

The incidents gathered by the commission show that criminal charges are rarely if ever brought. The panel found the "unconscious racial bias" plays a major role in off-duty or plainclothes officers being mistaken for suspects, and that departments often have gaps in protocols among their own officers and other agencies they may come into contact with. Black officers here and elsewhere say being mistaken for suspects comes with the territory, and at least one supervisor we spoke with said he was in favor of instituting uniforms for plainclothes officers so that they are more easily identified.

Click here to read the full report from the New York commission that looked into police-on-police shootings. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Crime elsewhere, Police shootings
        

Baltimore police have identified the applicant who died during testing. The Sun's Frederick N. Rassmussen filed this report:

The 29-year-old man who collapsed and died after finishing a 1.5-mile run as part of his application to become a Baltimore police officer was identified Saturday as Gilnord Charles. Baltimore Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Charles had passed the civil service portion of the exam and was taking the physical agility test at Northwestern High School Friday morning. Charles collapsed immediately after finishing the run on the high school track, Guglielmi said.

Two of the other people taking the test were medics and tried to treat Charles, who was later taken to Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Guglielmi said. Guglielmi said Charles did not indicate any health issues to instructors and appeared to be in good health. Charles lived in the Baltimore area and had served in the military, he added.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 2:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Top brass
        

A 30-year-old man dubbed the "preppy burglar" because of his collared shirt and glasses has pleaded guilty to breaking into houses in Howard and Montgomery counties. His crimes got wide-spread attention because one of the break-ins was captured on a home-security camera (see video here).

Jeremy Matthew Hall, of Silver Spring, was sentenced to serve 18 months in jail. His attorney told me he admitted to his crimes and made restitution. In one instance, he was able to retrieve two valuable guitars from the people he had sold them to and return them to the owner. The two men shook hands.

“I feel that the criminal law in this case was used by the lawyers to do substantial good, by virtue of this unusual restitution effort," Hall's attorney, Thomas L. Heeney told me.

Howard County resident David Irick had returned home one day last year to discover a break-n. He turned on his video from surveillance cameras he installed and saw the suspect knocking on his door and then emerging carrying computer equipment.

Hall was dressed in a collared shirt with rolled up sleeves and a red tie. Police at the time surmised that he dressed that way so that he would appear to be a door-to-door salesman or somebody conducting survey. Heeney told me his client was dressed up only because that's how he dressed for work (he wouldn't tell me where he had worked).

In court on Jan. 7, Hall made a full confession and said he had been addicted to prescription medication. "I have brought shame to my family, my community and to myself," he said.

Here is his statement from court:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Confronting crime, Courts and the justice system, Crime elsewhere, Howard County
        

Chief District Judge Ben Clyburn briefed the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on a four-year plan to put court documents online, MarylandReporter.com reports.

Attorneys or their staff will no longer have to physically go to the court to file documents, the site reports. Members of the media and the public won’t have to go the courthouse to see papers and court clerks will not have to dig through file cabinets. Everything will be available on the Internet with a few clicks of a mouse.

“The main reason we’re doing this is to save a life,” Clyburn said.

There have been several cases where the paperwork delay involved in issuing warrants and protective orders have ended in tragedy, Clyburn said. In the past, judges have issued warrants and orders, but they were not filed until days later, after the people who came to court asking for them have been killed.

Federal court documents are already online, through the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system. There's a small catch, as people seeking to sift through those records must sign up for an account that bills them 5 8 cents per page that is downloaded. That still beats the 50 cents per page fee currently charged in state court.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Amid calls from the public for an independent investigation, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said this week that there would be an independent review of Sunday's shooting that left a veteran officer and a 22-year-old man dead. The city police union is now claiming that her announcement is an attempt to use the tragedy for political gain.

Through a public relations firm, the union sent out this statement:

"Should the current investigation determine that an independent review is warranted, the FOP would fully support such a review at that time.  We, too, want a thorough investigation of this incident to reveal all the facts of that night's events.  However, at this point, this action seems premature.  Mayor Rawlings-Blake should have confidence in her Police Commissioner and the Baltimore City Police Department and give them a chance to conduct an exhaustive investigation into the facts and circumstances surrounding this tragedy.  The Baltimore City Police Department has one of the premier homicide units in the nation and a system of checks and balances is already in place, as the independent Baltimore City State's Attorney investigates every police-involved shooting in Baltimore.  The Baltimore City Police Department wants to work closely with the State’s Attorney’s Office to get to the bottom of this occurrence. For Mayor Rawlings-Blake to utilize this tragic incident for political gain is a tragedy in itself."

A spokesman for Rawlings-Blake said he would not have a response to the statement.

Tensions between City Hall and the city's public safety unions have been rising for months. A week ago, the police and fire unions held a press conference outside City Hall denouncing pay cuts and saying Rawlings-Blake wants to take credit for crime reductions while not compensating officers for their work. They also paid for billboards downtown last year that took shots at city officials.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 4:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: City Hall, Police shootings
        

A tip about animals living in poor conditions in a Columbia house led Howard County Police to finding 64 rabbits roaming free.

Charges haven't filed but police said they plan on making a return visit to the home, occupied by a woman and her adult son, to determine whether the house is fit for habitation. They described as filled with debris, and that here even may be more rabbits hiding in the clutter.

Most of the rabbits could be made available for adoption. Photo at left is from the Howard County Police Department.Details for anyone interested in a rabbit are below in a statement from Howard County Police:

Although the animals were found to be living in an unclean and unsafe environment, they were generally found in good health. A veterinarian will be completing exams of the rabbits today, and Animal Control expects the majority of the animals will be made available for adoption. Some rabbits will be available as soon as today.

Due to the number of rabbits, the department is working with rescue groups to find adoptive homes. There is a fee of $30 for rabbit adoption, which covers the cost of mandatory spay or neuter surgery.

The Howard County Animal Control & Adoption Center is located at 8576 Davis Road in
Columbia. Adoption hours are as follows:

• Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Tuesdays from 1:30 to 7 p.m.
• Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• In observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the shelter will be closed Saturday, Jan. 15, and Monday, Jan. 17

For more information about adoption, please call 410-313-2780

Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Howard County
        

We just got the funeral information for Baltimore Officer William H. Torbit Jr., who was mistaken for a gunman and killed by fellow officers during a fight outside a nightclub early Sunday.

A profile by The Sun's Justin Fenton portrays the officer as a tough but fair cop praised by both his colleagues on the force and the people he arrested along Pennsylvania Avenue. Here are details of the funeral as released by the Baltimore Police Department:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

Carl O. Snowden got a break by getting probation before judgment in a drunk driving case. Now, a judge has taken the break away.

In what turned out be a mistake not seen by the judge, prosecutor or defense lawyer, Snowden was allowed to escape a harsh penalty and get a sentence that could eventually be expunged. The officials missed a change in state law that forbids two probation before judgment findings within 10 years for drunk driving. It was Snowden's second in eight years.

At a hearing this morning, a judge refused to allow the illegal sentence to stand. The Sun's Andrea F. Siegel reports:

Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge Ronald A. Silkworth gave Snowden a week to decide if he wants to withdraw his November plea and start over the case with a different judge or have a conviction on his record and possibly a harsher sentence.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Anne Arundel County
        

Baltimore police are searching for a man and woman suspected of being involved in a robbery of a woman's purse nearly a year ago. Authorities released photos of the suspects, who they say might be involved in additional, more recent attacks.

According to a police report, the 25-year-old victim was walking east in the 2000 block of Eastern Ave. about 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 10. She told police she walked past a man who then turned and came up to her from behind. He put a handgun to her left side, and, according to the report, said, "Give me your purse."

About 90 minutes later, police said a surveillance camera in a Royal Farms Store captured the couple who police believe were involved in the holdup.

Those pictures are here. Anyone with information is urged to call police at 410-396-2429.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Southeast Baltimore
        

"Stop Snitching" has gone overseas.

After the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old Sierra Leonian national at a south London estate last month, fliers started circulating the area that read: "No one likes a rat ... Be smart. Don't snitch."

The flyers were linked to a crude website that tells people not to trust Operation Trident, which investigates gun crime in London's black community, the BBC reports. When a reporter from one newspaper went to talk to residents, one said through her door: "These people have guns. Who will protect me?"

In November 2009, I switched places with a crime reporter from The Independent to examine comparisons being made there to Baltimore. In talking with government officials, residents, police and reporters, I found that though the country has one of the lowest murder rates in the world and even police are averse to carrying guns, gun crime was rising and as was the perception of crime. One politician likened the streets of Manchester to Baltimore as depicted in "The Wire."

Not surprisingly, I found there was little credibility to that comparison, but the fear was real. While intimidation against cooperating with police is nothing new in either place, it's causing great alarm that the anti-snitching sentiment in London has now been crystallized into a formal campaign much like Baltimore saw with the circulation of the "Stop Snitching" video in 2004.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Crime elsewhere, Witness intimidation
        

A University of Maryland student apparently fighting over marijuana became Prince George's County's 13th slaying in 11 days.

The spate of killings -- exceeding Baltimore, which has eight of this day -- has officials in this suburban Washington county trying to figure out what's going on. Officials there told The Washington Post that the killings were isolated, unconnected and most linked to criminal behavior.

Here's there explanation from a Post article on Tuesday:

"It's . . . important for folks to know that the lifestyle of these victims has greatly contributed to where they are in life," said Deputy Police Chief Kevin Davis.

"To commanders and detectives, it's mystifying. . . . There's no common set of circumstances that we can go after," said Maj. Andrew Ellis, the department's public affairs commander. "If they were all drug-related, we could hit it with the drug angle. If they were all robbery-related, we could start combing our files for robbery suspects that had been recently released from jail. If it was a gang war, we could go after the gang leaders. And so the fact that it's disconnected makes it much more difficult to prevent."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Crime elsewhere
        

[The photo at right is the result of what happened when WJZ asked Hartz to draw a picture of the impersonator was drawn by Hartz not long after she was pulled over. Here's your suspect, Baltimore.]

When the man dressed in a wig and Harry Potter glasses with caked-on makeup and lipstick pulled her over and said he was a police officer, Erin Hartz thought she was an unwitting participant in the next John Waters movie.

"This would only happen in Baltimore," the 23-year-old recalls thinking.

The man flicked on a flashlight and shined it in her eyes, scanned her license and registration, then told her not to speed. "Get home and drive safe." She breathed a sigh of relief that he had let her off with only a warning, then the absurdity of the situation washed over her.

Police say the man impersonating an officer has been pulling people over in the area in recent weeks, most recently on Sunday when he made off with a woman's driver's license after stopping her in North Baltimore.

Read the rest of Hartz's story here. 

While police say the man is an impersonator, police in Florida did use an officer in drag in a traffic initiative. In 2006, a male officer in West Palm Beach dressed in drag to hand out red-light tickets. He went by — you can't make this stuff up — "Officer Delicious" and would stand on the corner in fishnets and high heels watching for cars running through traffic lights. Then he would radio the vehicle description to uniformed motorcycle units.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 5:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: North Baltimore
        

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced Wednesday morning that there will be an external review of Sunday’s shooting downtown that injured four people and killed an on-duty officer and unarmed civilian.

Police also ordered late Tuesday that they will require all plainclothes officers in district units to wear uniforms amid a slew of changes pending the completion of the inquiry into the shooting, according to the department’s chief spokesman.

At Wednesday’s Board of Estimates meeting, Rawlings-Blake said she was “very concerned by initial facts that indicate only police weapons were discharged” Sunday outside the Select Lounge in the 400 block of N. Paca St. at officers tried to quell an unruly crowd.

Officer William H. Torbit Jr. was killed by friendly fire when four officers shot at him after seeing him fire his weapon, according to police and sources. Civilian Sean Gamble, 22, was also killed and three women were shot and injured.

“The police investigation and the outside review will help us understand exactly what happened and help us learn from it and make sure that nothing like it happens again,” she said in a statement.

Ryan O’Doherty, a spokesman for the mayor, said officials were reaching out to gauge availability and interest from other agencies and a decision could be made next week.

Meanwhile, police moved to establish a more cohesive policy on how plainclothes officers operate and what they can wear, said the department’s chief spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi. Plainclothes officers will be required to wear uniforms, while detectives in the department’s elite Violent Crimes Impact Section will have to wear identifiable vests or jackets. Commanders are also reviewing how such officers respond to large crowds.

Here's the mayor's full statement:

Today, at a meeting of the Baltimore City Board of Estimates, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake made the following statement regarding the police-involved shooting at a Baltimore nightclub early Sunday morning:

“All of us in Baltimore will continue to keep the victims and families affected by this tragedy in our prayers. The investigation is far from over, but I am very concerned by initial facts that indicate only police weapons were discharged in an incident where one civilian and one police officer were killed. 

I have charged Commissioner Bealefeld with fully investigating this incident. He has pledged to provide me and the people of Baltimore with a complete accounting of what transpired.  There will also be an independent review of the completed investigation and a review of police policies and procedures related to this incident.  The police investigation and the outside review will help us understand exactly what happened and help us learn from it and make sure that nothing like it happens again.

Everything we are doing is designed to get to the bottom of this incident quickly and accurately so that we implement measures to prevent a similar incident in the future. We will continue to provide more information to the public as the investigation continues.”

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: City Hall, Downtown, Police shootings
        

Today is Phylicia Barnes's 17th birthday.

If she's still alive.

It's also the 15th day she's been missing

The teen disappeared Dec. 28 and up until an outbreak of violence in the past week, finding her was the Baltimore Police Department's top priority. The agency assigned half the homicide squad and appealed to people across the nation.

Now, even as officers grieve the loss of one of their own, the department sent out a reminder today that Phylicia still remains a priority, even if hopes of finding her are dimming. She was visiting her sister at a Northwest Baltimore apartment when she left to find lunch, and has not been heard from since.

Not a trace.

Family, friends and concerned citizens launched a search on Saturday, the last time this case attracted attention. Baltimore police are reminding people to call a hot line if they see her or have information: 1-855-223-0033.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Even the people William H. Torbit Jr. busted praised him.

At a vigil (picture at left by The Sun's Kenneth K. Lam) and in interviews with The Sun's Justin Fenton, those who knew the 33-year-old Central District officer who was mistakenly killed by his own colleagues this weekend called him a tough but fair member of law enforcement.

It was, as Justin wrote, "a moment of unity in a neighborhood where police and residents are often at odds."

Complete story is here.

"He would talk to you, find out what your situation was," a woman who would only give her first name, Annette.

"He was that guy who'd walk up and calm the neighborhood down," Detective Michael Miller said. "I still take it as, he's going to come out and say this is all a joke. But it's reality."

As a city native, he wasn't intimidated by the streets and didn't retreat to the suburbs after finishing up work. Instead, he often found himself right back on those same corners, eating at restaurants, driving around to make sure it was safe for kids to play, getting his car washed and talking to residents. Sometimes he'd help serve patrons.

"I said, 'What you doing coming around here after work, somebody's going to kill you, boy,'" recalled friend Sean Rideout, who said he looked up to Torbit and followed him into law enforcement. "He came back because he loved his neighborhood. He loved his people."

Gregory Lassiter, 61, said Torbit could be rough. But he had nothing but praise for the officer.

"He used to throw me down, rough me up a bit, just to try to get me straight," said Lassiter, who says Torbit called him "Merlin" because of his bushy beard. "He stayed on me for a long while, explaining how old I was and how I needed to stop [hustling], and it finally sunk in. He's going to be missed."

A moment of unity indeed. Too bad it was just a moment. And too bad it had to happen under such tragic circumstances.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Downtown, Police shootings
        

Just a few weeks ago, three Royal Caribbean cruise ship employees were charged with trying to smuggle cocaine and heroin into Baltimore. That got authorities interested, and after another inspection on Saturday, the feds found more drugs aboard the same boat (photo at left provided by U.S. law enforcement authorities).

This time, U.S. Customs officials said about $94,000 in drugs was found in a locker of the luxury liner Enchantment of the Seas.

"If we already encountered an incident where drugs were discovered on the ship, we're more than likely going to take another look at the vessel further down the road," said Steve Sapp, a spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The drugs found Saturday were sniffed out by a dog trained to detect narcotics, and were found hidden in a room accessible to any of the ship's hundreds of employees, said Sapp. No arrests have been made in connection with the latest find.

"It could be just about anybody," Sapp said. "It would be really difficult for us to bring in everyone for an interview."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 5:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: South Baltimore
        

This brings female impersonators to a new level.

Baltimore police spokesman Jeremy Silbert said cops are hunting this: "A man dressed as a woman impersonating a police officer."

He said that on Jan. 9, just after 5 p.m., a man driving a blue or green Oldsmobile Alero with a blue light on the dash pulled over a woman driver in North Baltimore and asked for her ID. She handed it to him and he left with. Police said the woman was not harmed.

The person is described as a white male in his 40s standing 5 feet 8 inches tall with blue eyes and a thin build. He was last seen wearing a shoulder-length black wig, a dark jacket with a brown and old patch on the shoulder and knee-high boots with heels.

He had an ID card hanging from a lanyard from his neck with the words, "Baltimore Police" on it. Silbert said he had on dark makeup and "a lot of wrinkles."

Anyone with information on this man or if you spot him, police urge you to call the Northern District detective squad at 410-396-2455. 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: North Baltimore
        

The high-profile killing of a city police officer and a 22-year-old clubgoer, along with the disappearance of a 16-year-old honors student and fatal shooting of an autistic man who was the brother of a city police officer, have dominated the headlines to start the year. 

Here's a recap of some of the other victims, whose identities were provided by police today:

-David Jones, 21, was identified as the man fatally stabbed when attendees at two house parties got into a fight. Police said they have arrested one man, 20-year-old Tim Dennison, and are looking for a second suspect. Jones did not appear to have a criminal record.

-Police identified the two men killed in a West Baltimore apartment complex laundry room as Willie James Davis, 26, and Marvin Kelly, 22. Davis lived at the apartment complex. Police did not have a motive or suspects; both men are co-defendants in a drug indictment handed down on Dec. 15. 

-Two men were killed Monday night. One of those victims was identified as Wendell Woodard, a 26-year-old found fatally shot inside a residence in the 3000 block of Harford Road, where he lived. Woodard, who in 2003 pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and received a sentence of three years in prison with all but eight months suspended, was pronounced dead an hour later at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The other victim, a 45-year-old shot in the 600 block of N. Carrollton Ave., has not been identified.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Northeast Baltimore, South Baltimore, West Baltimore
        

Since early Sunday, the Sun has written two in-depth accounts of the fatal shooting outside a night club near downtown, but one point seems to be unclear, not only among readers but also some reporters and politicians: Officer William H. Torbit Jr. (seen at right) was on-duty when he responded to help quell the unruly crowd outside of Select Lounge. 

In the summer, the shooting of a Marine by an off-duty officer in Mount Vernon raised questions about whether officers should carry their weapons while consuming alcohol. That is not the case in this shooting - Torbit, a plainclothes officer assigned to the Central District, responded to a distress call from an officer already at the club trying to handle the crowd. His badge was either not visible or ripped off during the melee, according to the account pieced together by sources, police, and witnesses.

That point seems lost among many readers, who posted comments and e-mailed us wanting to know what Torbit's blood alcohol content was and wanting to revisit the off-duty weapon policy.

Sun reporter Jill Rosen sought comment on the shooting from councilmembers Monday, and City Council President Bernard "Jack" Young seemed to think Torbit was working security at the bar:

“With secondary employment, we need to make sure our officers know where officers are at all times — who they are and where they are,” Young said. “Somebody should have recognized him. We should at least be able to identify our own.”

Young said that the police department might consider having officers with second jobs wear something that would identify them as police.

“How can you identify another police officer unless they’re wearing something that says police?” he asked. “I feel this is something we probably could have avoided.”

Not only was Torbit not working secondary employment at Select Lounge, city police officers have been prohibited from moonlighting as bar security for more than two years, when Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III issued a ban. Instead, in key areas such as Power Plant Live and Federal Hill, police have pooled money from businesses to pay uniformed officers to work overtime at the direction of police commanders - not bar owners.

Union president Robert F. Cherry says the union and police commanders have crafted a proposal that would allow officers to resume working second jobs at bars, but he says the proposal has been sitting on Bealefeld's desk for months without a response.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: City Hall, Downtown, Police shootings, South Baltimore
        

Baltimore police announced this morning that they arrested an 18-year-old man in the July slaying of a U.S. Marine who was shot during an altercation inside a downtown Hookah bar. The Marine, 26-year-old Sgt. Chase Love, was from New Orleans and was celebrating with friends before his redeployment to Afghanistan.

The suspect is identified as Ronald Johnson (left), of the 2100 block of West Lexington St.

Police said in charging documents that Chase and Johnson got into an argument inside Queen's Hookah in the 200 block of East Baltimore St. in the early morning hours of July 2. The court document filed by Detective Mark Veney of the homicide unit says that Chase shoved Johnson and that Johnson shot him several times with a small .25 caliber semi-automatic handgun.

Love stumbled out of the lounge and collapsed on the sidewalk in front of Manasa Hallmark store.

The Marine lived with his wife and two stepchildren in North Carolina. He had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Several active and and former servicemen had been killed in the months prior to Love's death.

Johnson has been charged with first-degree murder, first and second degree assault and several handgun counts.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, Downtown
        

Separate shooting left two men dead in Northeast and West Baltimore, bringing to eight the number of slayings in the first 11 days of the year.

And that doesn't count the police officer and the man shot and killed during the melee outside a nightclub near downtown over the weekend. Details of that incident are still being sorted out, but appears the officer was shot and killed by friendly fire.

See The Sun's homicide map.

The latest shootings occurred Monday night -- the first about 9:12 p.m. inside a house in the 3000 block of Harford Road, in Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello. A 26-year-old man was killed. The second occurred about 11:40 p.m. in the 600 block of North Carrollton Ave., in Harlem Park. 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: East Baltimore, West Baltimore
        

From a Franklin Street apartment, the university employee and her roommate have a broad view of the nightclub parking lot where police say six people were shot Sunday — an incident that left a plainclothes police officer and a 22-year-old man dead.

As an unusually large crowd attracted a significant police presence, they opened a window and watched the events that led up to the shooting outside the Select Lounge in the 400 block of N. Paca St.

The women, both 26, saw the plainclothes officer get overwhelmed by an unruly crowd, then watched as two uniformed officers opened fire while he lay on the ground. The women also saw the pained reaction of the slain officer's partners once they realized what had happened.

It's a scene they haven't been able to get out of their minds.

"I've never seen somebody killed," the university employee said Monday.

Click here to read more of their vivid account of the chaos outside the club.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 4:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Police found two men dead of gunshot wounds to the head Sunday night at a residence in the 1700 block of Gwynns Falls Parkway.

About 11:23 p.m., police and medical crews responded to the site, in the Parkview/Woodbrook neighborhood a couple blocks from Druid Hill Park. An officer found two men lying face down in the apartment's laundry room, police said. The men had both been shot in the head, and medical crews pronounced the men dead at the scene.

Police had no information on the men's names or ages, or a suspect or motive.

Police also identified the man found shot to death in a vehicle near Union Memorial Hospital in Oakenshawe as Leon Donte Smith, 34. Police did not have a last known address but in November he was charged with drug possession and listed an address in the 5500 block of Bowleys Lane in Northeast Baltimore. 

Officials did not give a motive or additional information in Smith's death. Court records show he had a minor criminal record, consisting largely of open container and drug possession charges. No other information was immediately available.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Police are not confirming the identities of the officer or the civilian killed early this morning outside Select Lounge, so we won't have much more about the officer tonight. 

But relatives of Sean Gamble, the 22-year-old killed in the incident, are speaking out and say police recklessly fired into a crowd after a fellow officer pulled a gun. 

James Gamble, 24, was at the club with his brother and said the officer, who he believed was off-duty, had been aggressive toward a woman. His brother started arguing with the officer, and the argument escalated, Gamble said. He said a group of uniformed officers then began firing on the crowd when the plainclothes officer reached for his service weapon.

Police say the officer, William H. Torbit Jr., had lost his badge in the altercation. 

"It was a crazy scene," James Gamble said. "They let off a good 20 shots, maybe six of them. They were just shooting." 

[Photo courtesy Baltimore Saints via Facebook]

Posted by Justin Fenton at 6:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)
Categories: Downtown, Police shootings
        

A man died Sunday after he was found in a car, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, in an alley less than a block from Union Memorial Hospital in North Baltimore, The Sun's Jamie Smith Hopkins reports.

Baltimore police were called to the 300 block of East 33^rd Street around 6:30 a.m. Sunday and discovered the victim — then still alive — in an alley behind the neatly kept rowhouses there. The man, who police did not identify, died later at Johns Hopkins Hospital, police spokesman Detective Jeremy Silbert said

Karina Conkrite, 31, who lives in a rowhouse nearby, said she didn't hear shots. She said she wasn't aware that anything unusual had happened.

"Living close to the hospital, you get pretty used to ambulances," she said.

The area is officially part of Oakenshawe but is often identified with Charles Village. A variety of rowhomes on the block are painted cheerful colors of pink, blue and green. A crime scene complete with police tape isn't normal, residents say.

"It's not a neighborhood where you have that kind of stuff happen," said Barbara Gudenius, who lives across the street from where the man was found.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: North Baltimore
        

Click here for the most updated version of this story.

UPDATE 11:45 p.m. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said police do not expect to provide more information today on the Sunday morning shooting. He said detectives will be gathering surveillance camera footage and reviewing physical evidence.

He said the three civilians who were shot and wounded were all women in the early 20s, who were shot in their lower extremities.

UPDATE: 10:10 a.m. Sources are identifying the officer killed this morning as William H. Torbit Jr., 33, who was assigned to the Central District operations unit. On Twitter and Facebook, friends are mourning the civilian victim, Sean "Loz" Gamble. Police are not confirming either victim's identity.

A friend, Corey Brown said Gamble had a young child and was engaged to be married. He worked for a waste management company and had no criminal record.

"He's not a violent kid - he's not in the streets," said Brown. "He's not even cut from that cloth. Apparently he got in a fight, and the cops start shooting. Not in the air - in the crowd, and they shot him."

Attempts to locate friends and family of Torbit were not immediately successful.

UPDATE: 6:45 a.m. Two Baltimore police officers were shot, one of them fatally, when gunfire erupted early Sunday outside of a club near downtown. Six people in all were shot and two killed.

Two sources said detectives are exploring whether the officer who was killed was shot by another officer amid a chaotic scene outside the Select Lounge in the 400 block of N. Paca St.

The incident occurred at about 1:15 a.m. when police were called to break up fights and control a crowd outside the club near Franklin Street in Seton Hill, said Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III. 

"There was an altercation that took place very near the club and some officers worked to intercede in that fight, at which time some gunshots were discharged," Bealefeld said. "Several officers fired multiple shots."

An eight-year veteran of the force whose name was not disclosed was shot and killed, Bealefeld said. A second officer, an 11-year veteran, was shot in the foot. Both officers were assigned to the Central District and were on duty, police said. One was in uniform and the other was in plainclothes, police said.

Police did not provide information about the civilian victims, and could not say what prompted the officers to fire their weapons or whether anyone other than the officers fired a gun.

"We're a few hours into this whole ordeal, and we have scores of detectives working on the case, processing evidence, interviewing witnesses," Bealefeld said. "We have a ton of work to do to put together the facts of what happened."

At the scene, police tape still blocked off a parking lot adjacent to Select Lounge. A "VIP Parking" placard remained in the street, and the parking lot was full.

A number of downtown clubs have been plagued by violence in recent years, with officials pushing to padlock or revoke the licenses of two prominent nightspots. Select Lounge opened just two months ago, with its web site still saying that it is "coming soon." Midnight Sun reviewed the club in November, and Ravens player Dannell Ellerbe chose the club to celebrate his birthday in December.

One police official said dozens of people had been transported to the homicide unit for interviews, and on the police scanner an officer called for an escort to take one of the victims from Shock Trauma to police headquarters.

"What we need to figure out is what sparked the shooting," said Anthony Guglielmi, a police spokesman. "Was there a weapon drawn by a civilian? Was the officer's weapon taken? We've got to put together a timeline and figure out what happened."

The web site Investigative Voice reported that an off-duty officer had fired a weapon to subdue a possibly armed person and that a second off-duty officer opened fire in response. Bealefeld said he had "no information on anything like that," though he said his priority was on comforting the slain officer's family and he had only basic information.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake called the shooting an "absolutely horrible incident." Three officers were killed in a span of a few weeks in October, and an officer was shot and wounded outside a downtown club in November. 

Police did not identify the civilian victims, but on Twitter, friends of one of the victims were talking about his death, identifying him as Sean Gamble. Police said they could not confirm his identity.

On the site, Select Lounge bills itself as catering to a "professional, upscale crowd" and the "premiere destination for sophisticated club connoisseurs, savvy socialites, A-list celebrities and the Baltimore's [sic] elite." It boasts of a private VIP lounge for "the ultimate in discreet experiences." One officer told The Sun that the club had not drawn disproportionate police attention since its opening.

Click here for a stream of Twitter messages about the club and the shooting.

4:34 a.m. Two police officers are among six people shot and wounded outside a downtown Baltimore club, and one of the officers has died, police say.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III was at Maryland Shock Trauma Center meeting with the officers' families. Guglielmi said the officers were on-duty at the time. 

Details were not immediately clear. Guglielmi said the shooting occurred outside Club Select at Paca and N. Franklin St. a few blocks north of Lexington Market. 

This blog post will be updated as more information becomes available. Also follow justin_fenton on Twitter for updates from the hospital.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 4:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (29)
Categories: Breaking news, Downtown, Police shootings
        

On Monday, Baltimore's police commissioner and mayor called a press conference highlighting some repeat offenders who they say continued to commit mayhem on the city streets because there's no fear of repercussions from the justice system.

After Thursday night, they may have two new examples.

Detectives on patrol in Northeast Baltimore witnessed two men shoot an 18-year-old and arrested the suspects at the scene, reported The Sun's Yeganeh June Torbati. The men taken into custody were identified as 29-year-old Marco Lomax and 28-year-old Ravanna Cornish. Police also recovered a handgun they believe was used in the shooting.

These two will have their day in court, but they are no strangers to the criminal justice system. Cornish was charged in November 2009 with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a 40-year-old man in Southwest Baltimore, charges that were dropped a month later. He has a previous handgun conviction from a 2001 charge, receiving a three year sentence that equated to time served. A probation violation sent him to prison for four years. He was also acquitted in a 2001 attempted murder case, and has a number of drug convictions resulting in prison sentences.

Lomax, meanwhile, beat murder charges in Prince George's County after he and his brother were charged in a New Year's Day killing in 2001. Prosecutors said they lacked evidence, according to a news report.

Lomax would go on to be convicted of handgun possession in Baltimore, receiving six months in jail, then racked up separate attempted first-degree murder and robbery charges in 2003. He was acquitted on the attempted murder charge, but pleaded guilty to armed robbery charges that were folded into separate handgun and drug indictments for a total sentence of six years in 2005.

Police may have been at the right place on the right time on Thursday, but they appear to have caught two "big fish."

Posted by Justin Fenton at 9:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Northeast Baltimore
        

Maryland State Police, investigating incendiary devices found in two letters mailed to state offices in Annapolis and Hanover is warning that the person who sent them could send more.

Authorities have made no arrests but they describe the letters complaining about terror warnings as identical, one a copy of the other, that were sent to the governor and the state's transportation secretary. Work who opened the letters were injured.

The Sun reported today:

"We don't believe that yesterday's event is going to end," Col. Terrence B. Sheridan, who heads the Maryland State Police, told reporters at the agency's headquarters in Pikesville. "We just don't know where this person is going."

Sheridan, whose agency is leading the investigation into the two packages found Thursday in Annapolis and Hanover, said he remained "very concerned."

And this just in from the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (AP) — A package ignited at a Washington postal facility Friday, a day after fiery packages sent to Maryland's governor and transportation secretary burned the fingers of workers who opened them.

Initial information indicated the parcel that ignited in northeast Washington about 2:45 p.m. was similar to the two packages opened in Maryland on Thursday, authorities said. The Washington postal facility was evacuated and no injuries were reported.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 4:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Anne Arundel County, Confronting crime
        

Baltimore police wanting national attention to help locate missing 16-year-old Phylicia Barnes got some help this morning from NBC's Today show (watch segment here). A reporter came to Baltimore and did a two-minute segment that reached viewers across the nation.

"This is Baltimore's Natalee Holloway case," police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told viewers. "This is a young woman who came to Baltimore and just disappeared."

The spokesman has for days trying to attract media from outside Baltimore and Phylicia's hometown in North Carolina to cover the case. In a Sun story published today, Guglielmi recounts his efforts to spread the word. CNN's Nancy Grace and CBS Early Morning fell through (police said producers never called back), but NBC did to a piece.

Police here are concerned because after 10 days of searching, detectives haven't come up with a single sighting for clue. They believe Phylicia has been the victim of foul play and may even have been abducted, hence their push to get her picture shown outside of Maryland.

Baltimore officials have expressed concerns that the national media is ignoring Phylicia Barnes because she disappeared in a violent city and is black. Nancy Grace did do a show on a missing teen Thursday night -- a white cheerleader from Texas.

But I'm told ABC News is headed to Baltimore to report on the case, and might at least touch on the disparity issue.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 2:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

NOTE: An earlier posting here on police budgets didn't clearly describe the police pay cuts. Every city employee is seeing a $5 reduction in their checks per pay-period, as part of a plan negotiated with unions last year to contribute to a prescription drug plan. Police officers are seeing an additional 1.95 percent cut in their pay starting later this month.

It comes just after city police announced across-the-board cuts in crime not seen in more than two decades. At left, Robert F. Cherry, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 3, speaks at a rally in front of City Hall to complain about the cuts. Police officers and firefighters are behind him (photo by The Sun's Gene Sweeney Jr.).

Here is the full story, with accusations being hurled back and forth by city and union leaders:

Baltimore police officers got what they described as a stunning note accompanying their biweekly paychecks Friday — a memo from City Hall informing them that their pay will be cut by nearly 2 percent over the next six months.

In addition, the officers along with thousands of other city workers were informed that starting Friday, their checks would be reduced $5 per pay period to share the costs of a prescription drug plan to help close a $121 million budget deficit.

While most city workers were prepared for the $5 reductions, police officers are taking a double hit — the cost of drug plan plus the 1.95 percent pay cut. Spread over six months, that last cut means the average officer will see about $205 less in his monthly pay starting Jan. 21.

In November, officers through their labor union overwhelmingly rejected the city’s one-year contract offer calling for a 2 percent cut in exchange for an extra five vacation days. The Fraternal Order of Police president, Robert F. Cherry, said he proposed a different, multi-year contract with a temporary pay freeze.

But the mayor’s office went to arbitration and won. Now, city leaders say pay cuts for officers that would’ve been spread out of a year have to compacted into six months. And the five extra vacation days are no longer on the table.

“We could’ve spread the pain,” said an aide to the mayor, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “I think the rank-and-file members really deserve better than they got from the union leadership.”

In a statement, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she “deeply appreciates the sacrifices every city employee has made to keep the city going, delivering core services during the worst fiscal crisis in the city's modern history and this shared sacrifice has prevented 350 additional layoffs this fiscal year.”

Cherry said the city could’ve renegotiated the contract and called the arbitration “political cover” for the mayor to “unilaterally cut our pay.” He said the union did not participate in the arbitration process, calling the process non-binding and the results a foregone conclusion.

Baltimore police are coming off a year in which crime dropped in virtually every category, with 25-year lows in the number of homicides and other violent crime. The mayor and police commissioner have been bragging about the numbers for days.

“Baltimore City will never be safe as long as the mayor continues to show her disrespect to the police,” Cherry said. ”How do you get on the camera on Monday and talk about drastic reductions in crime and then take away our pay? The only reductions the mayor and the police commissioner aren’t talking about is the pay for the police officers, the good guys who take the bad guys with guns off the streets.”

Firefighters are taking a similar hit as police. Their union successfully negotiated with the city but pegged their pay cuts to whatever the police got. That meant the 1,700 firefighters will also begin seeing reductions in salary starting Jan. 21. But unlike police, firefighters will get the extra five vacation days.

Other city workers have taken their pay reductions in the form of furloughs — police officers and firefighters cannot take additional days off, so they take pay cuts instead — that City Hall officials say amounts to greater cuts than that of police.

Employees earning less than $30,000 a year are furloughed for four days, roughly a 1.54 percent pay cut. Those earning between $50,000 and $70,000 have to take eight days off without pay, a 3.08 percent salary cut.

Rawlings-Blake, who isn’t allowed by law to reduce her salary, has given back to the city the equivalent of 6.73 percent of her pay. Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III, who earns $194,815 a year, took a 10-day pay cut in fiscal 2010 and plans an 11-day pay cut in fiscal 2011. Members of the police command staff, who are not under union jurisdiction, also have taken pay cuts in lieu of furloughs.

This week, the city’s budget director warned that the city faces another shortfall — up to $81 million — and that more cuts might be necessary in the next fiscal year.

The new prescription drug payments will help save the city about $18 million a year and are in addition to co-payments. Up until this month, the city paid 100 percent of drug premiums, while the state kicked in 8-80 percent for its workers. The new plan calls for city employees to contribute about 10 percent of the premiums.

For police, the extra money taken from their paychecks adds up. They have lost a coveted tuition reimbursement plan and are paying more into their pension fund, which also faced dangerous shortfalls last year. Now they’re paying more for medicine while getting less money each month.
Bealefeld has repeatedly praised his front-line force with working hard despite budget disputes and distractions over cuts to their pensions.

In an interview with The Baltimore Sun on end-of-year crime statistics, Bealefeld said he didn’t “want to miss the chance” to acknowledge the work his cops did during a turbulent year.

“These guys are really the ones that rolled their sleeves up and got down there and did the work,” the commissioner said. “They are ones in the trenches. And I think in the face of all the other noise that you hear — and there will be continued discussions and continued work to be done on the budgets and finances and contracts — but at the end of the day, we’ve got to make the city safer.

“And the fact is that these cops are going out there every day and they’re making the city safer,” Bealefeld said.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: City Hall, Confronting crime, Top brass
        

Baltimore police say they're being flooded with reports that Phylicia Barnes has been found. Calls are coming from the media -- and I've gotten some e-mails and blog postings saying the same thing. Police said a reporter from Atlanta just called to confirm.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told me just a few minutes ago that the 16-year-old, missing since Dec. 28 when she left her Northwest Baltimore apartment, remains missing. He said there are no new updates to the intense investigation.

To calm rumors, Guglielmi just issued a statement on Twitter:

MISSING PERSON UPDATE: Please not that Phylicia Barnes has NOT been found. We would tweet such an occurrence immediately."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

A note accompanying an incendiary package addressed to the governor and affixed with holiday theme stamps said this, according to law enforcement sources: "Report suspicious activity. Total [expletive]. You have created your own self-fulling prophecy."

Gov. Martin O'Malley told the Baltimore Sun that he could only guess that the sender was angry with overhead highway signs asking people to report suspicious activity. That letter, another one sent to the state transportation secretary and two more false scares in Baltimore created concern across the state on Thursday.

Above, Gregory M. Shipley, a spokesman for the Maryland State Police, holds up the sent sent to the governor. The picture was taken by The Sun's Barbara Haddock Taylor.

Office workers from Annapolis to Baltimore were sent streaming out of office and the downtown courthouse -- the two packages in Baltimore, at the state complex on West Preston Street and the Mitchell Courthouse on North Calvert Street -- were nothing more than boxes filled with office supplies.

We should learn more today, maybe even about a suspect, and whether this person really hated the overhead signs that much.

From today's story:

The only injuries reported were to the fingers of a state mailroom worker, who refused treatment — yet federal and state officials locked down state government mailrooms indefinitely and responded with a massive public safety effort that captured the focus of the cable news networks.

In Baltimore, police closed roads during rush hour and evacuated at least two other buildings after concerns were raised about packages found in the city, both of which turned out to be harmless office supplies. And University of Maryland officials in College Park sent an alert to employees warning in capital letters "DO NOT OPEN ANY MAIL."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Anne Arundel County
        

Baltimore police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi was complaining that he couldn't get national media attention to help locate missing 16-yeear-old Phylicia Barnes, who may have been abducted and taken out of state.

But Thursday afternoon, he suddently got hit with requests for the CBS Early Show, NBC's Today and CNN's Nancy Grace, who makes a living hyping missing children stories. I tuned in to the show a few minutes ago but saw only coverage of a missing 13-year-old cheerleader from Texas, and an interview with her distraught mom who for some reason was admitting to have failed a police-administered lie-detector test.

In speaking with The Sun, Guglielmi had expressed concern of a double-standard -- that Phylicia wasn't getting national attention because she went missing in Baltimore. He noted that she could've been abducted, that police believe she's a victim of foul play, that she's an honor student and track star who was going to graduate early and go to college at Towson University.

What he didn't say but what cops are thinking: Phylicia Barnes is also black and disappeared in a violent city. Missing children typically showcased on national televsion are white and from the suburbs. Race and class is the presiding factor, says a university professor and media expert I interviewed.

But I had hoped that Nancy Grace had come through. Guglielmi and the head of the homicide unit, Maj. Terrence McLarney, were to head down to DC to tape a segment for the show that is on the air as I write this. When I didn't see city cops on my TV screen, I sent a text message to the spokesman.

Gugllielmi wrote back: "No, they never followed through" (he told me CBS producers never called back either).

The cheerleader from rural Texas trumped the college-bound teen from Baltimore.

As I walked out of the living room to type this post, I heard a promo from the Nancy Grace show on the victim from Texas: "She's not just the talk of the town, she's the talk of the nation."

Gugliemi said the Early Show also never called back. But they did tape a segment for Today. The spokesman said he's not asking for a full-blown hour. "I just want them to flash a picture, that's all I want," he said Thursday night.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

UPDATE AS OF 6:30 P.M.: The suspicious package at the state office building on West Preston Street turned out to be computer accessories. Again, heightened caution after the explosive devices that were found earlier today in Annapolis.

UPDATE AS OF 5:45 P.M.: The suspicious package at the Mitchell Courthouse turned out to be a box of toner cartridges, according to police. In light of what happened in Annapolis today, people are being more cautious.

Baltimore police are at a state office building at 201 West Preston St. where a department spokesman says at least one suspicious package was found. Police have no other details of where the packages was or what it contained.

Fire Department spokesman Kevin Cartwright said "no detonation" occurred. There were conflicting reports about whether employees were told to leave; Preston Street is closed in the area; the state complex contains several state buildings, including the the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard between Howard and Preston streets was closed as of 4:15 p.m.

At the moment, we don't know whether the package contained an explosive or if this is the result of heightened suspicions following the explosives found in two other state buildings in Anne Arundel County..

Also, Maryland State Police just sent out an update on the explosive devices found in two state buildings in Hanover and in Annapolis. No explosion, but a chemical reaction did cause an injury to one mail room employee.

Here's a statement from police:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 5:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Breaking news, Downtown
        

Usually, for Baltimore police, no news is good news.

Not this time.

The cops want as much attention as possible to help find missing Phylicia Barnes, the 16-year-old girl who disappeared from her sister's Northwest Baltimore apartment on Dec. 28. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said detectives fear she either dead in Baltimore or has been abducted and is somewhere far away.

Guglielmi has been chasing national television producers for days to get them to do a story and put Phylicia's picture on the air. If she has been abducted, the cops want people in Kansas and California to see her picture.

But until today, only CNN Headline news and Good Morning America had paid any attention. And Good Morning America used canned quotes from the family and file footage of the police helicopter.

But after I started working a story and called several TV networks, city cops got booked on CNN's Nancy Grace, the CBS Early Show and NBC's Today. Nancy Grace plans to air a segment tonight; the other two shows Friday morning (Here's a link to Nancy Grace, where her blog features a report on a missing white 13-year-old cheerleader from Texas)

Cops won't say publicly what they're saying privately -- that they feel Phylicia is not getting national media attention because she's black, went missing in a crime-ridden city and isn't from the suburbs.

Publicly, the police spokesman Guglielmi says:

“I don’t know why this case is any different that the Natalee Holloway case,” said Guglielmi, referring to the young, wealthy white woman who went missing while vacationing in the Caribbean in 2005 and continues to be a staple of cable news programs.

“The only exception is that Phylicia was in Baltimore and she’s from North Carolina,” Guglielmi said. “America rallied around Natalee and CNN aired hourly updates. In my case, I’m just asking that [Phylicia’s] picture be put up and it be noted that she’s missing and in danger.

“I know there are things happening around the nation,” the police spokesman said. “But I think the disappearance of a 16-year-old is more important than birds falling out of the sky or dead fish in the harbor. Somebody’s life is in peril here.”

Posted by Peter Hermann at 4:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore, Top brass
        

Explosive devices have been found in  two state office buildings in Annapolis, near the State House, and in Hanover, according to authorities.

Bomb squad technicians and the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force are investigating. Details are still coming in, but it appears that a State House mail room employee was hurt while handling one of the packages.

State mail room offices have been shut down.

Keep checking the Baltimore Sun web site for updates of this breaking news.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Anne Arundel County, Breaking news, Confronting crime
        

Several people have asked how they can volunteer to help search for Phylicia Barnes, the 16-year-old from North Carolina who went missing Dec. 28 from her sister's Northwest Baltimore apartment and is the subject of an extensive investigation.

One reader told me her 16-year-old cousin had disappeared 20 years ago and was found dead in Baltimore County. Baltimore police, along with the FBI and state authorities, have devoted more than 100 officers and others to the mysterious case.

Baltimore police spokesman Kevin Brown is advising this to anyone who wants to help:

"Currently, the best way individuals can help is to pass along information concerning her disappearance to those who may remain unaware through fliers and word of mouth. This, in turn, does two things; one, keeps her picture out there in the hope she is spotted or it spurs someone's recollection, and two, provides information on how to contact police with any tips that may be received."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Confronting crime
        

Quote of the day from Baltimore City Councilman Ed Reisinger, from Laura Vozzella's column today:

"He made some wrong decisions with whatever he did. Anyone who's been arrested, especially when you're in the city of Baltimore -- you know what I mean -- are we going to disqualify them from employment?"

The councilman is not talking about just any employment, but employment as a councilman. He's talking about William "Pete" Welch, who wants to join the council vacated by his mother, Agnes Welch.

As Vozzella points out, he's got a bit of a past.

In 1999, he was charged with attempted murder and illegal possession of a handgun, but he pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and discharging a firearm. He got probation before judgment (Note to the police commissioner -- does he qualify as a bad guy with guns?)

At the time, Welch gave two stories -- that he fired his gun into the ground to restore order and then that it accidentally went off. Trouble is, Vozzella reports, he was restoring order during a dispute over $40 he had promised to a woman for working the polls for his mother. It's called walking around money, and at the time that too was illegal.

But that's not all. In June 2004, Welch pleaded guilty to failing to filing campaign finance reports and perjury related to those reports. Vozzella notes that he's a certified public accountant.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Confronting crime, Courts and the justice system, Crime humor
        

Baltimore's police commissioner went on the Dan Rodricks radio show on WYPR to talk about crime, guns and his relationship with State's Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein. But it was an ex-felon named Thomas who stole the show.

Thomas called in and introduced himself as a former criminal who "spent a lot of time on the street committing crimes with guns, and spent a lot of time in prison." He praised Bealefeld for going after guns and for using the federal system to send gun offenders to long prison terms.

"When gun violence was a joke, everyone on the street took it as a joke," Thomas said. "Now, guys in the prison system are saying, 'I don't want to be caught with a gun.' Even those of us once involved in gun crime, we're sick and tired of these guns and killings."

This comment came after Bealefeld defended himself against people accusing him of wanting to arrest everybody for everything -- arrests under the commissioner have dropped from more than 105,000 in 2005 to 60,000 now.

One caller said prison isn't the answer because criminals come out more violent than they went in. "There is something in the air and the water and the lead paint," the caller said, "that makes Baltimore City a violent city, and that needs to be addressed, and we can't keep throwing police at it."

The commissioner agreed that there are social issues at play, but he also said he's tired of excuses for crime. He noted that 44 percent of people charged with murder in Baltimore last year "were arrested before with guns. They came home, they got guns again and they killed people."

Bealefeld praised ex-felon Thomas, telling Rodricks' listeners, "You won't get a higher testimony of the effectiveness of this approach than listening to Thomas. Everyone should listen to Thomas."

Earlier in the show, Bealefeld said he hoped that with Bernstein as the city's top prosecutor (the two are seen together in the above photo on the streets on New Year's), he's convinced that the men who share the same strategies to fight crime and restore trust in law enforcement.

"We need to close the revolving door," the police commissioner said. "We need to know that we will get a break from these guys that we have to see over and over again in neighborhoods. One of the big things is people's lack of faith in the entire system. Lots of people in too many neighborhoods have lost faith in the rule of law.

"I see that played out in retaliatory violence," Bealefeld continued. "I see victims of nonfatal shootings not willing to cooperate with investigators, not just because they fear their house is going to get firebombed, but because they don't feel the guy is going to go to jail. They don't believe my guys are going to do a good investigation and they don't believe that once caught, the just is going to put him in jail."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Top brass
        

The pace of slayings in Baltimore has slowed -- three to begin the year but nothing in the past few days. But police have kept up their relentless campaign to get guns off city streets.

Since last night, police have announced gun arrests in three parts of the city, starting in the Western where detectives with the Violent Crime Impact Section, targeting one of the more violent corridors in the city, made eight arrests Wednesday night and seized a .32 caliber handgun. The busts came while searching a house in the 700 block of North Fulton Ave.

In North Baltimore, police arrested two people and recovered a .40 caliber handgun from the 4000 block of Hamilton Ave. Detectives with a gang unit led the investigation.

Again in the Western, patrol officers stopped a car in the 200 block of North Carey St., arrested two people and seized a .38 caliber handgun.

And in South Baltimore, police raided a house in the 1600 block of Cedox St, arrested one person and seized a 20-gauge shotgun. 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Confronting crime, North Baltimore, South Baltimore, Top brass, West Baltimore
        

Baltimore police on Wednesday scoured the apartment complex where 16-year-old Phylicia Barnes was last seen on Dec. 28. She has disappeared without a trace, and city detectives are devoting a massive amount of resources to find her.

On Tuesday, they searched Leakin Park, based on a tip left on a story on the Baltimore Sun's web site, which turned out be less a tip than a suggestion, and today they used cadets and two dozen detectives to hand out fliers in hopes somebody will come forward with information.

Read more information on the search.

In the picture, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi (far left), Maj. Terrence McLarney, head of the homicide unit (center), and Sgt. William Simmons, whose squad is leading the investigation, talk to the media. The photo was taken by The Sun's Jed Kirschbaum.

It's the lack of evidence that has police so worried. She disappeared at 1:30 in the afternoon, last seen at her sister's apartment on Eberle Drive. The honor student hasn't used her debit card, her cell phone is off and she hasn't updated her Facebook page.

Police say they suspect foul play but have no evidence other than the unusual length of time she's been missing to support that theory. They've interviewed a dozen people who had access to the apartment while she was visiting there from North Carolina and have turned up no clues. No one has come forward to say they saw her.

McLarney, the head of the homicide unit, called the disappearance unique even in a city where missing persons are routine. Police investigated 352 missing persons reports last year, only five of which have not been solved. Most typically involve family disputes or troubled pasts.

"We look at the individual's background," McLarney said. "We look for any sort of substance abuse, any sort of emotional problems. None of that is present here. We have nothing to suggest that Phylicia Barnes fled of her own free will to some other part of the country."

That's why police have devoted so many resources. Half the homicide squad -- about 35 detectives - are involved in the case. Two helicopters from the FBI with equipment to search for bodies are being flown in to Baltimore. The FBI and Maryland State Police are assisting.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

It was simply put one of the most disastrous gaffs in public relations I've ever witnessed.

An angry woman in a bright red blazer who identified herself as the manager of the Reisterstown Road Shopping Center ran out to complain about unauthorized filming and gathering on the far reaches of a parking lot closest to Home Depot.

She interrupted a news conference by Baltimore police who are desperately trying to find missing Phylicia Simone Barnes, a 16-year-old girl who disappeared from her sister's apartment within sight of the lot.

"You can't film here," she shouted at the police, seen above during the event in the photo by The Sun's Jed Kirschbaum. Pictured is Sgt. William Simmons, foreground left, and Detective Robert Burns of homicide unit.

It wasn't just a news conference. Dozens of detectives and a busload of cadets had gathered there with top police commanders and turned it into a makeshift command center to distribute fliers to help in the search.

The woman remained unmoved.

"You are being very discourteous and rude," she told one cop.

She then did something I'll never believe.

It was a classic standoff of mall cops versus city cops. In this case, two unarmed mall cops versus a virtual wall of armed city cops. I'd put my money on city cops. They too remained unbowed, and instead of retreating off the lot (yes, it's private, and yes, they didn't tell the mall they were coming), they held their turf.

The incredulous police stood dumbfounded at the scene unfolding before them. "Total disrespect," one detective said. "A shame," said another. Others simply laughed and encouraged reporters to try to interview the lady. That didn't go very well. She ordered me and other reporters, including television camera operators, off the property.

The more she yelled, the more they filmed her, and the fiasco played out in front of the missing girl's father, Russell Barnes.

"It's the work of the devil," the father told me. "If I have to stand out here and hand out fliers myself, and get arrested, I'll do it."

The woman didn't care who she was yelling at. She pointed at the homicide commander, Maj. Terrence McLarney, who simply held up a flier of the missing girl, needing no words to convey his sentiment: "We're here for her."

Finally, Bill Parks emerged. He identified himself as an official representing the mall owner. He complained, albeit less frenetically than the woman, that police had blundered by not informing the mall that they were coming.

He explained he wasn't trying to impede a police investigation -- it was more the filming he objected too. Police were filming the event for the Internet along with reporters. "We want to cooperate," he said.

But rules are rules. She even chased after a cadet was handing out fliers to shoppers (though to be fair, police said later that they encountered no problems handing out the fliers inside the plaza).

Here's what could've happened. The woman could've quietly approached a senior police officer and asked what was happening. She could've nicely but firmly expressed her concerns about being blind-sided, but now realizing that the cops were trying to help find a missing girl, simply faded away.

For someone who didn't want media attention, the woman certainly attracted a lot more than she or anyone else bargained for. Screaming at TV cameras to go away only makes them stay longer. And rules can be bent and bad manners forgiven when it comes to finding a missing 16-year-old girl.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

The mother of 16-year-old Phylicia Simone Barnes, who has been missing since Dec. 28, told a North Carolina newspaper that the Northwest Baltimore apartment her daughter was staying at had been visited by at least 20 men over Christmas.

Phylicia Barnes, who lives in Monroe, N.C., had been staying with her older sister, Deena Barnes, and wanted to move here to attend Towson University after graduating early from high school. Police have described the apartment on Eberle Drive, near the Reiserstown Road Shopping Center, as a flop-house for college students.

Baltimore police searched the first-floor apartment Tuesday night but said they hadn't found any evidence that would help them located Barnes. Authorities have said they suspect foul play and that Barnes has not been seen or heard from since she disappeared in the early afternoon seeking food. Police also said they have questioned nearly everyone who had been in the apartment with the missing girl, but plan to re-interview all of them.

Police today were meeting with the FBI but as of noon had reported no new leads. This is from a  Charlotte Observer story published today:

Janice Sallis, Phylicia's mother, said Tuesday that Deena Barnes told her at least 20 men had visited the apartment over the Christmas holidays, while Phylicia was visiting.

Sallis said she was upset to have learned of the activity that she says took place while her daughter was at the apartment.

"Deena Barnes misled me," Sallis said. "I'm a very protective mother. She assured me it would be just she and Phylicia.

"But when I went up there Thursday night, I found out otherwise. She gave me the names of 20 different guys who had gone in and out of the apartment."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (26)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore County police are investigating a serial Dunkin Donuts robber that has struck at least six times since October.

The latest attack occurred Dec. 14 about 7:46 p.m. at a shop in the 1600 block of Eastern Boulevard. Police said the man walked into the shop, made coffee and went to the counter. She the clerk opened the register, police said he took out a gun and demanded money. He fled with an undisclosed amount.

In some other robberies, police said the man approached the counter with a cup of hot coffee and then threw it into the clerk's face when she opened the cash register drawer. He then reached into the drawer and took money as the clerk recovered.

Police said they have linked the man to these other cases:

•    Dunkin Donuts located in the 9400-block of Harford Road, 21234 in Precinct 8/Parkville on December 7, 2010 at approximately 6:13 a.m.
•    Dunkin Donuts located in the 8000-block of Liberty Road, 21208 in Precinct 4/Pikesville on November 5, 2009 at approximately 12:02 a.m. The suspect did not receive any cash in this incident.

•    Dunkin Donuts located in the 6300-block of Kenwood Avenue, 21237 in Precinct 9/White Marsh on November 5, 2010 at approximately 8:36 p.m.
•    Dunkin Donuts located in the 9400-block of Harford Road, 21234 in Precinct 8/Parkville on October 10, 2009 at approximately 3:34 p.m.
•    Royal Farms Store located in 600-block of Southwick Drive, 21286 in Precinct 6/Towson on October 10, 2009 at approximately 2:20 p.m.

Anyone with information about the identity or whereabouts of the suspect is asked to call Baltimore County Police at 410-307-2020 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7-LOCKUP (1-866-756-2587). To text a message to Metro Crime Stoppers, send to "CRIMES" (274637), then enter the message starting with "MCS," or e-mail a tip to www.metrocrimestoppers.org. Those contacting Metro Crime Stoppers can remain anonymous and might be eligible for a cash reward of up to $2,000.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

I spent the morning in traffic court on Patapsco Avenue. It's a relaxed atmosphere -- I watched the judge poll the spectators on a case last month, much like a game show -- but the bailiff still has to warn people to adhere to proper courtroom decorum.

No hats on men. No cell phones in hand. No talking.

That doesn't mean no jokes. And before the judge -- Catherine Curran O'Malley -- took over the bench, the bailiff told a little story to break the ice.

He recalled that years ago when he was a police officer, he got pulled over for speeding in North Carolina. "For going 10 mph over the speed limit," he exclaimed.

The North Carolina cop asked where the bailiff was a cop, and he replied Maryland. "He gave me a ticket anyway," the bailiff said.

The cop told him he was planning to visit Maryland soon. Said the bailiff: "You're going to be the first person I see when you cross over the Maryland state line."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: South Baltimore
        

Baltimore County police are seeking help from the public in identifying two men who held up a Domino's Pizza at gunpoint in Woodlawn.

Police said that detectives have not received any tips or leads in the robbery, which occurred in the 3500 block of Brenbrook Drive on Dec. 5. Police gave this account of the holdup:

"The suspects entered the store and placed an order. When the clerk opened the cash register, one of the suspects produced a handgun and demanded money while reaching into the register and taking cash. The pair fled the location with an undisclosed amount of money.

The suspects’ images were caught on a store surveillance camera. The first suspect is described as a black male, approximately 5’9” tall, with a large build and short black hair. The second suspect is described as a black male, approximately 6’ tall, with a slim build, also with short black hair. Both suspects appeared to be approximately 28-35 years old."

Anyone with information about the identity or whereabouts of the suspects is asked to call Baltimore County Police at 410-307-2020 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7-LOCKUP (1-866-756-2587). To text a message to Metro Crime Stoppers, send to "CRIMES" (274637), then enter the message starting with "MCS," or e-mail a tip to www.metrocrimestoppers.org.

Those contacting Metro Crime Stoppers can remain anonymous and might be eligible for a cash reward of up to $2,000.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County
        

UPDATE: Word just came from Baltimore Police that the shooting near where the autistic man had been shot on Sunday was self-inflicted

Three people were shot and wounded overnight in Baltimore, including a man wounded just one street over from where a autistic man was shot and killed in while standing on his front porch with his dog.

No word yet on whether the shootings are related, but there's now been two in what has been described as a quiet neighborhood of Hamilton Hills in Northeast Baltimore.

Hezikah Wilson III, 38, the brother of a city police officer, was killed at his house on Plymouth Road on Sunday evening. Last night about 9, another man was shot in the shoulder on Pioneer Drive. He survived.

Two others were shot and wounded elsewhere in the city Tuesday night and early Wednesday.

Baltimore police also reported two more gun arrests. One was in the 200 block of South Calhoun St. in Southwest Baltimore. Officials said a search of a house led them to a stolen .38 caliber handgun and one arrest.

Officers in the 500 block of North Lakewood Ave., in East Baltimore, reported seizing a 9mm and a .22 caliber handgun and a shotgun. Officers assigned to a special detail securing the Monument Street business corridor made the seizures.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: East Baltimore, Northeast Baltimore, West Baltimore
        

The written word, whether it is in traditional print or on a computer screen, remains powerful.

And nothing could prove that more than what happened on Tuesday in the frantic search for the missing 16-year-old girl, Phylicia Simone Barns (at left), who disappeared without a trace from a Northwest Baltimore apartment on Dec. 28.

A comment posted on the bottom of a Baltimore Sun story read: "Humor me, somebody pop over to the 4000 block of Franklintown Road and look at the Southwest shoulder."

Cops, hunting down any and every clue, took immediate interest. Was this simply an obvious reference to Leakin Park being a notorious and popular dumping ground for bodies, or did this poster know something specific?

Hard to tell. The version that appears in public identifies the author only by a screen name, Cham101. Police sought more information on the poster from the newspaper, but as that was being worked out, police mobilized more than 100 police officers to search the area. An entire cadet class. More than 20 homicide detectives. A dive team. A helicopter. Officers from the Maryland Natural Resources police. Nine cadaver dogs.

They searched a section of the isolated park all day, giving up only after the poster had been tracked down, by this newspaper's chief police reporter, Justin Fenton. He reported back:

The comment was posted by a Sun reader and frequent commenter, who uses the screen name Cham101. In early November she had posted a research project on her blog that attempted to map all the bodies found in Leakin Park over the years. You can check it out here.

"The reason I said look at the 4000 block of Franklintown Road is because if someone disappears on the West Side that is ground zero of where they are going to be found," Cham posted on our site after police said her comment had sparked the search. "The police should have searched in all these places 2 days ago.  These are easy drop points for bodies and many many bodies have been found at these sites."

At a news conference, police called this tip the only credible tip they had at the time. The said they mobilized such a heavy force because the message was very specific as to a potential location. They were understandably not happy when they discovered the new information about the commentator later in the day.

This is a problem with anonymous comments. They allow the writer to say almost anything, and it's what newspapers across the country try to encourage -- a free-wheeling debate. But had the identity of the poster been known up front, it would've prevented such a massive and fruitless search, and allowed detectives to concentrate on other leads.

Some newspaper editors, citing the viscous and often-time racists and personal attacks, have suspended comments on crime and other similar stories. The Baltimore Sun blocks comments on stories when the topic veers into hateful territory.

Cham101's defense that police should've looked in Leakin Park from the start is without merit. Though true that it is known for body dumps, Leaking Park and adjoining Gwynns Falls Park make up 1,100 acres of mostly wooded land. It took more than 100 cops seven hours to thoroughly search just the area that the poster directed them too.

Though anonymous, and with police knowing it could be a general statement rather than a specific tip, had to act. Had they not, and her body was discovered next to stream along Franklintown Road, it would've appeared they had ignored an early lead. But it also serves as a lesson that the written word is powerful, and shouldn't be written in haste.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Confronting crime, Northwest Baltimore, Southwest Baltimore, Top brass
        

I guess we can forgive Gregg L. Bernstein for anticipating a packed audience for his ceremonial swearing-in on Tuesday as the city's new state's attorney  -- the official one was Monday. He scanned the audience inside the grand ceremonial courtroom at the Mitchell Courthouse and proclaimed:

"What a crowd!"

It wasn't an impromptu remark. When we got a text of his speech, we discovered the crowd line had been scripted in. But it turned out to be correct -- he did play to a packed audience -- and that seems to befit the high expectations that with Bernstein the top prosecutor and Frederick H. Bealefeld III the top cop, something will change for the better in Baltimore.

(Bernstein is shown at left with his wife, Sheryl Goldstein, announcing his election victory. The picture is by The Sun's Lloyd Fox).

No doubt police and prosecutors will cooperate more and agree on a crime fighting strategy. Bernstein spent hours in a patrol car with Bealefeld in the opening hours of New Year's and saw first-hand how the city is policed. Bealefeld supported Bernstein from the start, and during the ride he called the prosecutor "the new sheriff in town."

In his remarks Tuesday, Bernstein said:

It is my sincere hope that today’s ceremony with this extraordinary display of unity will mark the beginning of a new era for our justice system; an era marked by a renewed spirit of cooperation and by results and outcomes that make Baltimore a safer and more just city for all.

And that cooperation includes working with the defense bar and the office of the public defender, and I would like to acknowledge the presence of the District Public Defender for Baltimore City, Elizabeth Julian, who is here today, and who I pledge to work with in the years ahead to improve our system of justice.

Despite great strides in the last few years, Baltimore continues to suffer from too much violence committed by a small minority of people who, despite previous best efforts, remain on the streets. We must change the way we do business so that we can successfully target, prosecute, and convict the violent offenders who continue to harm our neighbors and neighborhoods.

The season for promises, however, is over, and the time for performance and action is about to begin. I intend to take three immediate steps to begin our challenging work together to make Baltimore a safer city.

Chief Judge Welch, Administrative Judge Holland, Chief Judge Bell, Members of the Circuit Court and District Court for Baltimore City.

And a special welcome to Judge Shirley Watts who, for those who don’t know, had the honor last week of receiving news from the Governor that she has been appointed to fill the seat vacated by Judge Arrie Davis on the Court of Special Appeals. Judge Watts, I know I speak for everyone when I extend my congratulations on this great achievement in your illustrious career.

Members of the Maryland Appellate Court and Federal Court who are here today. And again, I must single out one judge in particular, Judge James Bredar, who was able to celebrate the holidays with news that the United States Senate recently confirmed his appointment by President Obama to become the next United States District Judge for the District of Maryland where he will join another recent appointment, an alumnus of this bench and the Court of Special Appeals, the Honorable Ellen Hollander, who also was confirmed as a United States District Judge
Congressmen Cummings, Sarbanes, Ruppersburger Mayor Rawlings-Blake, Police Commissioner Bealefeld, Thank you both for being here.

My family: My wife, Sheryl; Sheryl’s parents, Sy and Ann Goldstein; my sons, Andrew and Owen; my mother, Sara Bernstein, and my sister, Nancy. Friends and Colleagues, both old, and new.
What a crowd!

I am deeply honored to be joined today by such a distinguished assembly. This is quite a collection of talented, committed and accomplished people, and I am humbled by your attendance and well-wishes. More importantly, I think it speaks profoundly to the notion that this is an important day for the City of Baltimore, and one where, hopefully, together, we can start on the road to making our great city a safer place to live, work and play.

I want to thank the citizens of Baltimore for this tremendous honor in electing me to the office of State’s Attorney for Baltimore City. I am humbled and I will do my best to fulfill their trust and confidence every day that I serve.

I have a long list of people to thank who helped during the campaign. And each one, in their own special way, played a vitally important and integral part in the reason why I am honored and fortunate to stand before all of you today as State’s Attorney. I would be doing a disservice to those who helped me along the way if I tried to name you all, but in the process, left someone out who was equally significant, so I will simply say thank you to all of you for your help, your encouragement and your belief that we could make this happen.

There is one person, however, that I would like to recognize. My wife, Sheryl. Thank you Sheryl for all you have done for me to help me along the way to this day. I truly could not have done this without you. Those of you who know Sheryl are well aware how true those words are.

I want to thank all the members of the Baltimore City Circuit Court for permitting me to conduct this ceremony in your courtroom, for although we share the same roof where our respective offices are located, I am mindful that whenever I, or any of my assistants, appear in your courtrooms, it is you who control the proceedings and have the last word, and I pledge my utmost respect to each of you in the performance of my duties as State’s Attorney.

Judge Holland, in particular, as the Administrative Judge, I know that you have the added burden of making sure the trains all run on time. It is an often thankless job that you do so very, very well, and I promise not to make it any more difficult, but instead, work with you and the Court to find ways to improve the administration of justice for the citizens of Baltimore.

And I also want to thank Chief Judge Welch for the time and care he invested to make this ceremony worthy of our city and citizens … and memorable for my family and me. I am also honored and thankful to be joined by five extraordinary individuals who preceded me as State’s Attorney: Judge Charles Moylan (1964-70); Howard Cardin (1970-71); William Swisher (1975-83); Dean Kurt Schmoke (1983-87); Stuart Simms (1987-95). You have set the bar very high, and I will work every day to uphold your high standard of integrity I also want to recognize my immediate predecessor, Patricia Jessamy, who could not be here with us today because she is spending time on a much deserved vacation with her family.

It is no secret that Mrs. Jessamy and I occasionally disagreed during the campaign about the nature and role of the State’s Attorney’s Office. But those disagreements always were professional, not personal, and we both share a reverence for the office and our dedication to its quality. I wish to recognize her today for her many accomplishments during her long tenure. Her commitment to our city and citizens is undeniable and admirable. And I thank her for her courtesy and assistance during these transition weeks and wish her great success on her future endeavors.

And finally, a special thanks to Judge Bothe, my former partners, Jerry Martin and Marty Himeles, and my good friend, Warren Brown, for their kind and generous remarks, and for staying within the time limits so I can maintain my credibility with Judge Welch who I promised that we would all be brief.

It is my sincere hope that today’s ceremony with this extraordinary display of unity will mark the beginning of a new era for our justice system; an era marked by a renewed spirit of cooperation and by results and outcomes that make Baltimore a safer and more just city for all.

And that cooperation includes working with the defense bar and the office of the public defender, and I would like to acknowledge the presence of the District Public Defender for Baltimore City, Elizabeth Julian, who is here today, and who I pledge to work with in the years ahead to improve our system of justice.

Despite great strides in the last few years, Baltimore continues to suffer from too
much violence committed by a small minority of people who, despite previous best
efforts, remain on the streets. We must change the way we do business so that we can
successfully target, prosecute, and convict the violent offenders who continue to harm our
neighbors and neighborhoods.

The season for promises, however, is over, and the time for performance and
action is about to begin. I intend to take three immediate steps to begin our challenging
work together to make Baltimore a safer city. First, we will aggressively prosecute violent offenders who, sadly, more often than not, are repeat offenders. We will redesign the State’s Attorney’s Office and refocus its resources in a strategic way to pursue with relentless rigor and reason these
repeat violent offenders who prey on our citizens. I also pledge to forge and maintain
better and stronger relationships with all members of the law enforcement community.

Goal two is to ensure that we get the most out of the resources we have and operate the State’s Attorney’s Office like a top-notch law firm. This will require improved training, as well as top of the line recruitment and hiring practices. I will hire a training coordinator who will develop and implement a comprehensive training program to help all of our prosecutors new and seasoned alike to maximize their effectiveness in both the investigation of cases and their performance in the courtroom. At the same time, we will seek to recruit and hire the best and brightest new attorneys to join our office in the fight against crime.

My third goal is to better incorporate and harness the power of modern technology. With new technological tools, our lawyers and staff can be more productive and better serve the city. We will also use technology to track case outcomes to better understand patterns of criminal behavior, and to share timely, relevant information with the public, and to be accountable to ourselves and to you. We are accountable to every citizen of this city, and we must do all that we can to keep them informed about what we are and are not doing in every neighborhood.

Thus far, I have focused on what we will do. I’d like to take a moment to discuss what we will not do. We will not treat all crimes, and those who are accused, alike. We will continue to take advantage of existing programs and alternatives to incarceration, and look for new methods to partner with the public, private and faith-based organizations that treat and rehabilitate individuals whose behavior may be the result of severe drug addiction or poverty. I will work with organizations that help to put people back on the path to healthier lives, more stable families, and good-paying jobs and achieve the best possible outcomes for all involved.

Finally, we will not point fingers and cast blame on others. We will make mistakes—everyone does—but if we make a mistake, we will accept responsibility, learn from our error, and pledge to do better next time.

My plan represents a change in the way we do business. But what has not changed is the need for qualified and dedicated lawyers. In the final analysis, it is the ability and spirit of the men and women who are Assistant State’s Attorneys who have made the office what it is, and who will take it to the next level, and make it what I believe it can be.

Lawyers who are scholars and know the uses of solitary research to help win their cases. Lawyers who are advocates, strong and forceful, who relish the combat of the courtroom, and who live for the chance to answer the call, “Who shall speak for the State?” Lawyers who are investigators, who are sharp and skeptical, who know that human skullduggery is limited only by the human mind, but who have the balance and self-confidence to say there is no case to proceed when that is where the evidence leads.

Lastly and the most important qualification of all—a zeal for public service. I want to attract to the service of this great office, men and women who come to the Bar with idealism as well as common sense, who believe that the law can serve the public and serve it well, who know that the rule of law is only as strong as the protection it gives to the weak. For these lawyers, their reward will not be high income or prerequisites of office, but something more profound.

It will be the matchless excitement of being part of a great enterprise. It is the spirit sometimes found among team mates on the playing field; among the cast of a play; among those bound in a common venture. I have seen this spirit before in public law offices. It is the spirit that for the public lawyer motivates us to serve and help prove the truth of Oliver Wendell Holmes’ words that it is indeed possible to live greatly in the law.

There have been and there are now lawyers in the State’s Attorney’s Office who possess these qualities. I want to build on that base. The State’s Attorney’s office is one of the largest law offices in the State. I intend to make it to be the best.

I ask for your help and prayers as we embark on this great task. The road ahead will be difficult as we seek to accomplish these goals, and there certainly will be ups and downs, good days and bad. But I am convinced that working together, we can truly make a difference and improve the quality of life of all our citizens and make Baltimore a safer place to live. I pledge to you that I will devote all my skills and energy to make this happen, and I will ask that all my prosecutors do the same, and that we not rest until we achieve what we have set out to accomplish.

Thank you.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Confronting crime, Courts and the justice system, State's Attorney Campaign
        

New state's attorney Gregg Bernstein acknowledged Tuesday that a panel that included the spokesman for the police department and Bernstein's wife, who is the mayor's top crime aide sat in on job interviews in the search for his new communications director. Bernstein's opponents in the fall election claimed he would be too closely aligned with police, given his wife's position and their close ties to Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III, and this certainly won't silence those critics. Either way, it's a far cry from the often-frosty relationship the agencies had during the tenure of Bernstein's predecessor, Patricia Jessamy.

From Sun reporter Tricia Bishop's story:

Bernstein put a panel together to interview and help select prospects, including Elizabeth Embry, who's now in charge of policy and planning for Bernstein; Baltimore defense attorney Warren Brown; Baltimore Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi and Bernstein's wife, Sheryl Goldstein, who is crime director for Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

Goldstein recused herself when Cheshire was interviewed, but Guglielmi, who has 11 years of public relations experience, was present.

"We're going to be working closely together," Guglielmi said

Taking the spot of Margaret T. Burns will be Mark Cheshire, former editor of The Daily Record. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Courts and the justice system
        

Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III has been making the media rounds to talk up the crime reduction -- interview with Baltimore Sun, news conference -- and this afternoon he hit the radio talk show circuit, appearing on WYPR's Midday with Dan Rodricks.

Listen to the segment here.

I listened in the car, so no direct quotes, but Bealefeld's main thrust was going after gun offenders, and he talked about a fresh start with new State's Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein and how he hoped to do more with robberies and targeting offenders with firearms.

He assured some callers that he was not about locking everyone up -- his officers are arresting tens of thousands fewer people over the past several years -- but he does not apologize for removing gun offenders from the streets. He said a small number of gunmen are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime in the city.

On Wednesday, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (above in photo with Bealefeld, taken by The Sun's Amy Davis) is scheduled to appear on the Mickey, Amelia, and Spiegel Morning Show on 98 Rock. She plans to talk about increasing penalties for criminal gun possession during the legislative session that begins next week in Annapolis. The show is to air live at 7:40 a.m. on 97.9 FM.

In a statement, the mayor noted a figure repeated by Bealefeld on his radio show -- 44 percent of Baltimore’s homicide suspects in 2010 had a prior gun arrest. Yet 82 percent of all jail time imposed by Baltimore’s criminal courts for gun offenders charged with these crimes was suspended and the average amount of jail time served by misdemeanor gun offenders is only four months.

Bealefeld talked about the revolving door of justice and how it's frustrating that not only his cops keep arresting the same people, but that witnesses and victims keep seeing the same people. He said many victims and witnesses are too scared or unwilling to cooperate, not because they don't trust the cops, but because they don't trust the judicial system to convict the people being arrested.

Here are some telling stats from the New Year's weekend provided today from city police:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 3:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: City Hall, Confronting crime, Top brass
        

Baltimore police have scaled back -- and are close to ending -- their search of Leakin Park along Franklintown Road for the missing 16-year-old teen. Phylicia Barnes disappeared from a Northwest Baltimore apartment on the afternoon of Dec. 28.

The search was based on a comment posted to a story on the case that appeared on the Baltimore Sun's web site. The comment suggested looking on the shoulder of the 4000 block of Franklintown Road. It was unclear to investigators whether the poster actually knew something or was merely suggesting that Leakin Park is a prime spot for dumping bodies.

The comment was posted by a Sun reader and frequent commenter, who uses the screen name Cham101. In early November she had posted a research project on her blog that attempted to map all the bodies found in Leakin Park over the years. You can check it out here.

Police, noting the comment's specificity, sent nearly 100 officers, including 50 cadets from a training class, a dive team, a helicopter and nine cadaver dogs. After nearly eight hours, police shut down the search.

Still, police called in help from an elite FBI team and have assigned 25 homicide detectives to the case. Barnes disappeared without a trace, hasn't used her debit card, hasn't contacted friends or family and her cell phone is off.

Police say they suspect foul play.

Here are more more details on Barnes and her disappearance.

Watch a video of police updating the investigation.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore police are searching a section of Leakin Park for 16-year-old Phylicia Simone Barnes, who disappeared in mid-December and is now believed to have been killed or abducted. Police today brought in help from the FBI.

Authorities were directed to the park from a comment posted on an Internet version of a Baltimore Sun story about the girl's disappearance. It read: "Humor me, somebody pop over to the 4000 block of Franklintown Road and look at the Southward shoulder."

Police caution they have no other evidence to suggest the girl is there, but they want to cover all their bases. The posting may simply reference the park's notorious reputation as a body dumping ground, but the specific address and location referenced in the posting caught the concern of police.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

An elite FBI team set up to find missing and exploited children has joined Baltimore police in the search for a missing teenager who disappeared from Northwest Baltimore last month, according to authorities involved in the investigation.

Anthony Guglielmi, a city police spokesman, said the Crimes Against Children unit is focusing on technical aspects of the case, such as examining evidence. He cautioned that there are no specific leads in the case and that police still fear that 16-year-old Phylicia Simone Barnes is a victim of foul play.

Richard J. Wolfe, a spokesman with the Baltimore FBI field office in Woodlawn, confirmed his agency’s involvement but would not comment further. Baltimore police have detectives assigned to the FBI unit and they are helping with the case.

City police have scheduled a media briefing for 2 p.m. to update the public on the search, which is being led by homicide detectives. Police have said Barnes might have been abducted and could be out of the state.

Relatives of Barnes, who is from North Carolina and was visiting her sister at a Northwest Baltimore apartment, have scoured the city with fliers in a desperate search. The youth was last seen Dec. 28 about 1:30 p.m., leaving her sister’s apartment near the Reisterstown Road Metro station. Barnes had told her sister she was going shopping.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

More questions are being raised about a member of a Jewish crime patrol group charged with assaulting a teenager in Northwest Baltimore.

A lawyer for Eliyahu Eliezer Werdesheim, who says he's a former member of the Israeli special forces, said in court on Monday that the youth wasn't injured in the way police had described. Authorities said the youth had broken his wrist during the altercation; the lawyer described the injury as a "boxer's fracture," associated with punching a hard object.

The prosecutor wouldn't comment and the attorney was careful to avoid saying precisely how the youth was injured. But it raised questions during Monday's bail hearing about how the altercation took place.

Police said in charging documents that Werdesheim struck the youth and told him, "You don't belong around here." The youth is black, and the incident sparked anger in the predominantly African-American Park Heights community and raised tensions with Orthodox Jews.

Monday's bail hearing centered around whether Werdesheim could leave the country to visit Israel while his charges are pending. A Baltimore judge allowed the trip over the objections of the prosecutor, who said in court he feared an extradition battle. The suspect's relatives pledged to put up $50,000 if Werdesheim doesn't return. He holds a round-trip ticket.

For more stories:

Community meeting on Shomrim group.

Black leaders call on patrol group to be disbanded.

Member of patrol group accused of striking teen.

Ride-along with Shomrim patrol group.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore police are growing increasingly worried that 16-year-old Phylicia Barnes, who disappeared from her sister's Northwest Baltimore apartment, will not be found alive. She was visiting Baltimore from North Carolina and planned to go to Towson University.

She was last seen last Tuesday.

Her family has flown into Baltimore and held a vigil and have hit the streets chasing rumors in what has been a fruitless search. Baltimore homicide detectives are involved, and city police have gone on national television pleading for help.

Read full story here.

See a police description here.

Barnes was last seen after leaving her sister's apartment on Eberle Drive near the Reisterstown Road Metro station. She had gone shopping, but her family said she did not know the area well. Police said she was last seen with her sister's boyfriend, though they tell me he has been interviewed three times by detectives and is not a suspect.

Barnes is a stand-out, straight-A student who enjoyed theater and was to graduate early from high school. 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore police can't seem to get a break.

Just as they bask in 25-year lows in violent crime, including homicide numbers not seen for decades, the New Year opened with three killings, including that of a youth and of an autistic man shot as he took his dog for a walk.

The victim, Hezikah Wilson III, was the 38-year-old brother of a Baltimore police officer who patrols one of the most dangerous sections of the city -- West Baltimore. The victim's brothers are at left, in a picture by The Sun's Gene Sweeney Jr. Frankie Wilson, a 15-year veteran of the city police force, is on the left and, and Archie Wilson Jr. is at right.

News of the death and the circumstances came as the mayor and police commissioner addressed the media to talk about the crime drops and their plans for the coming year, including pushing Annapolis once again for tougher laws on guns.

The Sun's Justin Fenton wrote:

Hezikah Wilson III didn't have an enemy in the world.

He didn't have friends, either. Aside from running an occasional errand, the 38-year-old autistic man rarely left the house he shared with his diabetic mother in Northeast Baltimore. He made sure she took her medication, and prepared her meals.

He also let the dog out, something he was doing Sunday night when someone shot him in the shoulder and killed him.

On Monday, as police canvassed Hamilton for tips in Wilson's murder, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake told reporters at a news conference at police headquarters that Baltimore over the past decade had the largest drop in crime of any of the nation's 20 largest cities. Shootings have been cut by 40 percent, and the homicide rate is at its lowest point since 1989.

"We say this not to diminish the tough work ahead, but to say what is true and allow the people of Baltimore to acknowledge hard-fought progress," Rawlings-Blake said.

Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III told me while riding around the city in the opening hours of 2011 that this was a "new day" and a new "sheriff is in town," referring to new State's Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein.

The opening hours left the city facing an old problem, and once again trying to promote the good numbers even as people like Hezikah Wilson get gunned down while taking the family dog for a walk.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Confronting crime, Northeast Baltimore, Top brass
        

A North Carolina teenager is missing after visiting relatives in Baltimore, and police suspect foul play.

Baltimore police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says 16-year-old Phylicia Barnes was reported missing on the afternoon of Dec. 28. He says detectives believe Barnes may have been abducted, and if so, that her kidnappers might have taken her out of state.

Barnes is from Monroe, N.C., about 25 miles southeast of Charlotte. She was visiting extended family in Baltimore for the holidays. Guglielmi says she missed her flight home and police have been unable to reach her.

He says Barnes is a straight-A student who graduated from high school early and was planning to attend Towson University. She has no history of running away from home or disputes with her family.

-The Associated Press

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

New Baltimore State's Attorney Gregg Bernstein was sworn in this morning, and formally announced some key hires, including the former state secretary of budget and management, Cecilia Januszkiewicz. Januszkiewicz, a former assistant attorney general, will oversee budget and administration for Bernstein, a Democrat. She had been appointed to her state post by former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican, in 2005, and her LinkedIn page shows her last job was working as an analyst for the free market think tank Free State Foundation.

She joins George Hazel, a former assistant federal prosecutor who has to pass the Maryland bar exam, and Elizabeth Embry as three of his top staffers.

Here's the official announcement from Bernstein, which was sent out by his campaign spokeswoman (we're still not sure who will replace Patricia Jessamy's spokesperson duo of Margaret T. Burns and Joseph Sviatko):

Cecilia Januszkiewicz will join Bernstein’s senior leadership team as the Executive Assistant State’s Attorney for Administration.  In this position, Ms. Januszkiewicz will be responsible for all administrative functions of the office, including human resources, budget and finance.
 
Ms. Januszkiewicz is an experienced attorney with extensive experience in the public sector.  After serving as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Maryland for 15 years, Ms. Januszkiewicz was appointed as the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Budget and Management in 2005, where she developed and managed the State’s operating and capital budgets and supervised the State’s personnel system and information technology policies.  Ms. Januszkiewicz is a graduate of the Franciscan University of Steubenville and the University of Notre Dame Law School.
 
“My leadership team shares my vision to improve the effectiveness of the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office, and has the background and experience necessary to restructure the Office in a way that increases efficiency and success in the prosecution and conviction of violent offenders, as well as improve training, technology and cooperation with law enforcement,” said Mr. Bernstein.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Courts and the justice system
        

A 38-year-old autistic man was fatally shot Sunday on his front porch in Northeast Baltimore as he left to walk a dog, and police are seeking the public's help in finding his killer.

Officers found the man, identified as Hezikah Wilson, about 7:30 p.m. on the 5600 block of Plymouth Road, in the Harford-Echodale/Perring Parkway neighborhood, according to police spokesman Kevin Brown. Paramedics took Wilson, who had been shot in the shoulder, to Good Samaritan Hospital, where he was pronounced dead about 8:15 p.m., police said.

Police don't have a motive, and describe Wilson as an innocent victim. He was dressed in his robe and pajamas when he was shot in a fenced-in area of his front yard. Donny Moses, a police spokesman, said neighbors described Wilson as a "good guy, who posed no threat to anyone. The highlight of his day was talking about his Ravens."

According to court records, Wilson had no criminal record and only appears in the court database as a plaintiff in an asbestos lawsuit filed in 2009.

Police are asking anyone with information to call the homicide unit at 410-396-2012.

Three people have been killed in Baltimore over the first two days of 2011.

[Picture courtesy Baltimore Police Department]

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Northeast Baltimore
        

From Dan Connolly at The Sun's Orioles Insider blog:

Orioles reliever Alfredo Simon was scheduled to meet with Dominican Republic authorities in the country’s capital of Santo Domingo this morning to discuss a New Year’s Eve shooting in the resort town of Luperon that left one man dead and another injured.

As of 11 a.m., one of Simon’s agents, Phil Isaac, said he believed that Simon already was speaking to the police and hoped there would be more clarity on Simon’s situation within the next few hours.

“A far as we know he is meeting with officials and his attorneys right now in the Dominican Republic to supply an official statement and we would hope that would clear things up sometime today,” Isaac said.

Isaac said he is hopeful that Simon will be cleared of any wrongdoing, “but we don’t want to predict what will go on. But we hopefully should have more information today.”

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Crime elsewhere
        

The city councilman who chairs the council's public safety committee has asked the Police Department for a response to a story in the Daily Record about a police misconduct lawsuit that was secretly settled for $200,000 earlier this year, the legal newspaper reported last week.

Councilman James Kraft wants Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III to respond to the article and others about recent settlements, and outline any actions taken to address concerns raised by them. The mayor's office and solicitor's office have already said they stick by their contention that it was the plaintiff's decision to push for confidentiality to settle a claim of wrongful arrest, while the plaintiff's attorney says that is untrue and has provided emails and letters to support his claim.  

Kraft's letter to Bealefeld, meanwhile, seeks clarity on two things police rarely discuss, even when called into council chambers - internal discipline and lawsuits. The response, as spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tells Daily Record reporter in that article, is typically a general overview of the training programs Bealefeld has put in place. We'll see if the council can get any more specifics in this instance. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 5:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: City Hall
        

No more time for navel-gazing on 2010's crime declines - the first day of the year brought two killings, including one juvenile. Another juvenile was also shot and wounded.

In the Curtis Bay stabbing that left a 21-year-old man dead:

Officers found two men lying near Fairhaven Avenue with lacerations to their torsos. Detective Donny Moses said Saturday night that the stabbing arose from a dispute between two houses.

In McElderry Park:

A second man was killed Saturday, just before 5 p.m. in East Baltimore. Moses said officers were called to the 500 block of N. Lakewood Ave. where a 16-year-old was found with multiple gunshot wounds.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: East Baltimore, South Baltimore
        

Baltimore's top cop and about to be top prosecutor hit the streets early Saturday to survey the crime scene. They found little, which in their world couldn't be better news.

This was the upcoming State's Attorney's Gregg Bernstein's second ride with cops and he got a slow night, though he did see a few traffic stop and ran into a house where a man had been hit over the head with a glass bottle. He missed double stabbings in Curtis Bay and downtown, but experienced a night of unusually slow crime and even lower crowds for the all night party.

"There are more cops than people," Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III noted about 30 minutes after the fireworks had ended, as he walked the Inner Harbor's waterfront walkway. In police parlance, it's simply "the bricks."

The photo-op of the night?

Bealefeld and Bernstein pushing a broken-down car out of an intersection on East Madison Street.

It's certainly valuable for the incoming top prosecutor to get a feel for the streets and the cops, but Bernstein enjoys a close bond with Bealefeld, who took the unusual step of openly campaigning for him to unseat the sitting state's attorney.

Also in the car was Bernstein's wife, Sheryl Goldstein, who runs the mayor's crime office.

Bernstein didn't get too much crime to prosecute in the opening hours of 2011, But soon he'll be pouring over the files of these very same officers, deciding what and how and whether to prosecute the people they're locking up on nights like this.

As for Bealefeld, he's hoping for more nights this.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Confronting crime, Downtown, East Baltimore, Southeast Baltimore, State's Attorney Campaign, Top brass
        

2010 is in the books, with the city recording across-the-board crime declines in every category (except reported rapes), so let's look ahead. There's a few pivotal moments coming up in 2011, including the mayoral campaign, a new top prosecutor, and changes in the police department's top ranks, according to this excerpt from Friday's year-end recap. 

"Bealefeld made the rare move of openly advocating for a new state's attorney in this year's Democratic primary, placing a lawn sign at his Southwest Baltimore home in support of defense attorney Gregg Bernstein.

Bernstein, who entered the race late and with little name recognition, went on to defeat 15-year incumbent Patricia C. Jessamy using a tougher-on-crime platform. His election gives the city what many see as a three-headed crimefighter — Bernstein is married to Sheryl Goldstein, who is Rawlings-Blake's top adviser on crime and a key collaborator with Bealefeld. Jessamy warned that Bernstein would be a "rubber stamp" for police.

The Police Department also will see a significant shake-up in the top ranks, with the expected retirement of Deputy Commissioner Deborah Owens. Patrol chief John Skinner is expected to be promoted."

Bernstein will be sworn in on Monday. His challenge is to improve results in the state's attorney's office - which will be hard to quantify, since Jessamy didn't track case outcomes, making comparisons difficult - while avoiding the perception that his ties to Bealefeld will result in an unchecked police department. In his year end interview with The Sun, Bealefeld ticked off a number of things he wants to work with Bernstein on, including robbery investigations, cases dropped because officers fail to appear in court - all things Jessamy had been in their ear about for years. Bernstein, meanwhile, has been discussing a wide range of new initiatives that will be interesting to monitor if he can find the funding and staff.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 7:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, Top brass