I am wondering whether the city's choice to increase a police presence on July 4th at the Inner Harbor contributed to the violent criminal acts that happened. I was at the harbor at 5PM on the 4th. The number of police present was overwhelming, and the MTA police showed up in combat gear. I was uncomfortalble enough to complain to the city police. The officer with whom I spoke was a member of the homicide department who was asked to put on a uniform and become a foot-patrol cop for the day. I was going to stay for the fireworks but due to the obnoxious visual presence of police officers I felt unsafe and left.

Mob mentality is running rampant in urban areas all over. What is the cause and why now?

Not sure why you even bothered to post the video called "Riot Like Conditions." It just shows a crowd leaving downtown after the fireworks. At the very least, the title is extremely misleading - it could just as well be called "Smooth Flowing Foot and Auto Traffic Conditions"

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The title, as you know, was written by the person who posted the video. We did not describe it as "riot like" in our blog post. -JF

How is this riot-like? It looks like a bunch of people walking in the street instead of the sidewalk.

@Ed - they do that anyway

@Cham..

That is probably the dumbest comment ever. So you're saying that increased police caused the violence. Imagine what these hoodlums/thugs/ghetto boys would've done if there were no police. Unbelievable - did you graduate 8th grade?

well for the haters judging the cops your all idiots,i was in the crowd trying to get to my car and actually seen part of what is on the video the ghetto a$$ idiots would ruin there own mommas funeral if they had a chance,they were all like stupid ingrates they dont belong in public they belong on an island with huts and no way off. The police were just trying to keep order but again its hard to when you have people who act like animals!