Photo credit: Jefferson Jackson Steele, Citypaper, Baltimore, 2000There has been much bruhaha about the "crime spree " in Washington D.C. lately with 14 dead in 13 days and now a curfew for teens and older has been put in place. But what continues to floor me is the relative lack of attention given to Baltimore which has roughly the same stats and about 100,000 less population. As of July 11th Baltimore had 10 murders in seven days - roughly double the "crime spree" rate that D.C. is so worried about - for a 6 month total of 147. At this rate Baltimore, according to Baltimore police homicide statistics, is on its way to surpassing 290 murders for the year - it's worst record since 1999 when 305 were tallied. The only crime stat lower on national averages is rape (2004) - maybe it's because we're all killing one another first?
But why does no one seem to care about this? Baltimore remains one of the top tourist draws in the country - so D.C. can't take that as the express reason for the attention - so why is there no "crime emergency"?
Well the most obvious reason is demographics probably - which I'll leave for a future post. D.C. and Baltimore share some interesting aspects about racial divisions and poverty, loss of jobs due to deindustrialization etc. but, more and more it seems to me that Baltimore is basically D.C.'s "bitch" (pardon the misogynist term - it carries the meaning more completely I think). It can remain home to the thousands of people that can't afford to live in D.C. but who have to work there because there's no jobs here in B-more. Again, more on that another day.
Here in Baltimore it's not that different either when it comes to race and class dividing a city already reeling from losses....Suffice to say when the rich, white, Federal Hill area of town was upset it was getting surveillance cameras installed in their rich-ass area of south Baltimore neighborhood they got plenty of press time for their rants - on television in particular - the same could hardly be said about the cameras installed say in my neighborhood in Waverly/Greenmount , a predominantly black and poor neighborhood, far flung from the snooty harbor condo-castles of Baltimore. If it works for O'Malley's plan to develop the city's white neighborhoods - oops, rich white neighborhoods, then concerns about crime get vetted publicly. In shitty hoods... nah uh.
7 comments:
One correction Baltimore has more pop. than dc .. Blog reads like baltimore has 100,000 less than DC. 2005 census Baltimore 635,815... Washington 550,521....
A.
FYI, it took another set of shootings of Greenmount merchants some years ago to get the OK for cameras to be installed, because the BCPD refused to supply more manpower, even after storekeepers were shot on multiple occasions.
It's important for you to understand that your fellow officers in BWCO, D.E. and E.M., attended a recent meeting with the Northern District police Commander in which the neighborhood north of you requested more policing because there were too many incidents around here. Lots of guns.
On behalf of BWCO, the two of them directed emphatically that they didn't want young males from BW to be arrested for late night dealing and vandalism (witnessed by our residents) and weapons charges because "they are our future doctors and international lawyers."
This is not new. Whenever we've had effective police personnel assigned here, those two have interfered with them and insisted on their transfer to other neighborhoods, where they are quite appreciated.
You need look no further to find the reason for poor policing in BW. There are those who have suggested that D.E.'s permisiveness has something to do with her need to maintain a personal peace with the many hoodlums who populate the Waverly Homes across from her very vulnerable home.
Getting policing in a poor, black neighborhood of Baltimore is like pulling teeth, but when your organization (or its leader) discourages it, you haven't got a chance. You might ask if the BWCO officers have in recent memory discouraged the police from preventing basic crime, Yes or No?
Hmmm... When was this meeting at Northern - I'd like to substantiate BW's need for policing but if the issue is community-centered (i.e. BWCO) then other things might need addressing first obviously. Thanks for your words.
I think it was Tues. March 7, 2006 around 7:30 at the YMCA. The Waverly Improvement Association was holding its monthly meeting around this topic. We had had a bunch of incidents along Belle Terre, 33rd, and Venable. The perps were believed to have come from south of 33rd.
The meeting was unusually well-atended, with guests including councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, Dep. Commander Steve Bozzuro, Ofr. John Walter, State Senator Joan Carter Conway.
After the meeting concluded, I took Mary Pat, the pres. of Waverly Improvement (Wallace Robertson), and the Dep. Major aside and asked what they intended to do. Mary Pat shook her head at the statement from E.M. and D.E. on behalf of BWCO that they wanted enforcement suspended within their community. She remembers it well.
The result was that the Dep. Major agreed to step up patrols outside BWCO and would disregrad their preferences as to Belle Terre, as Belle Terre residents were standing there asking for patrols. Belle Terre basically seceded from BWCO that night.
Basically, E.M. told them that she reserved to right to tell the police what to do and how to do it in 'her' neighborhood. Police don't take well to that, and pretty much wrote off serving BW proactively.
It set us back about ten years to when we used to have a very effective cop named Wayne Sponsky, who was making good progress. A punk mugged an old lady on Montpelier and hurt her. Sponsky was on patrol and saw it, so he chased the guy through a bunch of yards and alleys, tackling him. He was arrested and booked. At the next meeting with police, E.M. complained that Sponsky was guilty of police brutality because the guy fell to the ground in pursuit and received bruises. She told then Maj. Novak that Sponsky had to leave the neighborhood or she'd represent the punk herself.(she's a youth advocacy attorney)
Novak sighed and transferred Sponsky to Remington, which was happy to receive him, and told officers to just not waste their time patrolling BW. The other neighborhoods, which got more patrol time, were thrilled.
BW residents got screwed. Thanks, E.M. This is why so many people who had joined BWCO in the past are unwilling to be associated with it now. It has a very very bad reputation. It tends to serve as a vehicle for the objectives of three or four long-time officers, rather than the broad community.
BWCO and WIA have been at war for years over this kind of stuff. After that referenced meeting, WIA just has no interest in dealing with BWCO. There just seems to be no common ground with your officers, even if there likely is with your community.
As to the objective need for police coverage, I've already documented that. I have a GIS map of criminals in this area. BW is very dense in them, particulary down by the Homes.
The Major acknowledges the need, has some resource deficiencies, but is absolutely unwilling to fight with your reps. if they don't want the department to do its job there. There are too many other communities asking for the manpower to waste it on a neighborhood with a nutty agenda and officers who interfere.
Food for thought: our zip code, overwhelmingly the part east of Greenmount, contains about 10% of the city's parole/probation cases. It's bad.
Thanks for the comments and info. I'm going to follow up on this - I'm not sure how but it's not the first time and you're not the first person I've heard such things from about BWCO. It's going to end. Period. BTW, I also do GIS - am working on a neighborhood traffic analysis for "speed bumps". Would be interested if it happens if we could share resources - personally I believe boundaries are artificial and help should extend across them - not be blocked by them. Thanks for your blog, I really enjoy it (just learning how to cross reference links so will add you in sometime). Best, Andy
Your points are well taken John but regardless of how badly the police get along with a community organization they don't have the right to decide to not patrol it or provide it resources when other citizens demand it. If the police can't stand up to the community orgs whack jobs then they ought be fired for that....sigh. I've written MPCLRKE asking for a meeting with her. Thanks for the heads up.
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