Baltimore Crime Rate Soaring

Clean

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I'd say that the moral of this story is be careful what you wish for. Without those nasty, abusive cops around, the jungle gets restless.


BALTIMORE (AP) — Antoinette Perrine has barricaded her front door since her brother was killed three weeks ago on a basketball court near her home in the Harlem Park neighborhood of West Baltimore. She already has iron bars outside her windows and added metal slabs on the inside to deflect the gunfire.
"I'm afraid to go outside," said Perrine, 47. "It's so bad, people are afraid to let their kids outside. People wake up with shots through their windows. Police used to sit on every corner, on the top of the block. These days? They're nowhere."
Perrine's brother is one of 36 people killed in Baltimore so far this month, already the highest homicide count for May since 1999. But while homicides are spiking, arrests have plunged more than 50 percent compared to last year.
The drop in arrests followed the death of Freddie Gray from injuries he suffered in police custody. Gray's death sparked protests against the police and some rioting, and led to the indictment of six officers.
Now West Baltimore residents worry they've been abandoned by the officers they once accused of harassing them. In recent weeks, some neighborhoods have become like the Wild West without a lawman around, residents said.
"Before it was over-policing. Now there's no police," said Donnail "Dreads" Lee, 34, who lives in the Gilmor Homes, the public housing complex where Gray, 25, was arrested.
"I haven't seen the police since the riots," Lee said. "People feel as though they can do things and get away with it. I see people walking with guns almost every single day, because they know the police aren't pulling them up like they used to."
Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said last week his officers "are not holding back" from policing tough neighborhoods, but they are encountering dangerous hostility in the Western District.
"Our officers tell me that when officers pull up, they have 30 to 50 people surrounding them at any time," Batts said.
At a City Council meeting Wednesday, Batts said officers have expressed concern they could be arrested for making mistakes.
"What is happening, there is a lot of levels of confusion in the police organization. There are people who have pain, there are people who are hurt, there are people who are frustrated, there are people who are angry," Batts said. "There are people, and they've said this to me, 'If I get out of my car and make a stop for a reasonable suspicion that leads to probable cause but I make a mistake on it, will I be arrested?' They pull up to a scene and another officer has done something that they don't know, it may be illegal, will they be arrested for it? Those are things they are asking."
Protesters said Gray's death is emblematic of a pattern of police violence and brutality against impoverished African-Americans in Baltimore. In October, Batts and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake invited the U.S. Justice Department to participate in a collaborative review of the police department's policies. The fallout from Gray's death prompted the mayor to ask U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch for a full-fledged probe into whether the department employs discriminatory policing, excessive force and unconstitutional searches and arrests.
Baltimore was seeing a slight rise in homicides this year even before Gray's death April 19. But the 36 homicides so far in May is a major spike, after 22 in April, 15 in March, 13 in February and 23 in January.
Ten of May's homicides happened in the Western District, which has had as many homicides in the first five months of this year as it did all of last year.
Non-fatal shootings are spiking as well. So far in May there have been 91 — 58 of them in the Western District.
And the arrest rate has plummeted.
The statistics showed that even before Gray's death, police were making between 25 and 28 percent fewer arrests each month than they made in the same month last year. But in May arrests declined far more sharply.
So far this month, arrests are down roughly 56 percent. Police booked just 1,045 people in the first 19 days of May, an average of 55 a day. In the same time period last year, police arrested 2,396 people, an average of 126 a day.
In fact, police did not make any arrests in the triple digits between April 22 and May 19, except on two occasions. On April 27, when protests gave way to rioting, police arrested 246 people. On May 2, the last day of a city-wide curfew, police booked 140 people.
At a news conference Wednesday, Rawlings-Blake said there were "a lot of reasons why we're having a surge in violence."
"Other cities that have experienced police officers accused or indicted of crimes, there's a lot of distrust and a community breakdown," Rawlings-Blake said. "The result is routinely increased violence."
Rawlings-Blake said her office is "examining" the relationship between the homicide spike and the dwindling arrest rate.
"It's clear that the relationship between the commissioner and the rank-and-file is strained," she said. "He's working very hard to repair that relationship."
Emergency response specialist Michael Greenberger cautions against blaming the police for the violence. The founder and director of the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security, he said it's more likely a response to Gray's death and the rioting.
"We went through a period of such intense anger that the murder rate got out of control. I think it's been really hard for the police to keep on top of that," he said.
Lee disagrees. He says rival gang members are taking advantage of the police reticence to settle scores.
"There was a shooting down the street, and the man was standing in the middle of the street with a gun, just shooting," Lee added. "Usually, you can't walk up and down the street drinking or smoking weed. Now, people are everywhere smoking weed, and police just ride by, look at you, and keep going. There used to be police on every corner. I don't think they'll be back this summer."
Batts acknowledged that "the service we're giving is off-target with the community as a whole" and he promised to pay special attention to the Western District.
Veronica Edmonds, a 26-year-old mother of seven in the Gilmor Homes, said she wishes the police would return and focus on violent crime rather than minor drug offenses.
"If they focused more on criminals and left the petty stuff alone, the community would have more respect for police officers," she said.
http://news.yahoo.com/baltimore-residents-fearful-amid-homicide-spike-083758282.html
 
Chango?
Why would you try to make that racist?
What in your opinion suggests a jungle is only full of black people?
No animals killing other animals?
 
Chango?
Why would you try to make that racist?
What in your opinion suggests a jungle is only full of black people?
No animals killing other animals?

Because he's a lib, it's what they do! Haven't you noticed. Everything is racist now. It's the new McCarthyism.
 
Scary. On Fox 4 news last night they had video of an officer taking down a struggling suspect at a DART station and a white onlooker stepping in to help. Lots of black folk are heard jeering the policeman and his helper and stepping near in a threatening manner.

Obviously, there is a need for peace-making and relationship building. Communities need police and communities need to see the police as trusted public servants. Police need public support and personal confidence to handle a never ending stream of difficult and potentially dangerous situations. The worst elements take advantage of ambiguity and uncertainty.
 
Apparently the answer to stopping the rash of murders in Baltimore is more cowbell ( gun control). Because everyone knows those doing the murdering pay attention to laws>:whiteflag:
When asked about the meteoric rise in murders in Baltimore Josh Ernest says the WH ( BO ) thinks Congress should pass common sense gun control laws.
I guess that would apply to Chicago too.
Baltimore ( and yes Chicago) have some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country.
 
Glad I don't live there.

It's not just there though. I did almost get stopped by an AA throng(about 10 dudes) at Walmart about a month ago but an AA employee stepped in and told them to let me pass. Didn't know what was going on at the time(had been out with the kids at the museum all day) but apparently it was a protest they were having at the Walmart I learned after the fact. Glad I didn't get the
Reginald Denny treatment. No groceries were hurt in my near miss.

BTW, when a police officer stops me I put both hands on the wheel and politely ask if it is ok to reach for my wallet, etc, etc. Haven't been shot or even had a gun pulled on me by a police officer yet.
 
I'm politically incorrect, and though I will call out an injustice when I see one, I am generally unsympathetic to the plight of the modern civil rights movement. However, if you refer to predominantly black areas as "jungles," you shouldn't be surprised if someone suspects you to be a racist.
 
Oh for goodness sake, I frequently referred to my work environment what with the legislative hassles, competition, corporate chaos, as a jungle and this was the healthcare industry. Never once thought of it as racial and didn't when clean said it. Just thought he was referring to the dangerous disaster that situation has become.
 
Oh for goodness sake, I frequently referred to my work environment what with the legislative hassles, competition, corporate chaos, as a jungle and this was the healthcare industry. Never once thought of it as racial and didn't when clean said it. Just thought he was referring to the dangerous disaster that situation has become.

The difference is that no one confuses the healthcare industry to be a black-dominated field. Ghetto Baltimore is.
 
Apologies to Clean for the idiot remark. Although technically I assumed the former, not the latter.
 
Of course you are correct Mr D. It is just that it irks me more and more that a comment can be made without the politically incorrect intention, innocently enough, and in retrospection, be interpreted to be incorrect - politically. We have to be 'correct' to the point of obsession to proper perspective.
I am certain I did not express my frustration accurately but I fear what we are becoming in this country.
 
Chango
:hookem2:
Good of you.
I did not think it was intended a racial remark but was intended to convey how dangerous it had become.
and with even more murders today his remark is quite apt.
 
Oh for goodness sake, I frequently referred to my work environment what with the legislative hassles, competition, corporate chaos, as a jungle and this was the healthcare industry. Never once thought of it as racial and didn't when clean said it. Just thought he was referring to the dangerous disaster that situation has become.

Thank you Nashhorn. I do the same thing and it never entered my mind it would be considered racist. But, given the hypersensitized world that the Left lives in when it comes to race, it shouldn't be a surprise. It's a way of diverting attention from the actual issue and focusing it on the hot button issues they live for.
 
Of course you are correct Mr D. It is just that it irks me more and more that a comment can be made without the politically incorrect intention, innocently enough, and in retrospection, be interpreted to be incorrect - politically. We have to be 'correct' to the point of obsession to proper perspective.
I am certain I did not express my frustration accurately but I fear what we are becoming in this country.

Thank you Nashhorn. I do the same thing and it never entered my mind it would be considered racist. But, given the hypersensitized world that the Left lives in when it comes to race, it shouldn't be a surprise. It's a way of diverting attention from the actual issue and focusing it on the hot button issues they live for.

I don't necessarily disagree with anything you're saying, except that I take issue with your asserting that the Left is hypersensitive. It's not sensitive at all. It fakes being sensitive on this sort of thing when doing so furthers its agenda. It's a rhetorical/political tactic. That's why Trent Lott loses his political career for the plausible but probably false implication of a joke he cracked at a 100-year old man's birthday party, but Joe Biden can patronizingly call Barack Obama the "first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy" (implying that previous mainstream African-Americans were unintelligible, dumb, dirty, and ugly-looking) and get away with it. Ditto for HRC's comment about "hard-working Americans - white Americans" (implying that non-white Americans are lazy).

You're also right that they use this phony outrage and sensitivity as a diversion to avoid a discussion of serious issues on the merits, particularly one in which their position is difficult to defend under significant scrutiny. Of course, the Left would deny its double standard or at most acknowledge it but make the circular justification that the Right's alleged racism warrants the double standard - the "their politics proves their racism, so they deserve the double standard" tripe. However, any serious observer knows it to exist, that it's blatant, indefensible by any reasonable standard, and that it's entirely self-serving.

Is referring to urban Baltimore as a "jungle" inherently racist? No, but it's a little like inviting a black family over to your house and serving fried chicken, collard greens, and watermelon. It's not per se racist to do that. However, we know the inference black folks would likely draw from being served such a meal by white people, so why not serve something else so they can enjoy your hospitality without wondering whether you're trying to impliedly ridicule them?

My point is, why play into that trap if you don't have to? Personally, when I was more politically active I said and wrote plenty of politically incorrect things (and sometimes satirically), but I generally only did it on substantive points that strengthened my argument. In fact, when you do that, the fair-minded reader will see the Left's faux outrage as the predictable diversion that it is and make them suspicious of them rather than you. However, when you do it with superfluous rhetoric rather than substance, it does nothing but create an opportunity for the fair-minded reader to get distracted into discussing something other than your point.
 
If Clean says he meant nothing by the comment, I take him at his word. Sorry for the thread hijack and calling out your character.

Now, lets get back to the original point and talk about these inner city blacks getting their comeuppance.
 
Chango
Your first thought was that it was a racist remark. Others including myself did not see it that way.
You did offer a sincere apology which was great although your latest post diminishes your apology a tad.
but can you explain why you thought it was racist?
 
If Clean says he meant nothing by the comment, I take him at his word. Sorry for the thread hijack and calling out your character.

Now, lets get back to the original point and talk about these inner city blacks getting their comeuppance.

Wow, sweet! Reconciliation with the Left without a single Act of Contrition on my part! Hell, that kind of treatment is usually reserved for Al Sharpton or Hillary Clinton! I think I'll celebrate by watching my favorite movie, "The Birth of A Nation".
 
the reason things are spinning out of orbit in Baltimore, which I visited last year and thought was a beautiful place, is because the cops are taking a holiday in retaliation for the prosecutor rushing to indict the six officers. As has been explained, you can't be accused of feloniously violating someone's rights if you are shopping at a donut stand.

At some point the cops get their discretion back and there will be some new protocols for enforcing rules such as making the prisoners secure with seatbelts. If you have ever done a ridealong you may know why that is necessary and if you have ever been present with an unruly arrestee you will know why some cops will let them ride unsecured and then hit the brakes. Which is what happened to Mr. Gray, from what I can tell.
 
Huis
Do you think the police patrolling high crime areas are a deterrent to blacks shooting other blacks? The articles I have read say arrests are down but I didn't see any actual hard facts and it does not make clear if patrolling in those area is less.
Arrests being down means police aren't arresting people who are suspected of having done crimes which seems to me to mean the crimes/murders have already been done.
So did a few murders and other shootings happen with no arrests so then the bad guys thought they could get away with more?
 
This will be a trend in other cities as well. I expect there will also be an extreme shortage of police officers in these cities in the near future. Police officers will seek jobs where they have community and city management support.
 
Huis
Do you think the police patrolling high crime areas are a deterrent to blacks shooting other blacks? The articles I have read say arrests are down but I didn't see any actual hard facts and it does not make clear if patrolling in those area is less.
Arrests being down means police aren't arresting people who are suspected of having done crimes which seems to me to mean the crimes/murders have already been done.
So did a few murders and other shootings happen with no arrests so then the bad guys thought they could get away with more?


yes and yes
 
Huis
If it is true that Baltimore police are patrolling the most dangerous neighborhoods less now and that is the reason for more homicides what explained Baltimore being ranked 5th worse in country in 2014 it isn't like they weren't killing each other before.
So it is only the INCREASE in murder and crime that is caused by police taking a holiday. Without that holiday the high murder rate would go usual , just not quite as high? Isn't that a comforting thought.

Don't forget Chicago and Detroit are even more deadly and there hasn't been any slowdown by police in either city.
 
detroit and chicago are different cities and have different dynamics, but try to imagine what the crime rates would be like in those cities if the cops took a holiday.

most criminals are idiots but they do notice when the cops are not around in the usual numbers and places.

the nyc cops brought their mayor to tree by backing off and so can any police department anywhere
 
Huis
I must not be nuanced enough to make the distinction between blacks killing blacks in Baltimore or Detroit etc.

Your point about criminals noticing cops are patrolling is correct and does account for the difference between 20 shooting a week end with no cops and 12 shootings a " normal" weekend.

Instead of pointing out how the police slowdown has resulted in an increase in murders/ shootings/ crimes maybe the authorities and media should focus on stopping the mayhem on a normal week end.
Maybe do something like Rahm in Chicago has done and call for more gun control.
 
it is not just a matter of blacks killing blacks, by the way, other groups kill each other and members of other ethnic persuasions too. And the concentrations of black people in Baltimore and Chicago are different, just as an example. And it is not just murder rates that are ramping up in Baltimore.

I hope your comment about gun control is a jest. While I have no confidence that anybody can shoot their way out of this unravelling, all of those places have more stringent gun control than do other areas that have little or none. How bad is the murder rate in Boise?
 
Yes of course it is not just blacks killing blacks but that group does represent a majority and in some cities a huge majority. I know you don't think it is racist to state the statistical fact? Do you think the increase in murders/ shootings/ crime in Baltimore is not being done primarily by blacks?
How are the concentrations of blacks different in Chicago from Baltimore? How is a dead black person killed by a black person in Chicago etc different than a dead black person killed by a black person in Baltimore?
It just seems disingenuous for the media and authorities at all level to be so concerned that police seemingly not doing their job is causing an" increase" but it does give the ones who should have been trying to prevent " normal" shootings an easy excuse/ fall guy, the police.

yes huis I was being sarcastic mentioning Rahm's solution for his city's likely record setting murders/ shootings. Rahm can't blame a police slowdown so he calls for MORE gun control in a city with some of the strictest gun control laws in nation.
 
I was suggesting that all the dumbazz criminals are taking advantage of the Police Donut Prom. And the cops are being careful everywhere to not get shot trying to contain the lower classes. They are acting out of spite because some of their traditional privileges are being hedged and they are subject to having their careers destroyed and in some cases being sent to prison for doing what some of them have been doing for a good while. This is a bad time for any color of cop to be working the rougher sides of town.

You are going to see a lot of early retirements across the country. The feral elements in the underclass are fixing to have a big opportunity for more shopping sprees.
 
Until America faces a reality and stops being politically correct, this problem will continue to spiral out of control for the black community. Liberal democrats continue to perpetuate the problem with race baiting (see above) telling criminals "it's not your fault" go ahead and protest under the false notion of "hands up - don't shoot." Hell, Al Sharpton blamed the Texas flooding on God's rebuke of America's behavior.

Now that crime has soared, it is the police fault? Seems to me that it is the criminal's fault. In the publicized cases, even the ones that it appears the police used excessive force, the "victims" all either ran, resisted or assaulted the officer. Even in the horrific South Carolina case, the victim would not have been shot had he not run. Not right he was shot and that police officer deserves a murder charge, but highly unlikely that unfolds without the guy running.
 
Huis
Of course there are bad cops and you rightly point out that SOME have been bad for awhile. These bad cops should be caught and prosecuted. Will they? Who knows

But to have leaders in Baltimore plus the media excuse the increase in murders and crime in Baltimore by blaming the police is maddening. I guess to use the idiot Mayor's logic we must give these thugs room to commit crimes and murder.
I disagree that the black on black shootings/ murders are different Baltimore and Chicago etc.
 

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