Soccer Dad

On crime and police response in nw baltimore

I have been aware of the upsurge in crime in the Orthodox Jewish section of Baltimore where I live. So when I heard that our state representatives for the 41st district, Sen Lisa Gladden, Del Sandy Rosenberg, Del Nathaniel Oaks and Del Jill Carter were going to be having a public meeting (last night) I decided to go. (Not just as a citizen and member of a citizen's patrol, but also as a writer as I plan to write this up for a community publication, Where, What and When.)

A TV van

When I arrived, there were two TV trucks and many more cars than I expected suggesting that the evening was a bit more of a big deal than I had anticipated. There were several hundred (my estimate 200 - 300) people in attendance. After opening remarks by the 3 politicians then in attendance and Major Keith Tiedemann the commanding officer of the Northwest district the audience had their chance.

I hadn't anticipated the size of the crowd. Nor had I anticipated the depth of feelings of much of the community. People weren't just scared of the apparently rising crime (though Maj Tiedemann argued that crime was down in our neighborhood). That's what I expected. People were angry, very angry with the police.

Though the event had been title "Coversation about Crime" it might have been announced that it was about police response or lack thereof.

Person after person told of incidents where they or others were victimized. Nearly all the stories had the same elements in common: young brazen offenders and police who came late and did nothing once they arrived.

At one point one of the commanding officers got up, visibly upset that a man who had been surrounded and attacked by a group of young people returning from school had been told that no crime had been committed, and declared that from the account he had heard at least two crimes - assault and destruction of property - had been committed.

Someone told me that since July the police response to crime has been almost non-existant. That also means that Maj. Tiedemann's claim of a lower crime rate has to be viewed a bit skeptically - if no crime report is taken, the incident will not be added to the crime statistics. What is going on with the police? Do they feel that the crimes in our neighborhood are less severe and therefore deserving of less attention? Is the increase in crime a result of police inactivity or something else. (Cynical thought. Mayor O'Malley rose to prominence by attacking the statistics previous Mayor Schmoke and his Police Commissioner Thomas Frazier used to show the progress they had made in fighting crime. If crimes are committed but not recorded, it bolsters O'Malley's case that he's had success fighting crime in Baltimore. But I can't believe anyone would be that cynical.)

The stories were very depressing. They painted a picture of a dysfunctional police department. Is it really that bad or is there a reason for these problems that we just don't understand?

Del Rosenberg and Sen Gladden

2 Postscripts
1) WMAR-TV had an account of the meeting but led with an item about crime fears in the Federal Hill section of Baltimore. The residents of Federal Hill have at least one similar to us. They want a greater police presence. I'm trying to find if they have the same issue with police apathy that we've had.
2) One of the attendees had his car stolen while he was at the meeting. The criminals are indeed getting more brazen.