Just to be clear, the “surprise” in the headline is 100% sarcastic
(Fox News) Crime is rising in Baltimore, and some law enforcement experts suspect an anti-cop climate stemming from the racially charged case of Freddie Gray is at least partly responsible.
Homicides in 2015 so far stand at 100, up from 71 for the same period last year, and on pace to be the Charm City’s deadliest year since 2007. Nonfatal shootings are up 70 percent this year, following a particularly violent week that saw 19 people shot on Tuesday and Wednesday alone.
“It’s extremely frustrating,†Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Thursday. “It is disheartening, but I am still resolved to continue to reduce violent crime in our city.â€
Hey, these “protesters” just thought she was providing them room to destroy.
“Regarding the crime increase in the western district, this is certainly a contentious time in our city and we believe there is a criminal element taking advantage of the situation, Gene Ryan, President of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #3 in Baltimore said in a statement to FoxNews.com. “Police are not responsible for the systemic issues of poverty that have plagued our communities. There has been a lot of finger pointing and the weight is heavy on our officers’ shoulders.â€
Who is responsible? How about the Democratic leaders who have been in charge for Baltimore lock, stock, and barrel since the late 1960’s?
Rawlings-Blake said Baltimore has faced crime spikes in the past and managed to reverse them. She said she was “confident†that the police department would do so again.
But will the Baltimore PD want to? Previously, they’ve had to do things like cancel all leave and surge huge numbers of officers down to the Harbor area in order to stop roving bands of young, and, yes, Black male hoodlums from performing acts of criminality for the July 4th holiday weekend in 2013. Nor was this the first time this happened. If Eric Holder wants us to not be cowards on race, we have to acknowledge who is performing the majority of crime in a city that is just “safer than 3% of cities in the U.S.” A city where there are violent crime rate is 14.28. The national median is 3.8. A city where there is a 1 in 70 chance of being victim of a violent crime. Where there’s a 1 in 20 chance of being a victim of a property crime. A city where there are 438 crimes per square mile.
“The police down there [Baltimore] are definitely cautious,†NYPD Sgt. Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association in New York, toldFoxNews.com. “I’m sure many of them think, ‘If I go and get involved what is the consequence?’â€
Mullins said politicians who second-guess police are to blame, not cops. During initial rioting following Gray’s death, police officials told Fox News Rawlings-Blake had ordered them not to make arrests, even as they were pelted with rocks by angry crowds.
“There’s pure lack of political accountability,†Mullins said. “All we have seen lately are Baltimore police officers running from people who attack them and not getting arrested for it.â€
How many of the “protesters” were arrested and charged? Similar to Ferguson, few who were arrested ended up facing any consequences.
Teach just loves to point out. How bad black people are
johnny boy just loves to demonstrate his lack of intelligence.
John, so I see you agree with him.
Baltimore Crumbling, by Yorkshire. York grew up in the Charm City.
With all of the stories on crumbling Baltimore, there was an episode of House Hunters Renovation this morning in which two young architects bought and renovated a Baltimore row home. A yuppie, DINK couple, helping to gentrify the Lost-It’s-Charm City, with background shots of the Inner Harbor and some of the nicer places in town. Nice renovation — though I didn’t really like parts of their style — moving through a problem-filled renovation (with an $85,000 renovation budget, after buying the house), but apparently world’s away from some not-so-far-away bombed out neighborhoods.
“It’s extremely frustrating,†Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Thursday. “It is disheartening, but I am still resolved to continue to reduce violent crime in our city.â€
Doh! You can’t CONTINUE to reduce violent crime. That’s a trend that doesn’t exist. BEGIN stopping the INCREASE in violent crime.
Wow, this is absolutely baffling. The police are told to stand down and not arrest rioters. A suspect dies in police custody and the prosecutor rushes out to indict every policeman who was within 20 miles of the incident. So it’s made clear to the police: don’t arrest criminals or you’ll be in trouble. And somehow, mysteriously, this has led to an INCREASE in crime? Who could possibly have predicted this?
Yeah! Because as we all know, black people are all saints, totally above reproach. It’s white people who are evil. If a black person breaks the law, it must be because the law was unjust or because he was forced to do it to survive in a corrupt white society. There’s no other possible explanation.
Are these the same Dems responsible for the steady decrease in violent crime in Baltimore during that time?
The entire statistical basis for the race-baiting article from FOX (and your link to it) is that in 2015 up to now there have been 100 murders, while in the same period in 2014 there were 71. I see FOX is living up to their previous high standards. Perhaps you should be more skeptical.
35 on one day. You should tidy up your language. Protesting is not illegal yet in America.
Protesting is not illegal yet in America.
But rioting is.
That’s why it’s news. They can’t protest without riots, looting, arson and violence.
Yep. Those are the same Democrats.
What you don’t realize is that from 1980 to 2000 (roughly,) the crime rate in Baltimore skyrocketed in Baltimore. The city set up “blue light districts” where crime was so bad, residents were advised to stay indoor after dark and the police would not go into those zones.
When the districts were initiated, people yelled and screamed and rightfully so. By “people,” I mean it was an issue that crossed racial and party lines. Instead of confronting the issue, the mayors, City Councils and police ran away from the problem.
The City then hired a new police chief who seemed to be making a difference. That is until he fired an area commander who came out and said the City was cooking the books on crime and under-reporting the crimes in areas.
Turned out that is EXACTLY what was happening. The City’s stats were made to look better than there were. The Baltimore Sun did an expose on the numbers. Nearly 50% of the command staff for the police lost their jobs. At the same time, the City was dealing with corrupt Council members who were arrested and convicted and several Mayors that resigned or left in disgrace.
The end result was that at least people thought the numbers started to reflect the actual crime rates.
Nope.
Not even that happened. The police were again caught cooking the books. Another police chief was forced to resign after the FBI did what was at that time the largest sting operation and it was aimed right at the police department. The end result of that was 60 officers and command staff were charged. More officers resigned.
The City then hired a Police Chief who is from that bastion of safety, Los Angelas. He made deals with the police union to not fire cops and to expunge records of dirty, corrupt cops. To this day, Baltimore continues to pay out millions for the actions of their police against their citizens
Even now, the numbers that the police report to the FBI (and it is voluntary, so there is no law being broken) don’t match up. Public records requests by the media for arrests don’t match up in the numbers that the media outlets keep. It is an acknowledged problem of under-reporting by the police.
I would love to see Baltimore’s crime rate drop as I have family that is still in the city. The fact of the matter is that it appears to people that the crime rate hasn’t dropped and that the police,. with the blessing of the City Council and Mayors, have been cooking the reports.