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Can Baltimore PD pull off “the greatest comeback ever?”
Townhall.com ^ | July 9, 2019 | JAZZ SHAW

Posted on 07/09/2019 4:30:55 PM PDT by Kaslin

Regular readers are well aware of the troubles that have been plaguing Baltimore, Maryland for many years now. Pervasive gang violence, an out of control murder rate, endemic poverty and government corruption have combined to leave Charm City in a terrible state. Some of the people on the front line of this crisis are the men and women of the Baltimore Police Department, who are working in a dangerous environment while dealing with challenges of their own, including fractured relations with the communities they serve and incidents of corruption that have eroded trust.

Now, however, under the leadership of a new mayor, the Baltimore PD has been allowed to take steps to turn things around. A new drive to hire officers and improve conditions on the streets is being billed as what they hope will be the Greatest Comeback Story in America. (Baltimore Sun)

The Baltimore Police Department wants to recruit officers to “Be a Part of the Greatest Comeback Story in America.”

Police Commissioner Michael Harrison and Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young announced a new $200,000 marketing campaign Monday that they hope will help fill the department’s ranks, particularly with more women, minorities and city residents.

“It’s no secret that we need more police officers on the street to help make Baltimore a safer city and to reduce the burden on our existing officers,” Harrison said at a news conference. Starting salaries for new officers are $53,512, but the total pay can increase drastically with the department’s liberal use of overtime.

This is a welcome sign that perhaps the municipal government of Baltimore is finally coming to grips with their own problems. When it comes to the Baltimore PD, they’ve had serious retention problems. They hired 95 new officers in the last year but lost 100 police during the same period. This has led to a condition where one spokesperson said the police department has 500 fewer officers than it needs. Given the current rate of murders, shootings and other violent crime, that’s a formula for failure.

They hope to recruit a large number of new officers, promising good starting salaries and benefits. More importantly, they’re hoping to diversify their ranks, hiring more people from the specific communities they will serve. Familiar faces and names may go a fair ways toward rebuilding trust and getting people to stop fearing the repercussions of cooperating with the police.

There’s more to clean up than that, however. The department has been plagued with scandals in recent years, particularly in terms of the Gun Trace Task Force debacle. Mulitple officers in that group were convicted of trafficking drugs themselves, stealing from suspects and shaking down both criminals and regular citizens. That makes the trust-building exercises all the more challenging.

Can they pull this comeback off? I’ll be praying that they can because portions of Baltimore are currently little more than unofficial war zones. In order to get businesses to come back and employ people, they have to know that the streets are safe. For students to get a good education and go on to college, they have to be able to make it to school alive and not be recruited by the gangs. The challenges facing Baltimore are daunting and their population continues to fall, but they’ve got to try something. This is a city in crisis and it’s good to see the new municipal leaders at least trying to lead the way.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; US: Maryland
KEYWORDS: baltimore; comeback; maryland; murderrate; police
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1 posted on 07/09/2019 4:30:55 PM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

They are throwing money at the problem rather than leadership. The goal is diversity.


2 posted on 07/09/2019 4:34:35 PM PDT by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: Kaslin

Are they going to hire people make a big buzz about it AND ENFOCE THE LAW?
or hire people and make a big buzz about it?


3 posted on 07/09/2019 4:35:07 PM PDT by Reily
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To: Kaslin

No.


4 posted on 07/09/2019 4:40:12 PM PDT by facedown (Armed in the Heartland)
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To: Kaslin

It’s extremely rare to have police in my neighborhood, but we rarely see crime either. Must be something in the water in Baltimore.


5 posted on 07/09/2019 4:41:06 PM PDT by umgud
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To: Kaslin

I would say “Comeback? They could hardly get worse.” But all too often recently liberals and liberal run institutions seem to be taking that as a challenge. I will say they need to be careful and not lower their standards just to meet hiring goals. In fact, given their history of problems they need to raise their standards significantly. So can it be done? Sure. Is it likely? Not really, again, given their history, the local government, the local attitudes, and the all-to-likely “hire anyone” mentality to meet numbers.


6 posted on 07/09/2019 4:47:10 PM PDT by ThunderSleeps ( Be ready!)
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To: Kaslin

[More importantly, they’re hoping to diversify their ranks, hiring more people from the specific communities they will serve. Familiar faces and names may go a fair ways toward rebuilding trust and getting people to stop fearing the repercussions of cooperating with the police.]


Nothing like hiring gang members to become cops in order to reduce crime. Look for Baltimore crime rates to keep skyrocketing.


7 posted on 07/09/2019 4:52:49 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: Kaslin

Either way, it ain’t worth saving. Garbage. Get out.


8 posted on 07/09/2019 4:54:51 PM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: Kaslin
Can Baltimore PD pull off “the greatest comeback ever?”

Build That Wall Around Baltimore, ... just in case.

9 posted on 07/09/2019 5:05:40 PM PDT by Navy Patriot (America NEEDS Mob Rule, another European and Mid East World War and a universal Draft)
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To: Kaslin
...under the leadership of a new mayor...

What happened to Pugh, the old mayor? No charges for bribery yet?

10 posted on 07/09/2019 5:05:58 PM PDT by Libloather (Global warming is AWESOME!)
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To: Kaslin

Avon Barksdale says no - we own this city.


11 posted on 07/09/2019 5:06:45 PM PDT by circlecity
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To: Kaslin

No , Black corruption rules

There is nMayor o carcetti in sight


12 posted on 07/09/2019 5:09:47 PM PDT by bert ( (KE. NP. N.C. +12)There were Democrat espionage operations on Republican candidates)
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To: Kaslin
Pervasive gang violence, an out of control murder rate, endemic poverty and government corruption have combined to leave Charm City Little Venezuela in a terrible state.

Fixed.

13 posted on 07/09/2019 5:11:15 PM PDT by Ken H (2019 => The House of Representin')
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To: Kaslin
Police Commissioner Michael Harrison and Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young announced a new $200,000 marketing campaign Monday that they hope will help fill the department’s ranks, particularly with more women, minorities and city residents.

White men need not apply.

14 posted on 07/09/2019 5:24:05 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Capitalism produces EVERYTHING Socialists/Communists/Democratic-Socialists wish to "redistribute.")
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To: Kaslin

Saw Baltimore for the first time visiting the Aquarium and some of the harbor. It was nice but the rest of the city is a typical DNC sh*thole. It’s a shame people vote the same a-holes into office when they live like they are in the third world.


15 posted on 07/09/2019 5:24:22 PM PDT by shanover (...To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.-S.Adams)
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To: Kaslin
B.S. article...

It is all about making the police department resemble, even more, the racist, criminal mentality of the majority of the Baltimore population...

Baltimore is our own Mogadishu... Nothing except extermination can solve it's problems...

16 posted on 07/09/2019 5:27:27 PM PDT by SuperLuminal (Where is Sam Adams now that we desperately need him)
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To: Libloather

She resigned according to Wikipedia


17 posted on 07/09/2019 5:36:27 PM PDT by Kaslin
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To: umgud

When I was looking for a house in Aberdeen, MD (30 miles NE of Baltimore) I called the police to ask about the neighborhood.

He said, “I have no idea, we never go there.”

Works for me


18 posted on 07/09/2019 6:58:41 PM PDT by cyclotic
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To: Kaslin

I live north of Baltimore and have a friend who is a plainclothes officer in the city.

I know a young man who wants to go into LE. Just let him know about the recruit drive.


19 posted on 07/09/2019 7:00:17 PM PDT by cyclotic
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To: Zhang Fei

“Nothing like hiring gang members to become cops in order to reduce crime”

Ever since I was kid I believed that to be true. My dinky little town hired two of the town thugs as cops. I guess they figured that they knew all the tricks already.


20 posted on 07/10/2019 4:20:07 AM PDT by mistfree (It's a very uncreative man who can't think of more than one way to spell a word.)
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