Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

‘The Wire’ Is Finished, but Baltimore Still Bleeds The murder rate in America’s deadliest big city is twice that of increasingly violent Mexico.
Wall Street Journal ^ | February 7, 2020 | Sean Kennedy

Posted on 02/07/2020 4:37:28 PM PST by karpov

...

Although 2019’s murder toll isn’t final yet, the city hit a 25-year high with 348 killings. In 1993, when Baltimore notched its all-time high of 353 killings, Charm City had 130,000 more residents than today.

...

During the 2015 riots, then-Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake told police to stand down and give rioters “space to destroy.” The next year the Obama Justice Department released a report slamming Baltimore police as excessively violent and discriminatory and forced the city to sign a consent decree mandating strict oversight and limits on common police tactics like stop, question and frisk.

While the city has become a killing field, the homicide unit is staffed by only 45 detectives who are actively working cases. Those detectives are expected to solve hundreds of nonmurder cases as well. A 2018 study by the BPD acknowledged homicide cops need to be dedicated exclusively to killings and the number of homicide investigators needs to be doubled. The manpower shortage has created a situation in which arrests are made in less than 35% of murder investigations. The department is dealing with more than 1,500 open homicide cases from the past 10 years. Many of the city’s 711 nonfatal shootings in 2019 will also go unsolved.

...

Even in cases in which police do make an arrest, their hard work often goes to waste. Despite a soaring homicide rate during her tenure, the State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby has put fewer killers behind bars annually than her predecessor. Between 2015 and 2018, fewer than 1 in 6 charged murderers in Baltimore earned a prison sentence. Ms. Mosby has lost or dropped 43% of her homicide cases. Most urban prosecutors win 70% of their cases. Worse, Ms. Mosby has allowed 76 convicted killers to accept probation and return to Baltimore’s streets.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: US: Maryland
KEYWORDS: baltimore; murder
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-25 next last
Is the last sentence true? Are convicted killers in Baltimore not even getting jail time?
1 posted on 02/07/2020 4:37:28 PM PST by karpov
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: karpov
The murder rate in America’s deadliest big city is twice that of increasingly violent Mexico.

But they still vote Rat, overwhelmingly. Baltimore needs adult supervision. The children have been running it for decades.

2 posted on 02/07/2020 4:40:03 PM PST by bkopto
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: karpov

It appears so. If you’re going to do some killing, that looks like the place to go. Of course, that means you’re a target also. I’m steering clear of there.


3 posted on 02/07/2020 4:42:05 PM PST by BipolarBob (Joe Biden: "We can't let Trump keep on making America great".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: karpov

They got the suck they voted for I guess.


4 posted on 02/07/2020 4:46:23 PM PST by Bullish (Covfefe Happens)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: karpov

Build that wall!

(around B-more)


5 posted on 02/07/2020 5:03:51 PM PST by OrangeHoof (The Democrats - Unafraid to burn in Hell.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: karpov

Apparently putting murderers in prison is racist.


6 posted on 02/07/2020 5:07:12 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants (If gun ownership by private citizens scares DemocRats, the 2nd Amendment is doing its job.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Blood of Tyrants

Instead of “Escape from New York” it should be “Escape from Baltimore”. Wonder if Curt Russell is available? Wall it in.


7 posted on 02/07/2020 5:09:56 PM PST by TStro (Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: karpov

After Sandy and the subsequent snowy nor’easter hit NYC and Long Island local tree service guys were overwhelmed. My service brought in teams from Md and Va. The guys who worked on my property were from Balt. They were skilled and friendly I asked them about The Wire. They all laughed and said it was a good show, but understated crime in Balt by a lot.


8 posted on 02/07/2020 5:28:16 PM PST by xkaydet65
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: xkaydet65

I loved that series THE WIRE excellent show!!!


9 posted on 02/07/2020 5:30:51 PM PST by Trump Girl Kit Cat (Yosemite Sam raising hell)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: karpov

There’s got to be a mathematical finite point where there is no one left to shoot. In the meantime Baltimore, just keep your hearing protectors handy.


10 posted on 02/07/2020 5:38:08 PM PST by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: karpov

“Don’t matter who did what to who at this point. Fact is, we went to war, and now there ain’t no going back. I mean, shit, it’s what war is, you know? Once you in it, you in it. If it’s a lie, then we fight on that lie. But we gotta fight.” – Slim Charles


11 posted on 02/07/2020 5:45:05 PM PST by dontreadthis (A TIMELINE OF TREASON on Profile Page)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: karpov
It’s a revolving door. Gov Hogan shut down the inner city prison when first in office. That place was a disaster. Female Guards were pregnant by inmates (mostly inmate and leader of the Black Gorilla gang) and were also gang members of The Black Gorilla Gang. These guards were smuggling contraband regularly. The corruption was/is unbelievable. They treat criminals with kit gloves all in the name of fighting racism.

Now Cummings has retired and has been replaced with Kweisi Mfume. The thing is - part of this district is shared with Columbia, MD - a part of Howard County. Howard is one of the wealthiest in the country. Baltimore and Howard are stark opposites. Cummings ignored his constituents in Columbia, Md (Howard County). This is a prime example of gerrymandering.

More on this ex NAACP member who will probably take Columbia, MD down with Baltimore.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-special-primary-20200205-r7psepa7ene4blcrpxxup2jiku-story.html%3foutputType=amp

12 posted on 02/07/2020 5:49:28 PM PST by HollyB
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Correction, I said Cummings retired. I should have said replaced. Cummings passed away.


13 posted on 02/07/2020 5:53:10 PM PST by HollyB
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: karpov
A few years ago, I wrote a letter to the mayor of Baltimore, advising that they abandon their anti-gun stance and allow good people to carry arms for their own protection. The letter was neither responded to nor acted upon, and here we are with a spiraling murder rate, among the highest in the nation.
14 posted on 02/07/2020 5:58:09 PM PST by coloradan (The Enemy Media isn't chartered to inform but rather to advance the interests of certain elites.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: HollyB

“ On the far side of that, if he successfully returns to Congress, Mfume said he wants to institute an absolute federal ban on assault rifles ban, require more psychological testing for people attempting to purchase a firearm, protect the SNAP program, expand Medicaid coverage along with Medicare, and protect pensions from being undermined by corporations. He’s also interested in safeguarding communities against the ills of climate change and lessening healthcare disparities—tragedies that disproportionately harm people of color.

In addition to environmental injustices, comorbidities also exist disparately within Black, brown and low-income communities. In such instances, residents are likely to suffer from two or more adverse health issues simultaneously such as high blood pressure and kidney disease, or heart disease and thyroid problems.

Mfume left Congress last time to become president and CEO of the NAACP. When Mfume departed from the organization in 2004, he said it was so he could dedicate more time to his family. But an investigation by The Baltimore Sun revealed he stepped down following threats from an employee to sue over sexual harassment, a few negative performance reviews, and a vote by the board to not renew his contract.

Mfume and Cummings were friends for 42 years, up until the latter’s death in October. They cut their teeth in the community working through political organizations. Mfume recalled asking Cummings to run for his seat once he decided to leave Congress for the NAACP.

“The circle has come back to where it began,” he said, “with me now vying to continue the legacy of Elijah Cummings.”

(Slate)


15 posted on 02/07/2020 6:00:16 PM PST by HollyB
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: dontreadthis

My favorite quote from The Wire was when Bunk told Jimmy McNulty “there you go giving a damn again.”

Civil Service PhD = The Bunk


16 posted on 02/07/2020 6:50:58 PM PST by volunbeer (Find the truth and accept it - anything else is delusional)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: bkopto

People would rather rule themselves badly than be well ruled by others.


17 posted on 02/07/2020 6:57:18 PM PST by heartwood (Someone has to play devil's advocate.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Trump Girl Kit Cat

After watching “The Wire” I could actually figure out what was happening in the local big city—why those guys were standing around, what they were looking at, what they were going to do next—spotted several drug deals in process...

_Great_ show.


18 posted on 02/07/2020 7:39:14 PM PST by cgbg (The Democratic Party is morphing into the Donner Party)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: volunbeer

I liked the statement by one of the stars talking about the crime/homicides related to the docks: “What they(criminals) need is a union.”


19 posted on 02/07/2020 7:39:50 PM PST by Mark (Celebrities... is there anything they do not know? -Homer Simpson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Bonemaker

The peak for population in Baltimore was 940,000 residents in the 1960s. By the 1980s, they were down to 780,000.

Right now, they are around 602,000 (2018 statistics). I’ll go ahead and predict by 2030 (a decade away) that they sink below 500,000.

It’s become a carbon copy of Detroit. All of the corruption, the violence, the killing, and the dismal path to the future. Someone actually ought to crank up a reality TV show and cover the next decade.


20 posted on 02/07/2020 9:28:59 PM PST by pepsionice
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-25 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson