Updated/More Ups and Downs of crime, policing, and security in Baltimore for 2008

Baltimore's crime/security situation in 2008 was filled with a lot of downs, bu only a couple of ups. In reflecting back on the year just passed, Buz has come up with some significant things of note, which I invite readers to agree or disagree with.

• The website spotcrime.com came into its own as a viable web alternative to the city's crime mapping site. Both have their limitations, because, for some reason, the gendarmes don't like to give out crime info. Some ideas on why can be found on an earlier blog posting.
• Though the city ended with a modest drop in murders, true a whole busload of less people killed, it is too early to tell if the drop is sustainable or means very much.  Baltimore still remains a very high crime city, and the stats other than murders and nonfatal shootings were pretty much similar to a year ago.
• Newcomers to Baltimore are getting much less likely to want to live in even the hip areas of the city as in past years. Many young professionals are not even considering the city, despite my best efforts. They would rather sit in their car in traffic, than have to deal with "street stuff".
• The Northeastern District of the city showed a huge increase in robberies, and for a time led the city in robbery. The shocking Ken Harris murder, it aftermath, and the long quest for suspects only epitomized the downturn for this area of the city.
• Pit bulls are now often seen as the "prestige" dog to have with thugs, wanna-be thugs, and plain ole young people. But it scared me though, when I was going to get something to eat walking down Harford Road, that an unleashed pit bull, accompanied by an ignorant teenager, was crossing my path, and kept turning around looking at me, as though we were something to eat. Um, leashes, please, folks.
• Speaking of leashes, your consultant rode his bike last summer to Robert E. Lee Park, and was shocked to find dozens and dozens of lawbreakers having taken over the park. Gang members? No, dog lovers, who were allowing their animals to run freely "as god intended,"  one said. Forget the leash laws! Who cares if the park had to be shut down for more than a year because the poop level in the grass was so high that the health department deemed it unsafe for kids to play in the grass! And the city spent thousand and thousand of dollar repairing the turf. No doggie bags were seen by your scared bike-rider. It's really interesting in actually seeing how some people want to pick and choose what laws they believe should be followed, and yet are critical of other kinds of people who violate different kinds of laws.
• The amount of prostitution is really very noticeable in several parts of the city, more so than it had been in the past, in your consultant's most humble opinion: though the Baltimore John Watch crew has claimed they're "winning" the battle against prostitution in Pigtown, we wonder. Perhaps it has just moved up to Wilkens Avenue, which is technically not in Pigtown. Buzz recently came home from a trip to Charlottesville using Route 1, and it took him 4 minutes to see his first prostitute after entering the city. Before turning north on Fulton to head home, he saw 3 more. And Harford Road in Hamilton/Parkville border areas is starting to see an uptick, particularly between Northern Parkway and the city line; but recently on a Saturday they were going at it in a car on a Non-profit's lot in Hamilton til interrupted. The guy even argued: why do i have  to leave? Go ahead, call the cops! And of course, Falls Road in Hampden always draws stares from the gals if you're a single guy driving down the street.
• Cell phones and other mobile devices have so proliferated that they have now, in Buz's humble opinion, come to rival drunken driving as a hazard on the road. When, in the past of my career's earliest days, I saw a person going very slowly or tailgating and then not, and weaving, i thought it was a drunk driver; but now (except for early morning drinking hours) it's just as likely to be a person yakking or yelling or dialling a cell phone. Betcha: 2-1, the gal who killed the Howard County officer who stepped out to wave her car down was looking at her phone or texting instead of driving. Hope her call was important.
• The biggest "UP" of the year was the drop in killings. At one point, during a community meeting in, I believe, October, the Northern district commander averred that the department may have less than 200 murders in 'o8. The end of homicide as we've known it! then came November:yuck. A wave of violence started  in November, continued into December, and now in January of the new year, we've had just about one or so a day, though commish & co. are hoping it's just a "spike". Who knows!?
• Baltimore crime blog has gotten its millionth look; it is the best source of a quick summary of crime news from a variety o;f sources, for those of us in the field who wish to keep up on such things--with a few snarky comments thrown in their from time to time by the author and the readers. Keep up the good work, MJB!
• Citizens in the Old Homeland and Bellona Avenue areas have started a yahoo news group so that they can communicate with each other about crime. One of the leaders was a lady who organized a meeting at the Govans library after Homeland refused crime stats to some non-members. Buz is interested in watching this group and its comments, and truly believes that doing something/anything is better than nothing. It is a small, very, very neighborly, neighborhood group. Most citizens-on-patrol groups like this tend to be very hard to start up and extremely hard to  keep going. Best of luck. They call their group: Citizens Teaming Against Crime.
• One of the main watershed events in crime of the year was the death of Zach Sower and efforts of his widow, Anna, to bring attention and focus to this issue of violent crime in the city, as well as her evolution from being a victim to, sadly, somehow, as City Paper puts it, the Antihero. I believe that this robbery, beating, and death struck a huge blow to the city's revitalization efforts among the young professionals who have tried to make their homes here, particularly in the Canton/Patterson Park areas. And the folks who work at Hopkins. You know, we begin to realize more and more, if Hopkins suddenly vanished, the city would virtually collapse. Your consultant, who also assist with relocation to Baltimore as one of his gigs, has seen a tremendous drop-off of young professionals who know longer want the word urban associated with that title. They'll prefer to look in Anne Arundel, Columbia, or north of the City, whereas in the past they only wanted to look for rentals in Baltimore's Fells Point, Canton, and Federal Hill.
• Anna's quest to strike at criminality ran into a certain, I dunno, ambivalence, policy all over the place, mistrust, and misplaced agendas. To the point that she has given up. Criminal activity north and east of Patterson Park has moved south, and the areas south of Baltimore Street have become less desirable. 
• The State's Attorney's spokeswoman "Misquoting" to a reporter were a watershed of insensitivity and in-your-face we don't care attitude perceived by many crime victims. We know the prosecutors are not like that; perhaps Ms. Burns could have a story: the Anti-Spokesperson. But, you know, Buz has believed, for a long time, that a community gets the kind of law and order (I wish I could think of a better different term) it believes and and wants.
• Baltimore john watch blog was interesting at times, if not somewhat repetitive and dispiriting. It is good that somebody is doing something to hold the "sketchy" parts of the city together--at some risks to themselves. So, here's hats off to Sebastian and others like him in the city, who are trying to stem the tide of crime, disorder, and lawlessness, and to keep our city holding on. Like most crime, street walking ladies are both a symptom and a cause of community breakdown.
• Peter Hermann, of the Baltimore Sun, became an informative paid blogger/reporter, who has given us a lot of insight into various aspects of crime in Baltimore. Welcome back, Peter. (Peter can't be too terribly snarky in his comments, because he still has to operate under the umbrella of the Sun and its standards.)
• Exhibit A came and went as a tabloid edition of the Daily Record legal newspaper. I say "went", but it's still out here on the web, just not in print anymore.
• Some parts of Baltimore County are now worse than parts of Baltimore City. In a couple of eastern Baltimore County communities, things are so bad that the pizza joints won't deliver to that complex.
• The dump-out-of-the-car homicide victims in Federal Hill have not had their cases cleared by Baltimore's famed Homicide unit. And we don't believe the one in Canton recently has been "put down", either. (The first two sound like "business"; the gal in Canton sounds domestic).
• The bunch of rapes in Mount Vernon have not been solved either. It is certainly a victory for perception of Balitmore that many, many young people enjoy living downtown, and in the Mt. Vernon area. However, young people often fail to look at the safety of their rental area in general, and their apartment in particular. Risk from crime needs to be considered along with location, cost, and quality of housing.
• Fred Bealefeld has really come to the top of his game as Police Commissioner. I was really impressed when he said he wanted his staff (Team Bealefeld) to proceed in a "thoughtful" manner when investigating the murder of ex-City Councilman Ken Harris. At one community meeting about that, he was even willing to assert that somebody's not during their job, when he said he saw no police after sitting in Northwood for an hour and a half. (However, police everywhere are scarce, because patrol is very short in large, busy districts: if Northwood's officer was on a call, and nobody there called, you probably aren't gonna get many police come by).
• And the saddest of them all: an elderly woman living alone in Remington (real estate agents probably call her block "Wyman Park) was killed when her home alarm sounded in the early morning hours. And neighbors heard her scream. And everybody cowered in their homes and called 911. And she screamed, and nobody came,  and she screamed, the alarm going off. No cops. No neighbors. NO help. Everybody scared. And nobody saw nothing. Cops finally arrived. She's dead. As of the end of 2008, nobody arrested. Right across the street, practically, from the old Public Health Wyman building where Hopkins has offices for the Institute of Policy Studies. Many calls came into the city's 911 call center, but people were asleep at the switch (maybe literally), one Police Communications Assistant disciplined. And the neighbors called the police over and over. Betcha (23-1), in my neighborhood, my neighbors would come running with baseball bats, and if he got away, they would at least have seen him. One time some kids, for "fun"jumped out of a car and loudly banged on my door, and quickly drove away. Two neighborhood women, with kids in tow, and cellphones at the ready, came running up to our house to make sure your consultant was ok. We were, and we thanked them for their bold response.
• Finally, for this posting, the guy that lives in the 3800 Block of Hickory Avenue apparently is not for "change". Since the election he's been flying the Confederate battle flag from his porch. I guess he's not going to the inauguration (we hope not, anyway). But apparently, he's got some unresolved issues.

Let's hope there's a more secure 2009 in Bmore.

Crime Tip of the Day: If you're going away for the holidays: Dirtball Waits!

With apologies to the late, great mystery writer, Tony Hillerman, Buz reports that if you're going away for the holidays, Dirtball Waits. He waits because he knows most young professionals, students, and even some older folk, go away for the holidays. And in some areas, the majority of people will be gone--then he'll strike! The areas closest to schools and universities are the main areas he lurks and waits.  A lot of young people make a big deal about loading their cars all up, yelling to their friends and neighbors: "hey, we'll be back the the 26th, the 20th of January or the the 27th of something. Yeah, we're going' up to New Haven, Philly area, New York, etc." He sees the luggage, and gifts, and wishes them well. He might see the wrapped gifts in the hallway, you never can tell; if they leave even briefly, he may have a shot; the doors are not locked securely, as likely as not.

When they're away, he'll scout and wait and be about. He's hoping to leave you a little without. No doubt.

So, if you're going away for the holidays, here are some tips to get you thinking, particularly if you are a student, grad student, post-doc, fellow, or intern, who is going home to see the family for the holiday.

• Assume you may be broken into while you're away, as painful as that sounds. Leave no cash or jewelry for him to take; he also likes all electronic stuff. Take your laptop, ipod, itouch, etc., with you. Make sure you have your serial number for your desktop either recorded somewhere or, better send it to cyberspace.
• Ideally, you would want a neighbor who is trusted to check on your house at least once a day, to take in your mail, any fliers or newspapers, and turn on or off some lights around the house. However, the less people who know you are going away, the better.
• If there are no known viable neighbors, then use a post office vacation card to stop your mail while you're away; any newspapers you get should be stopped as well.
• Don't make a big deal about leaving: no tooting of horns, no loud cell phone announcements, have all your luggage stockpiled to load quickly and quietly, the earlier in the morning the better.
• Make sure all doors and windows are locked, using all locks. Even if you don't find a neighbor you feel you can ask, perhaps there is one you can at least discreetly mention to ask to keep an eye out.
• Of course, if you have an alarm, set it, but make sure your notifications are viable. 

Areas at highest risk: Charles Village, Pigtown and other areas near to UM downtown campus, Remington, and heavy student areas of Hamilton and Loch Raven and Towson. Police historically are busy taking burglary reports right after the students come back from vacation. And many campuses are vulnerable because they are historically empty and the dorms are deserted and they have minimal staffing. Smart schools take special measures to ensure security of the unoccupied dorm rooms during these breaks. But not all schools have experienced this problem yet. Take your laptop with you as well as anything special of value that can reasonably be carried. 

Good luck! We wish these notices were not necessary. But he waits!

Do you feel safer because of the drop in murders?!

Someone just today was asking Buz about the sharp drop in murders compared to last year. While there has been an upsurge in homicides in the city since around the first of November, there is still projected to be a 40+ drop from last year. (Buz is predicting we'll end up with about 245 murders this year: he is so Mr. Cynicalpants!).

But your consultant wonders: does the decrease in homicides make you feel safer as you go about your day-to-day business? I dunno; and I'm skeptical.

So, we're wondering if our faithful, nice readers will chime in and let us know: what difference does the drop in homicides mean to you? do you feel safer? do you feel crime is moving in the right direction?

Please let me know!

Perception is everything! Crime does not exist in Baltimore!

I know, I know, that's a strange headline, isn't it. Well, you would think that that headline is true: that Commish of P0-leece Bealefeld has won the battle against crime and thievery. Why? Well, this week's Messenger newspaper, covering the neighborhoods of North Baltimore, reports on some crimes occurring in less than one week in the area (but don't believe for a minute that this is a comprehensive list). 

There are FOUR instances of purses, cash and jewelry taken from cars, in widely separated areas of the Northern District. Plus a purse containing wallet, cell phone, credit cards, and cash taken from an unlocked garage. Plus 3 other incidents in which cell phones, GPS devices, and Ipod were taken from cars. Obviously, people believe the city has little crime, nothing to worry about, and all those headlines and about a crime wave don't apply! Hurray! Perception is everything! People must really BELIEVE, otherwise they would be more worried about their stuff.

SECURITY TIP OF THE DAY: One cannot leave anything of value in your car, if it's visible. And it doesn't help to put your purse under your seat or in your trunk AFTER you arrive at your destination. One should put it in your trunk before leaving for your destination. Dirtball waits and watches; he knows where lots of cars are and where people are tending events or going shopping. He has the area under surveillance. Purses under the seat are a common practice. Dirtball knows and waits. But he really appreciates thoughtfulness (thoughtlessness?) this time of year. His little ones need presents too. Gym bags, dirty, wet stuff notwithstanding, are also much taken along with laptops and briefcases. If you leave it, he's coming to get it.

Crime Tip of the Day: If you're a celebrity---Be afraid......

Buz was intrigued by two recent articles: one: the Laura Vozella piece about Michael Phelps's trips to Vegas and guess who's coming to dinner; two: the ESPN News piece about how it's been about a year since Sean Taylor was murdered in his home during a home invasion/robbery. And one could include any number of other pieces seen on the news or in the paper about other celebrities, where they live, what they're doing, where they hang out, etc. 

Buz advice: Celebrities, you are all in danger.

Since we've now entered the high crime time of the year, combined with hard times, lots of layoffs, and a criminal mindset along with an overwhelmed criminal justice system, all of us, whether we are world class athletes or not need to be extra careful.

The National Football League has a staff of mostly ex-FBI agents to protect the integrity of the game and to oversee security for the league, the teams, and the players--as well as protecting the "brand" of the league (they don't want too many of their players arrested or hurt). The league also assigns a security consultant to each team to look out for player protection. And most teams have their own security directors. Several players have been robbed, including during home invasions, and others have been threatened. A couple have been shot and killed, and one maimed.

So if you're a Raven, an Olympic athlete, a CEO, or just somebody who has their name mentioned a lot, some minor, brief tips:

• Try not to let anyone except trusted friends and relatives know where you live. Some celebrities get Secret Service protection. If you don't, minimize the public knowledge of your house, neighborhood, or where you like to go to party or hang out. Especially don't mention or tell anyone in the press: they're sure to publish how neat it is that so and so lives here. Consider renting or having the house in a corporation's name or someone else, so that your name does not appear in the public record.
• Make sure you home is secure; good solid locks--at least two on each door; a peep hole to see who's out there; and a solid hotel-style door lock, so it can be opened only party way and still be locked. The alarm systems  should be able to be activated when you're home. You're probably safeer in a high-rise and/or a gated community, but don't be lured into a false sense of security even there.
• Watch where you go, and use good judgment about who you hang out with. It's probably not a good idea to be closing up the clubs and going to after-hours joints, especially with old friends who've gotten into trouble in the past. Watch people who are overly friendly, want to buy you drinks, or offer you something for nothing.
• Try to have someone with you that you can trust to watch your back at public events.
• Lower your profile as much as possible, except in your field (or on the field) as necessary.
• If you think you are being followed when driving, make three right turns, if they're still back there, you are!
• Above all, don't have this sense that oh, it can't happen to me.

Security tip of the day--ATMs

Buz was going to the bank to get some money at an ATM in order to finance his ravenous appetite for pizza. As he was pulling up, your consultant noticed a man get out of his car at the ATM, leaving the engine running with keys in the ignition and the door to his car open as he did a "quick" visit for some money to the machine.

Now, have realize that this was Roland Park, but come on. I've noticed that many people often have a false sense of confidence: It can't happen here; I don't need to worry; it won't happen to me.

This was the same ATM where a young mom was car-jacked at night and driven around the city for several hours several years ago. Fortunately, though terrified, she still had her cellphone while locked in the trunk of her car. Police were able to home in on her cell and found her car in Clifton Park-abandoned by the robber/abductors. And in front of this same bank, a woman's purse was snatched in Broad Daylight (I love that term!) several months ago.

It only takes a few seconds for a dirt-ball to rob you, then jump into your car and you've-provided him with the means to escape or a second car for his group.

Buz's advice:

• Avoid using ATMs at night. Most are well lit, but you'll stand out like a sore thumb. If you must, use one inside somewhere that doesn't have a window. For example, the one in the 3100 block of St. Paul is inside, but anyone can stand outside and watch you get money and see where you put it. Try to use one in Whole Foods at Mt. Washington.
• Avoid ATMs in high-crime on the street locations, where the machine is right there outside on the street--unless the guard is present. I don't, for example, recommend using the one at 26th and Charles anytime, unless both your car and the guard is there. 
• If you're going to use one, survey the area as you approach, either on foot or in your car. Look for people "hanging around"--both in cars or on foot. If you see anyone staring at you, however briefly, consider not engaging in the transaction. Seriously. 
• Watch out for corners and right angles of buildings, where someone could just be out of your sight. 
• Don't leave your car running, even for  a moment, if you're not in it; and don't leave the door open. It draws attention and puts ideas in people's heads. You'd be surprised how many women leave the rest of their purse on the front seat.
• If you do get confronted by a robber, try to make the transaction as quick as an ATM withdrawal--and as pleasant as possible. Do not resist unless you are specially trained or skilled to do so (I don't mean a self-defense class several years ago). Many of these stickup artists are drunk or high, have poor decision-making skills, and are impulsive. They are disinclined to put up with any "disrespect". You can say something like: here, you can have it, that's all I've got.
• I would recommend at all costs not getting into their car or your car with  them. You may not have an option depending on your situation, but it should certainly be only if you have no other choice.
• And of course a lot of people have almost stopped carrying cash altogether so they don't have to visit ATM machines hardly at all.

Let's hear it from the bouncers!

Buz has already gotten a couple of comments from doormen/bouncers at some of Baltimore nightspots/clubs/bars. He'd like to hear more on how the the big guys are thinking about the withdrawal of approval for cops to work overtime for the clubs. There seems to be a bit of anxiety out there, but your consultant wants to know: how's it going? Can you guys (and, maybe, some gals) handle it? Will the cops come if you call? at all? quickly? Do you guys think some of the officers will work for the bars, anyway, out of uniform--under the table? And, if so, will the on-duty officers wink and nod, and handle stuff for them?

And how did the first "college night" last night go without the boys in blue? I know the cold probably kept the lid on a bit.

Let me know what's going on with nightclub security! You folks, the first line of defense, are in the best position to know.