Baltimore City and Policing
Camden Yards. Ravens tailgates and games in which I get to see Danny from Dundalk throw a full beer can at a Steelers fan right before challenging him to mortal combat. Sports talk radio that provides valuable insights if you have an IQ equivalent to a jar of mayonnaise. Good farmers markets in places you may not expect. The Guinness factory is outside of the City, but there are other breweries. Some of the best restaurants in Maryland (any answer that isn’t Charleston and the Prime Rib is wrong). Historic sites and museums. Top tier medical systems and universities. Rooftop parties and property taxes. A vibrant social scene in Fells, Canton, Harbor East, and Fed Hill. White women studying for their 3rd graduate degree who are willing to hold you and later offer to pay your cell phone bill. 2-for-1 at Penthouse. A casino to shoot dice, eat and drink after 2am, and conveniently launder your drug money.
Baltimore City is an incredible place, and the list above is not exhaustive.
There are a lot more public safety cameras in the City than you think. I once spent multiple days embedded in BPD’s Homeland Security Division. There are analysts who’s entire job is to study their respective cameras — not just the blue light cameras — throughout the City and provide 911 dispatch with a ‘real-time’ response, or assist with an investigation after the fact. It’s the same with ShotSpotter technology; there is value in this effort, assuming we’re reactive and oblivious to the fact that someone could lure a person indoors prior to shooting them in the face. The 4th Amendment to the Constitution was not posted anywhere in the office. That surveillance plane shit was just the tip of the iceberg.
“Community policing” as a model. What does that mean to you? The general idea is law enforcement should get out of their squad cars, knock on doors to gather information within their post, listen, document what they learn, and generally shut the fuck up. Post-Freddie Gray, that wasn’t an option — that whole stand-down thing was (is) very real — and the City is under a consent decree seeking to minimize unnecessary police interactions with civilians. We’ve also punted on low-level drug offenses and ‘quality of life’ crimes, which I agree with — business owners may not.
I’ve been to ComStat, the weekly Thursday meeting at the police department discussing crime trends in the City’s nine police districts. What you’ve seen is 100% accurate in this regard — each district commander will sit with a binder full of printed out data and their superiors will tell them to unfuck their specific situation in front of a group of their peers. “Why are armed robberies up 17% in your district as compared to this same time last year” is a common refrain. The district commander will then fumblefuck their way through the data binder in an effort to gather themselves — it is humiliating and the effectiveness of the process is debatable, but if you don’t have a specific ‘answer’ or ‘plan’ to what you’re being called on at the next ComStat meeting, your superiors will bury you.
ComStat meetings never get to the ‘why’ because when you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail. With regards to homicides and non-fatal shootings in the City, each theory of the case starts with the notion of an endless Hatfield & McCoy blood feud, e.g. if I get shot and killed tomorrow, the police are looking at my friends and relatives to retaliate because there’s a good chance they know who clipped my ass, and then there will be further retaliation. It’s a fine starting point but doesn’t seem all that effective given the homicide and non-fatal shooting clearance rate. It also doesn’t help that the State’s Attorney’s Office maintains an adversarial relationship with the police.
To be clear — the vast majority of BPD members care, are good at what they do, want to get ‘violent repeat offenders’ off the street and just get home safely to their families. But to a man or woman, every talented person I’ve worked with has (or will) eventually choose to work somewhere else. Retention across City government is something that must be addressed in order to maintain some semblance of institutional knowledge.
Regardless, I love this City without condition and I’m staying to see [redacted] through.
