Baltimore killings soars ...why?

[Mr H]

Maryland law requires 5 years for use of a handgun in violent crime: who serves it?
Most firearm crimes in the city could be federal crimes, illegal firearm transfer: SRB calls for Federal investigation of the Police.
SRB calls on gang leaders to help stop violence: RICO act could lock them all up for being part of a criminal organization.

So it's all the Police Departments fault, right?

It's like penalizing a hockey goalkeeper...

Someone else serves it, so they can stay in the game.

 

[Mark75H]

Maryland law requires 5 years for use of a handgun in violent crime: who serves it?
Most firearm crimes in the city could be federal crimes, illegal firearm transfer: SRB calls for Federal investigation of the Police.
SRB calls on gang leaders to help stop violence: RICO act could lock them all up for being part of a criminal organization.

So it's all the Police Departments fault, right?

Prosecutors have to charge to get convictions. Firearms charges are the first to be dropped in most plea bargans etc. This part has nothing to do with police on the front lines.

 

[Mark75H]

Back to the original question ...

Killings and shootings have soared because the monster has no head. All anarchy in the drug trade, pure Wild West.

Apparently Tavon White not only ruled the jail, he ruled the city.

 

[fishcrow]

http://www.aol.com/article/2015/07/...g-grid7|main5|dl36|sec1_lnk3&pLid=-1731979097

The article has no solutions, but the comments are priceless.

 

[wolfwood]

\There has been a theory in criminal justice circles which posits that aggressive policing lowers crime but it has not really been possible to test until now. With the police officers charged in Baltimore there is now a reluctance to aggressively enforce the law. I am not addressing the issue of bad cops, which of course there are some and unlike in most professions they usually get sussed out, disciplined, and fired as they should. Rather I am addressing the vast majority of good cops who aren't robots and respond to incentives and disincentives like everyone else. If they think they are going to get hung out to dry for aggressively policing, by making an honest mistake or by showing a presence in areas where the population is hostile to cops they are going to be (and have been in Baltimore) much less aggressive about enforcing the law. A hostile public, ignorant of the law and police procedures, that thinks it can judge accurately after the fact, watching video from the safety of their homes, and through the group think of social media is a strong disincentive to do a risky job that requires split second judgment and inevitably involves mistakes. Investigative and arrest authority is discretionary and in Baltimore the police have decided that the personal risks of being aggressive outweigh the public benefit. Now we know the consequences of not policing and the theory has been validated.

Baltimore killings soar to a level unseen in 43 years
July's homicide total was the worst since the city recorded 45 killings in August 1972

Baltimore reached a grim milestone on Friday, three months after protests erupted in response to the death of Freddie Gray in police custody: With 43 homicides in July, the city has seen more bloodshed in a single month than it has in 43 years.

The 43rd recorded homicide was Jermaine Miller, 18, who was shot in the head just before noon Thursday.

With his death on Friday, this year's total homicides reached 187, far outpacing the 119 killings by July's end in 2014. Non-fatal shootings have soared to 366, compared to 200 by the same date last year. July's total was the worst since the city recorded 45 killings in August 1972, according to The Baltimore Sun

 

[Mr H]

Not sure we're proving the concept through the current situation, as much as validating the conditions under which it's worth trying.

OH... and not picking nits, but it's 45/189 for/through July.

 

[Mark75H]

I don't think the escalation of shootings has anything to do with policing; I think its entirely the chaos in the gang hierarchys.

Cops can't be everywhere and certainly NOT where drug gangs are going to do their biz; they've never been able and never will be able to pre-empt turf war shootings and executions.

 

[Bob A]

I don't think the escalation of shootings has anything to do with policing; I think its entirely the chaos in the gang hierarchys.

Cops can't be everywhere and certainly NOT where drug gangs are going to do their biz; they've never been able and never will be able to pre-empt turf war shootings and executions.

Think of it as a pressure cooker; with a lid holding things in, tensions build up. If the lid is suddenly removed, the contents will boil over due to restraints being removed.

While a strict cause-and-effect relationship is impossible to prove, I can easily imagine the dynamic in the gang subculture responding to relaxed enforcement by exaggerated settling of scores and attempts to expand territory.

 

[traveller]

Less police pressure --> more drug drug sales --> higher drug profits --> more violence.

 

[Alea Jacta Est]

Gather up all the buyback and seized weapons. Add a large quantity of ammo. Put those at strategically located street corners. Seal off the city for one month.

Unseal the city one month later. Go door to door and put a full on search for the weapons. Collect all you can and then repeat the process in Philthadelphia. Then Bayonne. Then ...well, you pick em.

You get the picture.

 

[Jimet]

Less police pressure --> more drug drug sales --> higher drug profits --> more violence.

Less violence--> more customers-->more profit-->less police pressure.

 

[Bob A]

Less police pressure --> more drug drug sales --> higher drug profits --> more violence.

I don't think this is quite true. Drug demand is not that elastic. The usual users will queue up for the usual dose, but a lessened police presence is not necessarily going to create more drug users.

With little growth in the addict population, decreased enforcement will make for easier transactions.

I recall the recent riots having been an opportunity for cheap resupply from looted pharmacies. As that supply is exhausted, the action will move back to the street. There may be an increase in street robberies to cover the cost of maintaining a habit, but that violence would fall on the straight population, as a sort of ambulatory ATM for junkies needing quick cash.

Personally, I think it's heat-related. Global warming is killing all these people. I can understand that; it's why I stay inside with the A/C until the heat and humidity fall into my comfort zone. People are hard enough to take when they're not hot, sweaty and irritable.

 

[Jim12]

Somehow, Barack Obama gets away with pushing the idea that the growth of ISIS is the result of poor economies and high male youth unemployment where they are recruited, but can't fathom the idea that high crime and murder rates in U.S. cities are caused by the exact same thing.

Why?

Because he would have to admit the problem and accept responsibility for it.

That won't happen.

There are many factors, but first and foremost: IT'S THE ECONOMY, STUPID.

 

[DAMUE]

I was shocked to see that there were 300,000 doses of opiates stolen from pharmacies during the riots. That is a whole lot of people wacked out on mind altering drugs.

 

[j_h_smith]

It all started with welfare. When you have 4th and 5th generations depending on welfare, this is going to happen. I promise you, if welfare was a temporary solution to people that have fallen on hard times, Baltimore would be a changed city. Now the question arises, are we too late to turn the city around. I believe the city is lost. I do not see how it can turn the corner on this spiraling problem.

Slavery is alive and well in this city. But instead of being owned by the plantation boss, they are owned by the democratic leadership, that has allowed (welcomed) this type of activity for far too long.

I do not hold out any hope for this city and I do believe the problems are expanding into parts of Baltimore County. If Baltimore County doesn't act on this threat, it too will be lost in 25 years.

Get rid of Section 8 house after 2 years. Again, this should be used for folks that have come up on hard times.

Start D&A testing of all welfare and section 8 housing recipients. Do not allow their Independence Cards to buy anything but necessities. No subs or pizzas, no more shrimp salad sandwiches, or anything that isn't needed. A picture ID should also be required to use the card.

/soapbox mode

 

[DAMUE]

It all started with welfare. When you have 4th and 5th generations depending on welfare, this is going to happen. I promise you, if welfare was a temporary solution to people that have fallen on hard times, Baltimore would be a changed city. Now the question arises, are we too late to turn the city around. I believe the city is lost. I do not see how it can turn the corner on this spiraling problem.

Slavery is alive and well in this city. But instead of being owned by the plantation boss, they are owned by the democratic leadership, that has allowed (welcomed) this type of activity for far too long.

I do not hold out any hope for this city and I do believe the problems are expanding into parts of Baltimore County. If Baltimore County doesn't act on this threat, it too will be lost in 25 years.

Get rid of Section 8 house after 2 years. Again, this should be used for folks that have come up on hard times.

Start D&A testing of all welfare and section 8 housing recipients. Do not allow their Independence Cards to buy anything but necessities. No subs or pizzas, no more shrimp salad sandwiches, or anything that isn't needed. A picture ID should also be required to use the card.

/soapbox mode

You are right that the welfare state is a big problem. I also see it leaking out of Baltimore City into Anne Arundel County as Section 8 people are renting houses in my area.

 

[Jimet]

Sounds reasonable to me. We have to start somewhere.

 

[Mark75H]

I was shocked to see that there were 300,000 doses of opiates stolen from pharmacies during the riots. That is a whole lot of people wacked out on mind altering drugs.

300,000 doses of sleepy ... not wacked. They get wacked when they wake back up and don't have another dose.

300,000 doses divided by 60,000 addicts in the city ... only 5 doses per addict ... I have no idea where the notion that 300,000 doses was going to put any significant dent in the supply. It was a single day's worth - its spent and long gone since April.

 

[DAMUE]

300,000 doses of sleepy ... not wacked. They get wacked when they wake back up and don't have another dose.

300,000 doses divided by 60,000 addicts in the city ... only 5 doses per addict ... I have no idea where the notion that 300,000 doses was going to put any significant dent in the supply. It was a single day's worth - its spent and long gone since April.

I doubt that somehow they equally divided the drugs among all the addicts. A select few groups targeted the pharmacies and got all those drugs before others had a chance.

 

[Mr H]

That was nothing more than a MSM red herring, to distract from the institutional failure that is Baltimorgue.