It was mid-February by the time the Baltimore Police Department would tell Battleground Baltimore that, in 2021, detectives cleared just 22% of reported rapes. The national average is around 30%. We’d asked a few times before and the police kept stalling. While we were waiting, however, the police had provided us with a number of other pieces of crime data for 2021, which showed that the Baltimore Police, whose budget is $555 million per year, cleared 42% of homicides and 25.1% of non-fatal shootings.
That’s just some of the police and crime data Battleground Baltimore reported on over the past month. We also looked at the past three decades of gun seizures and their impact on crime reduction—or, as the data show, lack thereof—and looked at the past few years of policies reducing incarceration enacted by Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby (we continue to encourage readers to follow Baltimore Brew’s coverage of Mosby’s legal saga and rather public battle with the feds).
Baltimore City 2021 Crime Data: A Closer Look
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Baltimore City 2021 Crime Data: A closer look
Numbers provided by Baltimore Police show another year of high homicides, low clearance rates, and a steady reduction of drug arrests.
January 28, 2022January 28, 2022
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30 Years of Gun Seizures Haven’t Kept Baltimore Safe
30 years of gun seizures in Baltimore haven’t kept the city safe
An analysis of police and crime data from 1990-2021 shows what experts elsewhere are saying: Police going after guns has little to no effect on violence reduction.
February 17, 2022February 17, 2022
What Impact Have Marilyn Mosby’s ‘Progressive’ Non-Prosecution Policies Had?
What impact have Marilyn Mosby’s ‘progressive’ non-prosecution policies had?
Amid claims by the indicted Baltimore State’s Attorney that her politics have made her a target of the federal government, Battleground Baltimore looks at three years of decarceration.
February 25, 2022February 25, 2022
Conversations about policing in Baltimore are often about resources. How much the police receive ($555 million dollars per year), what they do with that half-billion, and what does not get funded as a result. Over the past month, the city agreed to pay for “throwbots”—tossable, remote controlled surveillance devices—for the cops while a debate about whether or not to reduce police power through drug paraphernalia decriminalization happened for the third time in less than a year.
There is also a confounding demand by some local politicians that “The Block,” Baltimore City’s “red light district,” close early each night because there’s too much crime there. As many pointed out, “The Block” is a short walk away from Baltimore Police Headquarters. Again, The Brew has been keeping track of the latest developments in this story, which includes a plan to make club owners on “The Block” pay for the additional police.
Also related: Gov. Larry Hogan, who has spent the past few months claiming police across the state of Maryland are being “defunded”—they are not—and has announced more police funding as a result, does not want to fund Baltimore City Schools.
An Attack On ‘The Block’
Battleground Baltimore: An attack on ‘The Block’
In this week’s round-up of local news, Baltimore Starbucks workers are unionizing, advocates push for drug decriminalization, the Mosbys go on the defensive, and more
January 21, 2022January 24, 2022
Right Wing Media Attacks Baltimore City Schools and Gov. Larry Hogan Refuses To Fund Them
Right-wing media attacks Baltimore City schools, and Gov. Larry Hogan refuses to fund them
As anti-public education rhetoric traveled from local to national news, Maryland’s Republican governor boasts of a budget surplus and demands more money for police.
February 9, 2022February 12, 2022
Baltimore Harm Reductionists Demand Democrats Finally Decriminalize Drug Paraphernalia
Baltimore harm reductionists demand Democrats finally decriminalize drug paraphernalia
Decriminalizing needles, syringes, and cookers in Maryland would save lives, reduce the spread of disease, and stabilize communities amid the overdose crisis, advocates again argue.
February 18, 2022February 18, 2022
From Iraq and Afghanistan to Baltimore City: The Throwbot
From Iraq and Afghanistan to Baltimore City: The ‘throwbot’
Police spending that was approved by Baltimore City this week and highlighted by budget watchdogs includes surveillance technology cops can throw.
February 4, 2022February 4, 2022
Once again, the convergence of the city’s inability to hold property owners accountable and the divestment of Black Baltimore has resulted in serious harm. A fire in a vacant building in West Baltimore (the building had caught on fire once before) killed three firefighters, kicking off a flurry of statements from elected officials about the scourge of out-of-town property owners who sit on vacant homes in hopes that the investment will pay off later on while doing little to maintain them in the meantime. Among the most egregious examples of this speculation: world famous Johns Hopkins University.
In Baltimore, Where Property Owners Are Unaccountable, Vacant Homes Burn and First Responders Die
In Baltimore, where property owners are unaccountable, vacant homes burn and first responders die
The tragic death of three Baltimore firefighters may finally move the city to stop the practice of sitting on unsafe buildings in hopes of turning them into future opportunities for investment and profit.
February 3, 2022February 3, 2022
Johns Hopkins University Sat On Unoccupied Apartments For Over a Decade To Demolish Them
Johns Hopkins University sat on unoccupied apartments for over a decade just to demolish them
‘Dilapidated’ buildings owned by the prestigious university illustrate the extent to which Baltimore City enables real estate speculation at the expense of residents.
February 11, 2022February 11, 2022
