Homicides mount, pushing Baltimore to second highest total in city history

Another round of homicides over the weekend in Baltimore — and the death of a student stabbed last month in a school classroom — pushed the total number of killings this year to 336, the second-highest total on record.

Given that the city has many fewer residents now than in the 1990s, this year's toll already represents the highest per-capita homicide rate in Baltimore history. The city hit that mark last month.

The only year with more homicide deaths was 1993, when there were 353 killings but also about 100,000 more residents.

Homicides mount, pushing Baltimore to second highest total in city history

Baltimore is breaking records. Not that these records are exactly exciting to break or anything... I do want to make it clear as someone who lives here, I'm not scared to live or travel around my own city. Our police just suck, but that's likely because they are underfunded.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

No worries Baltimore have one of the toughest gun laws. The criminals will obey them soon and all will be utopia.

originally posted by: joemoe
No worries Baltimore have one of the toughest gun laws. The criminals will obey them soon and all will be utopia.

You have to be stupid and in delusional to think that single city can bring strong enough law to protect its citizens without support from federal level.We need something done in whole country... there is no DOUBT about that.

I know you are trying to be funny and sarcastic, but I don't think this is a good topic for that...

@ krazysh0t - very sad statistics, reminds me in a large with Detroit and Chicago area statistics... population on decline while death rate is on rise...

a reply to: SuperFrog

Just exactly how much more "help" do they need?

freebeacon.com...

The city of Baltimore received over $1.8 billion from President Barack Obama’s stimulus law, including $467.1 million to invest in education and $26.5 million for crime prevention.

a reply to: SuperFrog

The city needs an overhaul in the community planning department. Plus there is a lot of "more of the same" attitude in politics around here. Everyone runs on trying to crack down on crime, but then when they get into office they don't DO anything but expect results anyways. Then the numbers get fudged. People start sliding on the rules, things get swept under the rug, then Freddie Grey happens. So now you have to watch your police officers more carefully and make sure they aren't fudging the numbers anymore while STILL expecting results without actually making any policy changes.

This is why I've been a staunch opponent of Martin O'Malley in the Presidential campaigns. I'm glad he's a distant third, because that guy was a textbook example of what I just said above when he was mayor of Baltimore.

a reply to: SuperFrog

"We need something done in whole country... there is no DOUBT about that. "

Really? What exactly would you propose be done in the "WHOLE" country?

That sounds a lot like the arguments I here coming out of New Hampshire and Connecticut, i.e., they can have tough gun laws but it does no good because evil doers can cross state lines and buy firearms.

So.......what exactly would you propose be done in the "WHOLE" COUNTRY?

a reply to: TonyS

So.......what exactly would you propose be done in the "WHOLE" COUNTRY?

'Your papers, let me see your papers!'
A jack-booted national police force marching down every street, under the command of Jeh Johnson, probably wouldn't be enough for some.

originally posted by: SuperFrog

originally posted by: joemoe
No worries Baltimore have one of the toughest gun laws. The criminals will obey them soon and all will be utopia.

You have to be stupid and in delusional to think that single city can bring strong enough law to protect its citizens without support from federal level.We need something done in whole country... there is no DOUBT about that.

I know you are trying to be funny and sarcastic, but I don't think this is a good topic for that...

@ krazysh0t - very sad statistics, reminds me in a large with Detroit and Chicago area statistics... population on decline while death rate is on rise...

Not sad to me if the thugs off each other. Its when they venture out of their sh*thole hoods and harm "citizens" that I have a problem with. Only solution sadly is to give a few days warning, pull the police out, then fence in the city, come back a week later and rebuild. People who wish to flee face a nics check, if they aren't a felon, they can leave.

More police wont matter. That would mean more shootings of thugs, which would further enrage them. Sure it is drastic to do this but honestly?? This thug "culture" is past the point of no return and needs to be delt with like Isis x 10.

What other solution is there really?

Pcg

originally posted by: butcherguy
'Your papers, let me see your papers!'
A jack-booted national police force marching down every street, under the command of Jeh Johnson, probably wouldn't be enough for some.

You make it sound so awful.

What if we gave them non-threatening brown uniforms with awesome armbands and leather accessories?

The answers are all in Obama's "Final" Report..

Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century policing

I guess no one wants to actually discuss the news article in my OP and just wants to hijack the thread to complain about random political partisan nonsense.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

What if we gave them non-threatening brown uniforms with awesome armbands and leather accessories?

Edited to please the OP.
We should look at what modern American educational methods have brought us.
And whatever has changed our culture that makes it acceptable to kill others with such frequency.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t

I guess no one wants to actually discuss the news article in my OP and just wants to hijack the thread to complain about random political partisan nonsense.

Baltimore has been in a cycle of systemic corruption and violence for decades now. Couple this with urban flight and you have a recipe for historic murder rates. What they should be doing is taking a page out of New York City's playbook from the early 1990's and beginning the process of making many of the terrible neighborhoods habitable again.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

I honestly don't "get" Baltimore.

In my old hometown, Houston, the Feds came in, bulldozed the "projects", and then sold the properties to developers, (who just happened to be either former city council people or relatives thereof), for re-development. The Feds then contracted for the construction of enormous, gigantic, all new Section 8 housing apartments in the suburbs and moved the people from the old projects to be bulldozed to the burbs, exurbs, and formerly rural towns in adjacent counties, (with rather tragic results, I might add).

Baltimore's "poor" appear to be concentrated in some ancient old run down part of Baltimore near an abandoned warehouse district.

I'd have thought the Feds would have done the same thing in Baltimore that they did in other cities around the nation. What happened?

a reply to: SuperFrog

We need something done in whole country

What do you suggest that would be the solution, if the laws in California, Connecticut, Baltimore, and Chicago are not enough?

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Actually Baltimore has been undergoing a CONSIDERABLE gentrification process for the last 15+ years or so. Our Inner Harbor and surrounding downtown hangout areas (Canton, Fells Point, Federal Hill) have all been VASTLY redone. Heck, Canton alone has undergone a significant transformation. It used to just be dockside warehouses and a grimy area. Now it's all shopping, eating, and a really nice place to live.

Though all this gentrification is driving out the lower income people who are moving out into the county. Then couple all this with Baltimore's budget problems, as well as the politics I pointed out to SuperFrog in the thread and you can start to see why things are the way they are.

a reply to: TonyS

My ex sister-in-law lives in Baltimore because of her job.
She bought a second house outside of the city so that her children could go to a school district that didn't suck.... those were her words.

originally posted by: TonyS
a reply to: Krazysh0t

I honestly don't "get" Baltimore.

In my old hometown, Houston, the Feds came in, bulldozed the "projects", and then sold the properties to developers, (who just happened to be either former city council people or relatives thereof), for re-development. The Feds then contracted for the construction of enormous, gigantic, all new Section 8 housing apartments in the suburbs and moved the people from the old projects to be bulldozed to the burbs, exurbs, and formerly rural towns in adjacent counties, (with rather tragic results, I might add).

Baltimore's "poor" appear to be concentrated in some ancient old run down part of Baltimore near an abandoned warehouse district.

I'd have thought the Feds would have done the same thing in Baltimore that they did in other cities around the nation. What happened?

Baltimore has done this too. We tore our projects down. We tore down those old warehouses. We are redoing those areas too.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
Actually Baltimore has been undergoing a CONSIDERABLE gentrification process for the last 15+ years or so. Our Inner Harbor and surrounding downtown hangout areas (Canton, Fells Point, Federal Hill) have all been VASTLY redone. Heck, Canton alone has undergone a significant transformation. It used to just be dockside warehouses and a grimy area. Now it's all shopping, eating, and a really nice place to live.

I was down there twice in the past month so I was able to see this for myself, however gentrification is not the only aspect for helping to reduce crime, you need an increased police presence in trouble neighborhoods a la New York did.

originally posted by: butcherguy
a reply to: TonyS

My ex sister-in-law lives in Baltimore because of her job.
She bought a second house outside of the city so that her children could go to a school district that didn't suck.... those were her words.

This has been a common occurrence for a LONG time. I went to high school in the county. The high school I went to was right on the other side of the city line and just so happened to be one of the better schools in the county. There was a bus stop on the corner, and every morning as I went to school I'd see kids getting off the bus to go to school (or if it was after school they'd be walking to it to bus back into the city). They'd do things like list their address as an aunt's address in the county so they didn't have to go in the city.