06-10-05 – Arrests for misdemeanors such as traffic violations, failure to pay child support, lack of auto insurance, and ignoring car inspections are clogging Baltimore City Central Booking and Intake Center a top Baltimore City police official told a GBC Committee on June 10. The City police department is putting at least 25% more than its capacity through the Central Booking system, Deputy Commissioner Marcus Brown told the GBC Public Safety and Legal Affairs Committee.
Persons arrested are required by law to be charged with a crime within 24 hours of arrest or be released. However, some individuals have been detained for as long as 72 hours and subsequently are released without being charged for a crime, according to the Baltimore City Police Department.
More space, drug treatment, and social and education services are needed to process nuisance crime offenders. The police department wants to deploy resources to target people causing drug-related violence. If loiterers and the smaller offenders are bothering a community, then the department must react to that, said Brown.
Brown outlined the police department’s efforts to reduce homicides by targeting the city's highest crime areas for beefed up police presence. The crime areas in Baltimore City are typically in the east and west Baltimore and in a part of the northwest district. The police department chooses areas in the city that account for 20 to 30-percent of homicides, condenses them into mini-districts, and staffs these blocks, Brown said.
The idea is to put the best crime officers physically where the problem is, said Brown. The police department also takes top recruits and puts them in the priority areas.
February, March, and April of 2005 had the lowest periods of homicides since 1982, said Brown. However, in May, the Baltimore City Police Department struggled again with high homicide numbers. The overall data shows that crime is down, but statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Baltimore City crime reporting system don’t align because the two agencies interpret the same data differently, Brown said.
The FBI has an incident-based crime system, where the crime is measured “per happening,” so there could actually be multiple victims. The Baltimore City Police Department has a victim-based crime reporting system that looks at the rates “per person.” So one could say crime is up and the other could be claiming successful reduction, he noted.
One of the Baltimore City Police Department’s latest safety programs is called “CitiWatch,” said Brown. CitiWatch is designed to enhance safety and security while respecting the privacy rights of individuals. The program initially started with 50 Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras strategically dispersed throughout the west side of Baltimore.
Certain exterior and interior areas are private property and do not fall within the domain of the CCTV system and may not be observed, Brown said. Cameras are placed to maximize coverage within the targeted areas to provide advance warning of danger and criminal activity.
To view the first quarter 2005 Uniform Crime Report Statistics for Baltimore City, click here.
To view the Comstat Crime Comparison Data for Baltimore City, click here.
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