Confusion and consternation over attacks in the Mount Vernon area

Residents at the meeting peppered Bailey and the other officers about why it took so long for police to notify the public. Police used a computer to call and warn residents of the attacks, but one woman said the recording was inaudible. A neighbor of one of the rape victims complained she didn't know about the attack until two weeks after it had occurred.

This investigation has been marked by incomplete and untimely information from the start. Two sketches have been released of two potential suspects, but police revealed Tuesday that neither one is based on information from the rape victims.

One drawing is of a burglar who has been hitting homes in Charles Village but also might have reached down into Mount Vernon. The other sketch came from one of about 200 people interviewed by Lt. Dorsey McVicker - a woman who told him she confronted a man coming into her apartment from a fire escape and scared him away.

Residents are scared and frustrated. Detectives have to protect their investigations, but they also have a duty to ensure that the public feels protected. Police told them that the information and the reports about the attacks are public, but the news media hasn't even been given the addresses of where they occurred.

Police did give out a warning that should be taken seriously. McVicker said that of the hundreds of people he talked to in Mount Vernon, only three had windows that locked on upper stories - even windows accessible from fire escapes. Of the rapist, he said, "We think he knows that."

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Talk with Peter Hermann about crime via the Baltimore Crime Beat blog, at baltimoresun.com/crime