Protestors should copy successful neighborhood patrol

Regarding the protests held in front of the Baltimore Circuit Court over the alleged beating of a black teen-ager, Nick Madigan wrote in his article ("Protesters gather as brothers plead not guilty in assault case," Feb. 17) that the boy was beaten, "as he walked through their neighborhood."  Since when does any racial or ethnic group own a neighborhood?  Further, the Werdesheim brothers do not live in the neighborhood where the incident occurred.  In fact, they live in racially mixed neighborhoods with a crime rate way below just about any neighborhood in the city — as many Jews in Northwest Baltimore do. That is probably due to the great work of volunteer patrol groups such as Shomrim and the Northwest Citizens Patrol.

The self-appointed "leaders" of the black community who have been demonstrating for the disbanding of Shomrim and the conviction of the Werdesheims would be better off utilizing their time and energy to form their own watch groups to protect their constituents.  Baltimore does not have the resources to police every block in the city.

Joe Bondar, Baltimore