Bad Guys

No one likes the thought of Big Brother constantly looking over one's shoulder. So it's understandable many people initially resisted the idea of blanketing the city with police surveillance cameras that record everything that happens within their field of view. Of course, no one wants to be the victim of a crime either, which is why a new report on the effectiveness of cameras in deterring would-be criminals should prove reassuring. The study, conducted by the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center, found that Baltimore's network of more than 500 police surveillance cameras has been a highly cost-effective deterrent to the kind of street crime that most concerns residents.

Cataleya is named for a delicate orchid, but she's in fighting shape. This sleekly beautiful killing machine mows down numerous macho opponents in the primal revenge drama "Colombiana. " Just as Cataleya gets the job done, the movie accomplishes its basic genre agenda. What's disappointing is that "Colombiana" initially seems like it may develop into something more than a violent exercise. The opening scenes grab your attention as 9-year-old Cataleya sees her drug-dealing parents slaughtered in their home in Colombia.

For the first time, a special Family Area was set up inside the infield. The message apparently didn't get out, because as of noon it was nearly empty.  Darryl Greb, who came here with his wife, Dee, and their two teenage sons and one of their neighbors, found a spot near the back fence with a great view of the backstretch.  Greb, a retired sheriff's deputy in St. Mary's County, had never been to the Preakness before but had been to other events like it that were once known for their debauchery.

President Barack Obama, who takes an Osama bin Laden victory lap at Ground Zero today, ought to just come out and say the plan was to kill the guy all along. Stop with all the who-struck-John about what happened during the "firefight" inside bin Laden's lair in Pakistan — whether the world's most wanted man "resisted" his would-be captors when he wasn't armed. As details emerge from what a White House aide called the "fog of combat," execution appears to have been the order of the day. A video or photograph might prove me wrong — today the White House might say bin Laden threw a lamp at an invading Navy Seal — but let's not buy any pretense that our guys were told to capture him for trial.

It was said upon the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in April of 1949 that NATO's purpose was three-fold: to keep the Russians out, the Americans in and the Germans down. In the 1960s, French President Charles de Gaulle removed his forces from NATO joint command, feeling slighted by the U.S. and Great Britain. He built his own Force de Frappe — a three-pronged strike force designed to rain nuclear destruction on the Soviets in a quick response to any attack on La Belle France.

It is a truism , born in Hollywood westerns, that the good guys wear white hats. Now from New York comes word that the bad guys prefer Yankee caps. In the last 10 years more than 100 suspects or persons of interest in connection with serious crimes in New York wore Yankee apparel at the time of their crimes, arrests or arraignment. This report comes from The New York Times, the newspaper of record in the Yankees' hometown, which stated that when it came to clothing favored by the accused, "no other sports team comes close.

As a "public servant," it appears Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III relinquishes certain rights as a "private citizen" by accepting "public servant" wages. Please consider the following as a solution to the exchange between Mr. Bealefeld and Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy: 1. Upon awakening in the morning in your private citizen pajamas, put on your private citizen robe and go out and remove the Gregg Bernstein signs from your lawn. 2. When you dress in your public servant uniform as Baltimore City Police Commissioner, go to work, solve crimes, lock up bad guys, protect the citizenry, etc., but do not discuss who the next State's Attorney will be. 3. Upon your return home, put on your private citizen clothes, put your Bernstein signs up, and enjoy the evening.

I've been in any number of courtrooms as a reporter, watching the wheels of justice roll over everyone from drug dealers to Sheila Dixon, murderers to Martha Stewart. A trial I sat through last month, though, was not the kind that usually draws media coverage, involving instead the non-spectacular sort of crime — a gun violation in this case — that make up the white noise of the justice system. In fact I was only there because I had to be, having been selected as a juror, rather than because it was particularly newsworthy.

For years, Tom Guy bled blue and white. For seven seasons, he played clarinet in the Baltimore Colts' Band. But on Saturday, as Guy wheels his purple Dodge van into the parking lot at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, where the Ravens and Colts will meet in an NFL playoff game, the Ravens fan will be marching to a different drummer. "It's time the Colts got a good, old-fashioned spanking," said Guy, 48, of Hampden. "If [the Ravens] win, holy mackerel, they might have to shut the city down and close schools.

Although it is very important to make good court cases, get good convictions and get long sentences for "bad guys with guns," it does not solve the larger issue: kids growing up to be bad guys with guns. There aren't enough prisons to incarcerate our way out of this predicament. We must take a serious look at prevention. Yes, prevention. How can we better keep kids from becoming criminals? How can we instill hope into our youth? How can we create healthy communities? The answers aren't unknown - they are just hard to implement.