Crime

It's a street robbery that left a 27-year old man in a coma, his wife shaken and a community outraged - and yesterday it drew the attention of Mayor Sheila Dixon and her leading challenger in next month's Democratic primary election, City Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. The victim, Zachary Sowers, was beaten near his Patterson Park home on the night of June 1. His attackers took his cell phone, his watch and his wallet, which held several credit cards....

THE COUNT People killed since Jan. 1: 161

Drug `gold mine' a plague on city I was horrified, appalled and scared to death reading The Sun's article "Defendant says drug `gold mine' lured him to city" (April 4). "Pennsylvania Avenue is a freaking gold mine," says a 35-year-old drug merchant. Now Baltimore is really on the map. But the question that jumped out at me was: What in the world is Baltimore doing about this drug problem? This issue lies at the root of the problems that plague the city. Crime, poverty, homelessness, education, etc., are all manifestations of the drug problem in Baltimore.

Intruder gets 10 years; his motive is in doubt An out-of-work carpenter was handed a 10-year prison term yesterday for forcing his way into the Odenton townhouse of a woman he had followed home and attacking her, but whether the crime was an attempted robbery or an attempted rape remained in dispute. The victim "was not in danger of any sexual assault," James E. Darnell, 28, of Jessup told Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Joseph P. Manck before he was sentenced. His lawyer said Darnell's crime was an attempted robbery by a man in financial crisis.

THE COUNT Homicides since Jan. 1: 182 THE VICTIMS ONLINE: Details and locations of this year's city homicides at baltimoresun.com/homicidemap

Serious crime declined 5 percent in Maryland last year, with decreases reported in four of the state's five regions, according to a report to be released today by Maryland State Police. It was the third straight year that crime has declined statewide."We've made good progress," said Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who has focused on crime prevention and justice issues during her tenure. "Obviously, I'm pleased with the 5 percent drop in violent crime. But we have a way to go. We can't rest easy."

They call it "the book."Every police cruiser assigned to the Baltimore County neighborhood of Hillendale carries a copy of the white three-ring binder that identifies offenders on probation who live in the community. It's an innovation that has helped make Hillendale one of the state's most successful "HotSpots" communities.In its first 18 months, the program that pairs police and probation officers and enlists community support has helped to lower crime 20 percent statewide in targeted areas.

BOSTON -- The whole thing is enough to make John Donohue nostalgic. "Usually what I write languishes in obscurity," the Stanford law professor says drolly. Not this time.Professors Donohue and Steven Levitt, a University of Chicago economist, set out innocently enough to look at one of the great puzzles of the research world: Why has the crime rate dropped so sharply, so widely, so quickly, in the 1990s?The two sleuths found a clue that no one had considered: Roe vs. Wade. These two respected scholars came to the wildly provocative conclusion that the legalization of abortion may explain as much as half of the drop in the crime rate.

Crime in Baltimore dropped more than 9 percent during the first half of the year, continuing a four-year downward trend that has made the city the safest it has been in a decade, city police reported yesterday.The department said crime has decreased in each of seven major categories tracked by the FBI, including a 20 percent reduction in homicide and rape; a 13 percent reduction in burglaries, a 14 percent drop in auto theft and a 1 percent drop in robbery.Statistics reveal that during the first six months of this year, compared with the same period in 1998, violent crime dropped nearly 5 percent and property crime nearly 11 percent.

A Baltimore legislator yesterday introduced a bill that would have the state pay a Southern Maryland man $7.5 million for serving more than seven years in prison for a killing he did not commit.The bill, introduced on the House floor by Democratic Del. Clarence Davis, directs Gov. Parris N. Glendening to budget the money for the "wrongful conviction and wrongful imprisonment" of Anthony Gray Jr., 31, of Calvert County.The bill must go to a committee -- most likely the House Appropriations Committee -- for consideration.

LONDON London's police stations could offer a view of the future of American policing - if the political will is there to make it happen. Touring a station in Brixton, I was shown a tiny room with a machine the size of a refrigerator that takes fingerprints from criminal suspects. This room was also where police collected DNA samples from everyone who passes through. DNA collection is expanding in America. In Maryland, Gov. Martin O'Malley just recently pushed through legislation to broaden DNA collection capabilities to include individuals charged with crimes of violence, first-, second- or third-degree burglary or attempting these crimes.

The headquarters of the Greater Manchester police force's Xcalibre squad could pass for any Baltimore police district station. The second-floor office in the center of the city's highest crime area, Moss Side, is wallpapered with dozens and dozens of young men identified as gang members, with names like "Tree Frog," "Baby Soldier," "Screwface" and "Dirt Star." Red and blue bandannas hanging over each group's section signal their loyalties. Two of the major gangs have even started affiliating themselves with the Bloods and Crips, which have roots in California.

I knew going into this trip that any comparisons between Baltimore and London, and the United Kingdom as a whole, would have to be kept in proper context. They are very different places with very different challenges and very different ways of dealing with them. But the lack of action on my ride-alongs has been quite a bit ridiculous, especially since the press and the officers I rode around with in Manchester and South London's Brixton insist that these are tough streets. Indeed, during roll call, when officers are apprised of recent events in the neighborhood, they outlined some gritty stuff taking place.

A used-book and DVD sale to benefit crime victims in Anne Arundel County will be held next weekend in Edgewater. Proceeds will help maintain the emergency fund designed to help people pay for urgent needs caused by a crime, for example, replacing residential locks for home security. The sale will take place 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 8 at St. Andrew's United Methodist Church, 4 Wallace Manor Road, Edgewater. The church's youth group will sell food to benefit the church's disaster response ministry.

Prison officials are investigating the fatal stabbing of a 28-year-old man Wednesday night at the Baltimore City Detention Center. Kennard Pratt was stabbed several times while leaving a shower to return to his cell about 7 p.m., authorities said. Detention center and medical staff performed CPR and took him to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead. Pratt had been jailed since February, awaiting trial on murder charges. Officials said no motive or suspect had been identified.

Baltimore is a dirty city with few good jobs. But its also a green city whose residents love their neighborhoods, public parks and libraries. Their biggest worry is crime, but they consider their own blocks quite safe. Those are among the sometimes-contradictory feelings to emerge when 1,812 Baltimoreans were asked about their city. Mayor Sheila Dixon, who commissioned the $60,000 survey by the Schaefer Center for Public Policy, said it is the first of its kind for the city and would help her determine where to focus her attentions - and budgetary dollars.

Debbie Basile couldn't have been gone from her North Baltimore home for more than two hours. But in that time, thieves opened the back gate to her yard, pulled up in a car and loaded it with a television, a DVD player, jewelry and other items. Basile wasn't alone. Over the past month, residents in her Belvedere neighborhood and surrounding areas say they have seen a spike in brazen burglaries during the day and night. "The kind of criminal activity we typically see is 'life in the city'-type crime, but what's been happening lately are crimes that seem much more, to borrow the lingo, like somebody is casing these places out," said Catherine Evans, president of the Belvedere Improvement Association.

For too long, Baltimore has been shy about selling itself as a place to live. Anyone contemplating a move to the area is much more likely to be shown around the suburbs than the city - especially if that person has kids. Chalk it up to the city's exaggerated reputation as a hive of poverty and crime, or perhaps to the inferiority complex of a place sandwiched between the better-known municipalities of Washington and Philadelphia. But even as the pace of population loss in the city has slowed to almost nothing, the military's Base Relocation and Closure process has given the city rare hope for a rapid influx of new residents.

The spate of shootings Sunday night and early Monday morning culminated a bloody weekend in which about two dozen people were shot, including four who were killed. But the violence belies police statistics that show shootings and overall gun crimes are down significantly from last year. Baltimore officials were in no mood to boast about the numbers Monday afternoon as they discussed the shooting incidents and the police response, but Mayor Sheila Dixon touted the achievements at a police graduation ceremony last week that coincided with Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III's two-year anniversary in the job. "For the last two years, we have hit record numbers that you cannot compare the last 10, 15, 20 years," Dixon said at last week's ceremony.

Baltimore's police commissioner told members of the City Council on Tuesday evening that the agency is embracing technology and social media to spread the word about the city's crime fight but that there are a number of hurdles to overcome before police and the public are truly plugged in. In the past few months, the Police Department has increased its presence on the social networking sites Twitter and Facebook, and has recently wrapped up a trial run...