Police Work

Parked in Anne Arundel County and Annapolis are cars with tempting stuff in plain sight: a GPS unit on the dashboard, a cellphone on the console, a handbag with a wallet visible in it on the floor behind the driver's seat. But it isn't just would-be thieves looking to see what's in the car and tugging on its door handles. Police are doing it too, in programs aimed at stopping thefts from parked vehicles. Police from both jurisdictions recently walked through parking lots and neighborhoods, finding numerous cars in which items that would catch a thief's eye were in plain sight: keys, cash, bicycles, financial paperwork, even a washer-dryer unit for an RV. In the recent walk-throughs, only about one in every 10 cars was unlocked, though police say in some neighborhoods that number is likely nine of 10. "My purse is in there," Kim Harris said when Anne Arundel County police Cpl. Brian Carney asked her whether she had left anything of value in view after she locked her car in the lot at Big Vanilla Athletic Club in Pasadena on a recent evening.

Baltimore's housing office has disbanded its security unit, laying off seven sworn police officers, the agency said Thursday. The duties of the Lease Enforcement Unit - which investigates criminal activity in public housing to determine if a resident has violated his or her lease - will be assumed by housing's Inspector General's office, which investigates fraud, waste and abuse, said Cheron Porter, a spokeswoman for Baltimore Housing. "The Housing Authority of Baltimore City budget has suffered cuts generally over the past couple of years and with sequestration, more cuts could be on the horizon," Porter said in an email.

IF ALL THE PEOPLE Adam Walinsky has buttonholed to discuss his dream of a Police Corps had been present for the program's official kick-off in Maryland last week, the group could have filled a good chunk of the Convention Center.As it was, the gathering at Baltimore City police headquarters packed a sizable room. Ironically, Mr. Walinsky wasn't able to attend, but there was ample testimony to his unswerving devotion to this dream.Two other key players were there -- Jonathan Rubinstein who, along with Mr. Walinsky, came up with an ROTC-like program to rejuvenate police departments, and Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who first began working on the Police Corps idea in 1982.

Thirteen-year-old Octavio Vazquez had $100 to spend this past weekend at the Cockeysville Wal-Mart, but he really wasn't looking for something for himself. As he roamed the aisles with Baltimore County Officer Michael Schmitz Jr., of the Wilkens Precinct, he was intent on using most of the $100 gift card donated by area Optimists Clubs to purchase presents for his brother, uncle and grandparents. "I'm trying to get gifts for those that give gifts to me," Octavio said. "I think they'll feel good about the things I got for them.

After police shot one robbery suspect fleeing a Northeast Baltimore bar yesterday and arrested the other, the city's new acting police commissioner said the incident showed that the department is taking the right tack in revising its crime-fighting strategy. Acting Commissioner Edward T. Norris told reporters that police arrived at the bar within 30 seconds of receiving the robbery call because they had been staking out the Belair Road corridor, site of at least five similar robberies in the past two weeks.

This is Jason Kindel at his best: Daddy and policeman and volunteer all rolled into one. At Bollman Bridge Elementary School in Savage, Kindel is playing one recent day, hoisting the 3- and 4-year-old preschoolers in Bonnie Bricker's class for hugs. He regularly volunteers here; Kindel's almost-4-year-old twin girls are also in Bricker's class. It's a far cry from his beat, from nabbing bad guys and getting drugs off the street in Whiskey Bottom - but not really. After all, Kindel is passionate about ridding the area of drugs because of the kids.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- As part of an urgent attempt to give Haiti a functioning police force, 353 soldiers from the Haitian military are participating this week in a six-day crash course in how to be police officers.Their hasty and rudimentary training is a stopgap until Haiti's police force is reconstructed. About 70 percent of the 3,000 police have deserted, leaving too few competent officers to patrol the streets.Trainers from the U.S. Justice Department and Canada are giving "overviews of Haitian laws and human rights -- basically telling them not to use the bumpers of their cars to do interrogations or hook people up to electrical wires," a U.S. official involved in the training said wryly.

SUMMER IS HERE. School is out. That means recreation programs for children are needed. Yet the city's revenue problems have led it to cut the recreation and parks budget. Recreational services will get only about $12 million, versus $13 million last year. The Police Department wants to fill the breach. Unfortunately, this logical step has drawn unexpected criticism.Baltimore has 69 recreation centers. As of this month, 20 are operated solely or jointly by the Police Athletic League. It makes sense.

Daniel Davis could have been a lawyer or a businessman backed by an Ivy League diploma. Instead, he chose police work.Davis, 53, retired as a lieutenant last month after 26 years with the Howard County police.A quarter-century ago, his choice of careers caused his friends' jaws to drop."A few people have questioned me over the years about my particular career choice after going to Cornell," Davis said. "But I decided to throw my lot with the local police."Colleagues say his work ethic and high expectations resulted in key programs in the department, from a 1970s burglary-prevention project whose major initiatives are still in force today to the Auxiliary Police Force begun in 1995.

The crowd of more that 80 people that packed a Belair Road bar for an extended happy hour featuring $2 drinks did not deter a gunman who, police said, got by a bouncer, pushed through the patrons and found his target sitting in a secluded spot in the back. Derrick Deon Smith was shot several times in the head and body early Wednesday morning, and collapsed between the bar and breezeway, police said. The 33-year-old was the seventh person killed in Baltimore by gunfire since Friday night — the deadliest stretch this year.

After spending Saturday night listening to and writing about a Baltimore blogger who webcast and tweeted throughout a five-hour standoff with a police S.W.A.T. unit, I promised myself at least 24 hours to try and coherently think through the meaning of the event. Beyond the things I said Saturday night about the webcast and Twitter conversation being two more great examples of the way the Internet and social media continue to change so many aspects of American life, there are a couple of other media takeaways that stay with me and are worth thinking about.

The arrest of a Baltimore blogger this weekend showed how a normally mundane bit of police work - the serving of a warrant - can be complicated in an age of Twitter and Internet radio. It briefly put a national spotlight on what normally wouldn't even make the local news. Frank James MacArthur, 47, a steady presence as an observer at city crime scenes and a cab driver by trade, took to Twitter and an online radio service to stream his dealings with police at his home Saturday to execute an arrest warrant connected to 2009 weapons charges for which he had received probation before judgment.

A decorated officer who was shot in the line of duty and testified before lawmakers about tightening gun laws is one of three officers being investigated in the death of an East Baltimore man during a drug arrest. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed that Todd A. Strohman and two other officers - Gregg Boyd, a 16-year veteran, and Michael Vodarick, a seven-year veteran - were involved in the arrest. Strohman, a three-year veteran, had been lauded by the mayor and others for his police work.

Death is as much a part of life as birth. It's been observed that the only thing you truly have to do is die. Still, when the end comes, it is a time of sadness and mourning for the deceased's family, friends and colleagues. When the end comes to people regarded as too young, the sadness and mourning are multiplied. Then there are tragic spells like the past several weeks where, in unconnected and unrelated cases, four public servants departed this plane of existence. Three police officers — two Harford County sheriff's deputies and an officer from the Aberdeen Police Department — died as a result of health issues or accidents.

Officer Forrest E. "Dino" Taylor loved his family, his job, his fellow Baltimore police officers and his motorcycle. All played a part in services Friday at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. Officer Taylor, 44, died Aug. 29 of injuries incurred on duty. The 17-year veteran of the city Police Department was driving to aid a fellow officer at 5:50 a.m. Feb. 18 when his police cruiser was struck at an intersection downtown. He had endured months of surgeries, therapies and treatments in an effort to recover.

Parked in Anne Arundel County and Annapolis are cars with tempting stuff in plain sight: a GPS unit on the dashboard, a cellphone on the console, a handbag with a wallet visible in it on the floor behind the driver's seat. But it isn't just would-be thieves looking to see what's in the car and tugging on its door handles. Police are doing it too, in programs aimed at stopping thefts from parked vehicles. Police from both jurisdictions recently walked through parking lots and neighborhoods, finding numerous cars in which items that would catch a thief's eye were in plain sight: keys, cash, bicycles, financial paperwork, even a washer-dryer unit for an RV. In the recent walk-throughs, only about one in every 10 cars was unlocked, though police say in some neighborhoods that number is likely nine of 10. "My purse is in there," Kim Harris said when Anne Arundel County police Cpl. Brian Carney asked her whether she had left anything of value in view after she locked her car in the lot at Big Vanilla Athletic Club in Pasadena on a recent evening.

When Violet Hill Whyte, the first black to be appointed in 1937 to the city's police force, died in 1980, The Sun in an editorialsaid, "She worked in an all-white, male-dominated institution and won its respect through hard work and human understanding."Whyte, who was 82 when she died, explained her success this way: "I'm not afraid of hard work."During her 30 years on the police force, she proved that time and time again by working 16- to 20-hour days, often starting at 6 a.m. She collected clothing for prison inmates and needy people, made holiday baskets for the needy and counseled delinquent children and their families.

Officer Forrest E. "Dino" Taylor loved his family, his job, his fellow Baltimore police officers and his motorcycle. All played a part in services Friday at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. Officer Taylor, 44, died Aug. 29 of injuries incurred on duty. The 17-year veteran of the city Police Department was driving to aid a fellow officer at 5:50 a.m. Feb. 18 when his police cruiser was struck at an intersection downtown. He had endured months of surgeries, therapies and treatments in an effort to recover.

As the investigation into Violet R. Ripken's abduction stretched into an eighth day, police remained silent Wednesday about their leads - a strategy Harford County State's Attorney Joseph I. Cassilly said could ensure the potential suspect doesn't destroy evidence or intimidate witnesses. Investigators on the 40-person Aberdeen police force, Cassilly said, must find a balance in publicly releasing details that will help solve the case but will not provide any advantage to the man believed to have abducted the 74-year-old mother of Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr. and widow of former manager Cal Ripken Sr. "I hope that we're successful; that's all I say," Cassilly said.

The 911 call came in like so many do, a frantic voice that cuts through the night like the wail of a siren. "My granddaughter has drowned! She's not responding! Please help me!" Dave McGowan took the call. Last year at this time, he was the veteran public address announcer at Orioles games at Camden Yards. But now, less than five months on the job at the Prince George's County Emergency Communications Center, he faced this: a frenzied Laurel woman on the line and a 2-year-old with the life ebbing from her after a backyard pool accident.