Violent Crime

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced that 12 new surveillance cameras will be installed along Charles Street in Midtown. "The CitiWatch program is a vital part of Baltimore's effort to reduce violent crime in our neighborhoods. The cameras serve as a force multiplier that enables the men and women of the Baltimore Police Department to do more to protect the citizens of this great city," Rawlings-Blake said in a statement.  The cameras, funded by the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention and grants from the Abell Foundation, stretch from the Washington Monument to 20th Street, and bring the number of cameras in the city's network to 622, officials said.

The current effort by members of the Maryland General Assembly and Gov. Martin O'Malley to abolish the death penalty in Maryland is one of the worst ideas that occurred in this state in decades ("Next up: death penalty," Dec. 2). With the violent crime rate on the rise, such flawed legislation and laws would only encourage criminals of violent capital crime offenses to continue committing violent crimes that under normal circumstances warrant and deserve the death penalty. As a Maryland taxpayer, I resent paying taxes to support convicted criminals who received life sentences but deserved the death penalty.

The number of people killed in Baltimore this year has exceeded the count from all of 2011 after a violent Wednesday that saw at least one stabbed and three shot - including two near the same corner where a 16-year-old was killed a day earlier. Less than 24 hours had passed since the fatal shooting of teenager Daniel Pearson on Greenmount Avenue when two more men were hit by gunfire in almost the same spot. Another man was killed in Northwest Baltimore, and a boy was taken to the hospital after being stabbed on his way to a school.

Maryland's DNA law, which allows police to take samples of suspects' genetic material for possible matches to other crimes, will be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court next year, the justices announced Friday. The law, a signature crime-fighting initiative of Gov. Martin O'Malley, was ruled unconstitutional by Maryland's highest court in April. But in July, U.S. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. issued an order allowing police to continue collecting DNA samples, signaling that the high court would ultimately weigh in on the issue that has pitted law enforcement interests against privacy concerns.

Anthony W. Batts was officially sworn in Thursday as Baltimore's 37th police commissioner, pledging to build trust with the community while continuing to reduce violent crime. Batts, who spent three decades with departments in California, has been guiding the city police force since his arrival in late September following the retirement of agency veteran Frederick H. Bealefeld III. The city's homicide numbers are on track to rise compared to last year, when Baltimore saw fewer than 200 killings for the first time since the 1970s, but overall gun violence continues to trend downward.

Baltimore County Police have arrested a 17-year-old Woodlawn boy in the shooting of a man near Security Square Mall on Friday night. Rickey Jerome Freeman, of the 7500 block of Reserve Circle, has been charged with attempted first-degree murder and with using a firearm in the commission of a violent crime, police said. Freeman allegedly shot the man, who has not been identified, on Security Boulevard near the entrance to the mall after an argument broke out between two groups, police said.

An apparent robbery last week claimed the life of a psychology researcher and supporter of Baltimore youth music education, again calling attention to the issue of robberies in the city. After aggravated assaults, robberies are the second-most-prevalent violent crime reported to police - there have been more than 2,500 robberies so far this year - and are more likely to involve innocent victims. They are also more likely to happen throughout the city. Though Roland Park hasn't seen a shooting in years, there have been a handful of robberies at gunpoint this year, statistics show.

At a community meeting for paroled felons in the East Baltimore, the mother of Bloods gang leader Kevin Gary faced down federal prosecutor Jason Weinstein. She told him to stop harrassing her son, whom she described as "a champion for the downtrodden," recalls former city police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III, who also attended the meeting. Weinstein, familiar with Gary's criminal record, did not back down. "I hear you ma'am, but if your son doesn't stop what he's doing he's going to prison with the rest of these guys," he responded, according to Bealefeld.

Residents and city leaders who gathered Thursday night in the Northeast Baltimore neighborhood where a 51-year-old scientist was recently gunned down spoke passionately about taking the streets back from criminals intent on intimidation. Gathered in the Belair-Edison neighborhood to take a "solidarity walk" after the killing Monday night of Peter Marvit, they spoke of sticking together to confront crime throughout the city. "We know we cannot let the cowards win, not in this neighborhood, not in any neighborhood in this city," said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, telling the 100 or so residents in attendance that they "deserve to live in safe neighborhoods.

Sixteen people were shot in Baltimore City over the Labor Day weekend, six of them fatally, including a young mother killed Sunday evening by a stray bullet as she tidied up after a holiday gathering of family and friends. All the victims of the weekend's violence deserve swift justice, but none more that Larelle Amos, a 22-year-old former honors student at Kenwood High who leaves behind a 1-year-old son. Now is the time for incoming city police commissioner Anthony Batts to show the leadership Baltimore expects of the city's top cop. His first assignment should be to make sure Larelle Amos' killer is brought to justice.