Zero Tolerance

On a day when the city mourned the shooting death of a little boy, Baltimore's top two officials promoted their own, distinctly different approaches to trying to end the bloodshed.Hours before the funeral of James Smith III, a 3-year-old who was gunned down in a barbershop last week, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and Council President Lawrence A. Bell clashed over anti-crime strategies in separate news conferences.As they expressed their sympathy for the boy's family, the two questioned each other's leadership and differed on how to combat the violence.

As City Council President Lawrence A. Bell III and Councilman Martin O'Malley push for a new police policy of near-zero tolerance in Baltimore, the question becomes: Can the pair complete the task when the mayor and the police commissioner vow to keep the status quo?Even if Bell and O'Malley can reconcile the ramifications of near-zero-tolerance policing -- such as clogged courtrooms and jails -- their biggest hurdle could be persuading other council members to listen to the message and to not pay attention to the messengers.

THE CHASTISING tone of a progress report on zero tolerance police tactics was totally predictable. It was issued by a Baltimore City Council committee chaired by Martin O'Malley, whose crime-fighting philosophy differs sharply from that of Police Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier. Yet there is more common ground than you might expect.The police chief is doing a lot of what Mr. O'Malley wants, but Mr. Frazier refuses to call it "zero tolerance," the term Mr. O'Malley imported from New York. Although Mr. O'Malley will admit the commissioner has made progress, he downplays that and instead talks about what still needs doing.

IF ZERO TOLERANCE can make it in New York City, can it succeed in Howard County? Apparently so. A police crackdown on crime in east Columbia's Long Reach village has closed an open-air drug market along Tamar Drive -- yes, even in suburbia -- that had become a troubled area for residents.The enforcement squeeze, modeled after New York's successful approach, has made trafficking disappear. For now.It is too early to say police have eliminated drug dealing in that vicinity. Law enforcement officials know all too well that it is much easier to scatter that activity than to eradicate it.Police Capt.

With financial settlements in the church's sexual abuse scandal costing more than $1 billion, the nation's Roman Catholic bishops are expected this week to retain their zero tolerance policy - permanently dismissing priests from the ministry for any act of abuse against children. But as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' semiannual meeting begins today in Chicago, the bishops will consider revising other policies enacted after the scandal erupted in Boston in 2002. Among the changes to be discussed will be scaling back independent reviews of dioceses, which ensured the policies were carried out and decided whether to fund a multimillion-dollar study of the underlying causes of the abuse.

Drivers used to whizzing past schools at breakneck speeds this summer will pay a steep price if they don't slow down today: fines of as much as $500.Police will be operating radar and handing out tickets to speeders and aggressive drivers in school zones as students return to classes.It's the Police Department's H.A.S.T.E. ("Helping Arriving Students Through Enforcement") program to ensure the safety of students going to and coming from school.In a concerted effort during the next few weeks, Howard patrol officers will cite drivers who might need a reminder that schools are once again in business.

BY ALLOWING John Destry to graduate from Southern High School in Harwood, the Anne Arundel County Board of Education apparently has decided that its "zero tolerance" weapons standard doesn't work.Thank goodness for that. Now that the board has made an exception for Mr. Destry, it has painted itself into a corner with its one-size-fits-all policy. Other suspended students with extenuating circumstances can justifiably demand similar treatment.Last January, Mr. Destry, an honor student with a spotless record, received a long-term suspension for bringing a "weapon" -- a pen knife on his key chain -- to school.

Anne Arundel County Police Chief Larry W. Tolliver touted his policies of a "zero tolerance" crackdown on street-level drug dealers and confiscation of cars used in crimes such as drug possession last night in Crofton.The measures would help stop the break-ins that are often committed by people looking for money to buy drugs, Tolliver told the Crofton Civic Association's board of directors and about 10 residents at a meeting at Crofton Elementary School."We're going after the people to send the right message that we're not going to put up with people using drugs, buying drugs and everything associated with it," said Tolliver, the former state police superintendent, who assumed his county post at the end of January.

Chief Larry W. Tolliver ordered Anne Arundel County Police yesterday to stop seizing cars in simple drug possession cases, a rollback of his popular and controversial "zero tolerance" for drug trafficking.The move marked the first shift in a vigorous and highly publicized policy that has evoked praise from residents tired of drug activity and criticism from those who believe zero tolerance is overbearing and a threat to constitutional protections of due process.In a written directive issued in March 1997, Tolliver told officers to seize vehicles if anyone inside had drugs or if drugs were found in the vehicle, regardless of who owned the vehicle, or whether the owner knew of the drugs.

The recent flap over illegal drug use by White House staff members is a powerful illustration of how the war on drugs piety and the war on drugs hypocrisy are inseparably intertwined.Both the Clinton administration and its Republican critics expound an official policy of "zero tolerance" toward drugs while making allowances for their own "experiments" and youthful indiscretions with controlled substances.The controversy arose after Secret Service agents testified before Congress that at least 21 Clinton White House staff members had used drugs -- including marijuana, cocaine or LSD -- within a year before being granted security clearances.