T alk about response time: Somebody makes sure Wikipedia?s Baltimore entry has recent murder statistics. Mayor Sheila Dixon and Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld should match that speed in figuring out why the carnage is dropping so they can shift resources to tactics that work.
When reporter Luke Broadwater counted 14 February slayings on top of 13 in January, nobody popped champagne and declared victory in the gruesome battle against killers even though that?s a 40 percent drop from 2007, which ended up the worst year in a decade.
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Statistics show violence declining since July, the lowest seven-month stretch since 1987.
Certainly beleaguered residents and more than 150,000 workers who commute in every day will cling to any statistical glimmer of hope, despite the lack of an audit.
Being ranked the 12th-most dangerous city in the nation last year makes us desperate enough to believe. But murder is not about some public relations campaign. This is absolute evil beyond the reach of slogans and posters and news conferences. This is real.
This is about real wasted lives and grieving families, neighborhoods wracked by fear, opportunities lost and social cancers growing as effect feeds cause.
Let others wring hands and weep against underlying social problems or rant for gross ineffective police-state tactics.
We need to precisely stop the killing now. It seems obvious how: Target killers. Police know in general who they are. Most murderers in Baltimore have been in custody repeatedly.
Police use some proven tools ? such as Project EXILE and frequent parolee visits ? to get lawbreaking felons most likely to kill off the streets.
Model more tactics on those programs. Also, prosecutors and judges must continue to focus our criminal justice system on the most dangerous offenders.
Statistics show increased indictments on gun charges and more judges imposing tough sentence recommendations.
We all need to congratulate Dixon, Bealefeld and the entire criminal justice community for the improving numbers. We certainly are quick to blame them when numbers get worse.
At the same time, we demand they use data in comprehensive attacks on the problem, not mere press release fodder.
