Just when we thought Maryland State Police were coming clean with the activists they spied on …
The details: We thought the activists scored a big one when state police finally said activists could view their records with a lawyer present — but we were wrong. Activists say the police blacked out large portions of records revealing “police procedures.” Police procedure is to spy on citizens? We don’t think so. Activists should be permitted to see their entire record and not be penalized for others’ mistakes.
Don’t look at us …
Lately, it seems as though every agency head in Baltimore is begging Mayor Sheila Dixon not to cut his or her operation.
The details: With revenue dropping, the mayor has no choice but to make cuts. Besides, the city budget increased 11 percent this year — so we’re not setting ourselves back a decade by trimming budgets. Dixon should use this time to prioritize spending and tackle how to manage escalating public employee pension costs.
Maybe some legends need to fade
The Maryland Board of Public Works Wednesday voted to retroactively approve reducing the Sports Legends Museum’s rent and to forgive $444,000 in debt.
The details: Why should we save the Sports Legends Museum? Not even hordes of baseball fans at Camden Yards, where it is located, can keep it from losing money. Even with plummeting attendance at the Yard, we still saw 1,950,077 spectators over 78 home games. The state must not rob taxpayers to pay for a failing entertainment venue. What’s next, using taxpayer dollars to buy Orioles tickets?
Living it up on our dime
The Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development spent $148,000 on marketing events in recent years that weren’t documented correctly.
The details: Catered cruises on the Bay, bowling parties in California, plane ticket upgrades, poker tournaments — it sounds like this agency was living the movie star life — on our tax dollars. It would be one thing if these events lured business and jobs to the state — but we’ll never know because DBED couldn’t account for them.
Competitive bids anyone?
Spring Grove Hospital Center in Catonsville doled out $400,000 in questionable contracts.
The details: Spring Grove awarded contracts to companies with personal ties to employees without competitive bids. Some of the contracts were awarded to people with personal relationships to hospital employees. Auditors discovered these problems and more. This audit should send a message to state agencies that they can’t avoid scrutiny — at least not for long.
Outrage: Kick ‘em while they’re down
WHO: The Howard County Police Department
WHAT: At least two Howard police officers were caught on camera by more than one media outlet kicking and punching a suspect who had led them on a high-speed chase. Howard Police Chief William McMahon has said there will be an “internal investigation.”
WHY IT’S A BAD IDEA: Are you kidding? An “internal investigation”? The suspect’s poor behavior does not justify an inordinate amount of force. The police chief should use this opportunity to outline department policy. The public should be concerned that all McMahon can offer is: “I am concerned.”
WHERE TO VENT: Call Howard’s police headquarters at 410-313-3200.
Crime? Not here.
Baltimore County police are solving crime with new tools —and so far results are stellar.
The details: Crime in Baltimore County for the first six months of 2008 is substantially lower than crime from the first half of 2007 for most types of crime. The department even said it expects homicides to drop 40 percent for the year. So how are they doing it? Technology — including computerized crime data and devices to scan license plates.
Saving lives
Baltimore police and probation agents arrested three men in connection with threats made to Pigtown activists.
The details: Activists in the Pigtown neighborhood helped police by sharing information – but said their helpfulness led to threats to their lives. Because of a lack of interagency communication, no one followed up on those threats until The Examiner published an article about them. Now that those who threatened the activists’ lives are arrested, law enforcement needs to work on its communication skills.
We’re getting closer
Baltimore City Public Schools are coming closer to getting off of a state No Child Left Behind watch list.
The details: Both elementary and high schools in Baltimore City made “adequate yearly progress” this year — that’s federal government speak for students passing tests — for the first time ever under current law. If they make the grade next year, the system will move off of the watch list of districts in trouble. Wouldn’t that be a novel idea? Baltimore City Public Schools actually being a place where students learn?
Have you seen my car?
Baltimore City police are on a roll – they’ve arrested a man in connection with a car missing from Baltimore City’s Pulaski Highway impound lot.
The details: This is a good move not only because police found a suspect, but because they’re not stopping the investigation. Evidence shows the crime probably required inside help. Let’s hope they find those responsible for the impound lot problems before more cars go “missing.”
Down by the Bay
Inmates are helping to save the Bay.
The details: Inmates at the Patuxent Institution in Jessup are nurturing seedlings to be replanted as part of a program devised by legislators to plant 1 million trees by 2011. Trees help prevent erosion that harms the health of the Bay, smothering oysters and killing the grass where crabs like to hide. This is a low-cost solution to a problem we all have a stake in solving. BRIGHT BULB Moving in the right direction. Drug-related deaths in Baltimore in the first half of 2008 are down 24 percent as compared to the same time in 2007. The health department said this is the lowest drug-related death number since 1995. City health officials said the results could be attributed to outreach programs— or a random dip. Let’s hope these results are not a one off or a case of drug problems moving to the suburbs.
QUOTES OF THE DAY:
“Let me be clear what this statistic means to criminals: When a crime is committed in Baltimore County, you will be caught, you will be prosecuted and you will go to jail.” — Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith on the falling crime rates in his county.
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”
Henry Louis Mencken, “In Defense of Women,” 1918
