Author: Moskos

Meanwhile, roughly 1 in every 250 young black men was shot in Eastern District. Last month!

Maybe you were too busy blocking traffic into the city to notice, but this past weekend 32 people were shot in Baltimore. Nine were killed. (as usual, click to embiggen) This past weekend. In Charm City. With just over 620,000 people. Meanwhile, from April 25 to May 23, this past month, 122 people were shot…
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“So what’s the big deal?”

What’s weird, at least to me, is that many (mostly from the political left) seem to dismiss the never-before-seen increase in homicides in Baltimore as just some random uptick. “You know,” I’ve been told (and more than once), “violent crime is up in New York City, too.” Are you fucking crazy?! Homicide in Baltimore is…
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Aiming for the legs

Right or wrong, American policing are taught to shoot center mass. And only center mass. The goal is not to kill, though the outcome of center-mass shot is usually death. The goal is to shoot to stop or incapacitate the threat. Once the there is no threat (which often happens before the suspect is killed),…
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Murder in Baltimore

With murdered doubled post-riot, you’d think more people would care. I don’t mean people in high-crime neighborhoods in Baltimore, they do care. It’s all those other people who so righteously saw police as the biggest problem in the hood. Where are they, now that the murder rate has doubled? Oh, and how did that “gang…
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Baltimore Homicides, pre- and post- riot

After the riots, the daily number of homicides in Baltimore more than doubled from 0.58 to 1.41. That’s a lot more dead people. 0.8 per day. (For those of you not too good with math, that’s almost one a day. And yes, Gotti, I’m looking at you.) Click to embiggen. The trendlines, pre- and post-riots,…
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Taking a break

This will be my last post for close to three weeks. I’m heading out of the country (hiking in Greece). The late-breaking news is that six BPD officers have been criminally charged. That’s a lot. This will be a very tough case for the prosecutor to win. The most serious charges need intent (said a…
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The 2nd man in a van

Interview with Donta Allen, the second man in the van. He’s Baltimore, that’s for sure. Straight out of the Western. Some might find him unique and charming. I’d just like to point out that his is a voice you don’t hear much.

The scale of the riots

In certain circles (like my circles) it’s popular to post things about how when whites riot (and they do) we call it frat boys having a good time. Now whites frat boys riot over stupid shit, like their sport’s team winning, or their sport’s team losing. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not down with…
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Don’t believe the hype

Baltimore has 99 problems… gangs aren’t really one. At least not on list of top 5. Batts seems a bit obsessed with them. That’s West Coast bullshit. An article by Leon Neyfakh in Slate.

The “ghetto”

I use the word “ghetto” because it is the vernacular of police officers and many (though by no means all) of the residents. Here’s what I said about “ghetto” in Cop in the Hood: In any account of police work, inevitably the noncriminal public, the routine, and the working folks all get short shrift. Police…
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