Here, in its entirety (because it is so small) is Yvonne Wenger\’s article about crime in Baltimore since Freddie Gray\’s death:
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake called the city\’s recent spike in violence “disheartening” Thursday as police work to address a dramatic increase in homicides and nonfatal shootings.
“It\’s extremely frustrating,” the mayor told reporters at a news conference. “It is disheartening, but I am still resolved to continue to reduce violent crime in our city.”
Rawlings-Blake said the city\’s faced spikes in crimes in the past and police have been able to successfully reverse them. She said she’s “confident” police will do so again.
The city has experienced 100 homicides this year, compared with 71 at this time last year, the police department said. It\’s the fastest the city has reached 100 homicides since 2007. Last year, the city reached the mark on July 4. Nonfatal shootings are up more than 70 percent with at least 19 people shot on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Ok, let\’s see. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is overseeing a huge spike in violent crime (the article doesn\’t talk about non-violent crimes, but I think we have a pretty good idea that they are moving in the same direction). Something has to be done.
So what does she have to say? Well, she finds it “disheartening”, “extremely frustrating” and is “still resolved” to reduce violent crime.
Now that\’s a plan….if you think blathering out boilerplate platitudes accomplishes anything but making the blatherer sound useless…and ridiculous to boot.
But, then again, talking about a plan now would be redundant, wouldn\’t it? Mayor Rawlings-Blake already gave Baltimore her plan, when there were riots in the street after Freddie Gray\’s death, and stores were being looted and burned. Her plan, in her own words, was:
“I worked with the police and instructed them to do everything that they could to make sure that the protesters were able to exercise their right to free speech.
It\’s a very delicate balancing act because while we tried to make sure that they were protected from the cars and the other things that were going on, we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well.”
In other words, Ms. Rawlings-Blake\’s idea how to handle a violent riot was to have the police insure that the legitimate protesters got their rights to free speech…and the rioters/looters/burners who were destroying businesses and burning them down had sufficient space to engage in their apparently acceptable activities.
I have a question for you: if you were a street thug in Baltimore, and you saw with your own eyes, then heard with your own ears from the Mayor, that street thuggery was acceptable as long as enough people were out there doing it, would you be encouraged to continue your life of street thuggery?
The answer is pretty obvious, isn\’t it?
Therefore, my congratulations to Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Based on what has happened since those riots, your plan is working.
