Like many others, I have watched the city of Baltimore go through a transition period, from decaying urban center to a city that shows signs of totally giving up. Staunch Baltimore Defenders, I feel your blood pressure rising, but I will defer to a paraphrasing of John Updike: "The true Baltimorean who defends his city, has got to be, in some sense, kidding."
I cite as evidence of my claim of quittance, on the part of the metro area, the recent decision to install gunshot detectors in the greater Charles Village area. A cursory analysis will reveal that with a typical muzzle velocity of around 1,200 feet per second, bullets travel faster than sound, and while a gunshot detector may allow more rapid police response, it will do little for the average victim of violent crime - the bullet having reached its stopping place three times faster than its sound can possibly travel.
As far as locating places of crime goes, I understand the potential value of this tool in apprehending criminals. The fact remains that almost every security bulletin I see posted on the Hopkins Security Web site ends with some sort of phrase to the effect of "search results were negative" read, "The perpetrator of this crime, who typically fits a very specific profile (with nauseating frequency), got away, again."
I was awakened, literally twice in the past week, by various criminal actions. The first was on Monday morning, by a Baltimore police officer firing live rounds into a dump truck 25 feet from my room in order to test the gunshot detector. (It is of course illegal to discharge a firearm within the city limits of Baltimore.) I observed what seemed like questionable safety measures taking place as an officer passed a loaded gun up to the firing officer, who was literally standing in the bed of the dump truck enduring the live round firing. I will give credit to a system that is so high-tech that it can tell the difference between a blank round and a live round, but will certainly fault the testing procedures, which did not make me feel safe in any way. This is coming from a gun owner who understands gun safety, not from a whacko liberal gun-confiscating Washington, D.C. city legislator.
The gunshot detection system is what it is: a last ditch effort to solve crime in a city that is overrun with petty criminals that rarely brings them to justice, a metaphor of itself and a system that I find difficult to believe will ever achieve any sort of meaningful success.
That same night, I turned in early, and was awakened around 2 a.m. to the screams of a young lady, who was in some way accosted by persons seeming to fit the profile of those who typically commit crimes in the area. Hopkins security documentation of this incident is, as of yet, non-existent, probably because it affected a non-University affiliate. A third incident took place earlier this week in which an armed crazy was yelling at cars and luckily was apprehended. Factor in the robbery of Subway, the robbery of the parking lot attendant at the Union Memorial parking garage (mere steps from the Den), a mugging in front of Uni-Mini and an abduction (an abduction!) that took place, in part, at the Hopkins Credit Union on 33rd Street in Charles Commons, and it was a pretty good week for petty criminals getting away. Unfortunately, none of these criminals used guns - otherwise they might have been caught.
It seems that those in charge of controlling crime seem to be pretty much out of control of these sorts of things. Off-campus parties routinely get shut down by the police these days, while criminals have what is, in effect, free rein, as far as succeeding in their goals. Not to be dissuaded by any of this, I went to a Remington community association meeting this week. The non-criminal residents of Baltimore, like Hopkins students, merely want a way to go about their daily lives without being subject to undue interference from the many nefarious miscreants prowling the city. A system at major intersections that detects crime would be a welcome resource to a city that badly needs it.
Unfortunately, such a system does not exist, and as such, Charles Villagers and Remingtonites will continue to deal with crime as a way of life, rather than as a rare inconvenience. But it's clear that that is not going to happen unless serious steps are taken. Perhaps next year's incoming freshmen will be the first round of Hopkins students to experience a crime-free year. It sure does not look good for anyone in attendance now.
