Baltimore Murder Rate Drops as Police Focus on Violent Crime Instead of Drug Crimes

In Baltimore, one of the nation's most violent cities, police are beginning to rethink their zero tolerance strategy in order to reduce violent crimes. Over the past two years, arrests have declined. Along with that, homicides and shootings are down too - totals that haven't been that low since the late 1980s.

Instead of chasing suspected drug dealers, officers are focusing on people with violent backgrounds. Since Police Commissioner Fredrick H. Bealefeld III took over in 2007, homicides dipped from 282 to 234 in just a year. In 2008, nonfatal shootings dropped from 582 to 450 last year. Also in 2009, the department arrested 4,000 less people than in the previous year. Last year's arrest total was down nearly 20,000 from 2002 - when Baltimore was at the height of the zero tolerance strategy. With 64 slayings through May 11, the city is on pace for 178 homicides this year, the lowest total since 1977.

"Im not trying to win the drug war," Bealefeld said. "I'm out to win the war on violence and deal effectively with violence."

David Kennedy, director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, places Bealefeld among a handful of police chiefs willing to acknowledge that the strategies their departments used for decades were ineffective, even counter productive. He's confident that the big drops under Bealefeld are no coincidence.

Kennedy said, "It's common sense to focus on a small number of dangerous people instead of rounding up people for low-level nonsense."

It's a lot like a scene out of President Obama's favorite show, The Wire.

UMD SSDP Starts Semester Off Strong

SSDP's rock star chapter at the University of Maryland - College Park started the semester off strong by hosting a screening of the 2004 ABC News special, Ecstasy Rising. They even managed to pull off a Q&A via Skype with MAPS Executive Director Rick Doblin!

This was an impressive event that turned out over 50 students and showcases the misinformation spread about MDMA by NIDA. Ecstasy Rising documents the drug's rise in popularity in the U.S. and discusses the real risks of MDMA use while explaining that the government's war on ecstasy was based on a study that didn't even involve MDMA and "accidently" used meth. Remember hearing that ecstasy puts holes in your brain? That's the study.

The UMD chapter is no stranger to media coverage, especially by their on campus newspaper: The Diamondback. The event, titled Ecstasy: The Good, The Bad, and The Truth was covered by The Diamondback and featured some great quotes from chapter leader and SSDP board member Irina Alexander:

“Nobody really knows where to go for reliable drug information,” said junior criminology and criminal justice major Irina Alexander, president of SSDP. “We’re not encouraging ecstasy use in any way, but we’re trying to give students the resources necessary to make decisions based on fact.”

I think this serves as a great example of how to put on a successful event. UMD SSDP covered all the bases and by working together as a team, made it clear that every SSDP chapter should and could be doing the same amazing work as UMD.

Here's some tips on putting together a great event:

1.) Decide on an event with your chapter (movie screening, LEAP speaker, etc...)

2.) Reserve a room on campus

3.) Create a Facebook Event associated with your chapter's Facebook group (if your chapter doesn't have a facebook group create one immediately and ask your SSDP Outreach Director for help if you need it!)

4.) Create posters and put them up in high-traffic areas on campus

5.) Ask your faculty advisor or other teachers to offer extra-credit to students that attend the event.

6.) Send a press-release to your school's paper and local media. (It's easier than you think!)

7.) Ask other groups on campus to co-sponsor.

8.) Provide refreshments like coffee, soda, and pizza.

9.) Table on campus the day of the event and hand out 1/4 sheet flyers.

10.) Be prepared. Bring email sign up sheets, pens and SSDP materials and encourage people to join SSDP.

11.) Have fun!

All of those steps together (minus tabling) probably take about 1.5 hrs of time! Less if you can delegate responsibilities effectively.

Sure, I left out some aspects like getting funding from your school, but that should never hold you back. Screening documentaries will often not cost your chapter a dime and can create a large turnout if publicized right. Plus,  I don't want to spoil everything you will learn about organizing events at SSDP's 11th Annual International Conference!

So come on SSDP! Who's gonna out do UMD?

Just Doing Their Jobs...

That's what Prince George's County Sheriff Michael Jackson had to say about last summer's botched drug raid at the home of Berwyn Heights, MD Mayor Cheye Calvo. The drug raid, which turned up no drugs, resulted in the mayor being handcuffed to a table in his underwear and guns being pointed at his mother in law while they watched the deputies shoot the family dogs. And no, these weren't rottweilers or pitbulls - these were black labs.

The findings of the internal review "are consistent with what I've felt all along: My deputies did their job to the fullest extent of their abilities," Sheriff Michael Jackson said at a news conference.

The drug war has disillusioned American citizens, politicians, and the criminal justice system so much that when a drug raid on the wrong house, the mayor's house none the less, results in no confiscation of drugs and the killing of two family dogs - we commend the police officers that planned and carried out the raid.

Truly outrageous.

I'm glad to see that the Mayor isn't taking this laying down - he's suing the the state of Maryland and officials at the county sheriff's office and police department.

Why Smoke One Blunt, When You Could Smoke At Least 5?

I'm in DC right now, gearing up for SSDP's 10th Annual International Conference, which I'm sure you already know all about. I'm actually burning the midnight oil with SSDP's eastern region outreach director Amber Langston. We can see Prince George's County from her house, a place where the county council just voted to do something very unlikely to achieve the goals the council hopes it will. I think it will do just the opposite.

The council voted 8 to 1 to ban the sale of single cigars, requiring stores to sell them in packages of at least five. The new law will also make it easier to charge someone possessing a cigar with a drug paraphernalia offense.

Yes, buying 5 cigars will cost more than buying one cigar, but its not likely to break the bank, even for a teenager. In fact, buying in bulk is a way to save money, not spend more. If a single blunt is $1.00, a package of 5 will probably not cost more than $5.00. And if you look at blunt wraps, which do not come filled with tobacco and often feature attractive individual packaging, you can bet that companies will be happy to create larger packages and advertise the new BONUS SIZE! It will no doubt increase production and possibly consumption (like most American consumers, if I buy the Family Size bag of chips, I'm likely to eat a larger serving per sitting than if I bought a single serving bag - but I'd be saving money by buying the bigger bag).

Maybe this isn't so silly after all. In these times of economic uncertainty, we need to teach youth about smart spending and how to get more blunts for their buck! Then we can arrest them for having a legal tobacco product, charge them with possession of drug paraphernalia, and deny them financial aid to college! Drug problem solved. Goodnight.