More on Crime

More contention between politicals regarding the crime situation in B-More City. In todays Examiner article, Del Jill Carter takes an opposing side to O'Malley spokeswoman Guillroy on the level of improvement in the City. Here are a few excerpts:

The crime data in the report shows improvement for the city, said Raquel Guillory, spokeswoman for Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley.

“It shows we’re making progress,” she said. “But the job of making Baltimore safer is not done. The mayor came into office with the objective of making Baltimore safer, healthier and cleaner.”

State Del. Jill Carter, D-District 41, said she didn’t see much progress from O’Malley’s police tactics.

“It’s still the most murderous city in the country,” she said, citing Baltimore City’s 269 murders last year — the highest murder rate of any large city. “I don’t see where the progress is. Even if there is a minor level of progress, we don’t feel safer.”

There was an even more interesting Examiner article discussing the number of deaths where the manner was deemed "undetermined" in 2004. For Baltimore City, that number was recorded as 341 of the 807 determined as such in the State of Maryland. 2004 was the last year these specific statistics could be obtained. Some excerpts:

The classification “undetermined” means that while the cause of death is known, the actual manner of death cannot be classified after the investigation is completed. In Baltimore, 341 deaths were classified as “undetermined” in 2004, according to a report from the Baltimore-based State Medical Examiner’s Office obtained by The Examiner.

“In a major metropolitan area you, might have several dozen ‘undetermined’ cases at most, but 341 — no way” he said. “It’s a competent office, so there must be a reason,” he added.