Baltimore City

Mayor Dixon Celebrates Community Support of the Police Departments Mounted Unit

Baltimore, MD (December 2, 2009) – Mayor Sheila Dixon was joined by City Councilman Edward Reisinger and Baltimore City Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld to accept a donation to support the Police Department’s Mounted Unit.

Members of the Curtis Bay-Brooklyn Environmental Oversight Committee donated $2,500, and Curtis Bay Energy added a matching donation.  The grand total of $5,000 will provide food, bedding, veterinary care and blacksmiths for the horses.

“I am grateful that the people of Baltimore are stepping up to support the Mounted Unit,” said Mayor Dixon.  “Their generosity will ensure that this historically important Unit will remain operational.  The horses – Butch, Barney, Buster, Binx, Belle and Slurpie – are both great ambassadors for the Department and an effective crime fighting unit.”

Mayor Dixon encouraged residents and business leaders to support the Mounted Unit.  There are a number of ways for people to give:

• Make a secure credit card donation online from the Baltimore Community Foundation’s website: www.bcf.org/police,
• Make a contribution by check, made out to Baltimore Community Foundation with “Police Foundation” noted in the memo line,
• Or, for stock & wire transfer instructions, visit: www.bcf.org/givenow

MD Attorney General

For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
Raquel Guillory, 410-576-6357
rguillory@oag.state.md.us

Baltimore Police Officer Convicted of Attempted Theft

BALTIMORE, MD ( December 1, 2009) – Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that Hikeem Dennis Crampton, Sr., 30, of Rosedale, was sentenced on a single count of attempted felony theft. Judge G. Edward Dwyer of the Frederick County Circuit Court imposed a two year suspended sentence, two years probation, and 100 hours of community service.

In January 2008, Crampton, a Baltimore City police officer, traded in a Cadillac Escalade at Carz Unlimited, a used car dealership that is no longer in operation. Crampton canceled his insurance and turned in the title soon thereafter. Carz Unlimited resold the car without paying off Crampton’s loan. Therefore, MVA records still had the car titled to Crampton and owing payments on the car loan. In October 2008, Crampton obtained a duplicate title and reinstated his insurance. He then filed an insurance claim with his insurance company stating that Carz Unlimited had stolen his car. Crampton supported his claim with sworn written and oral statements in which he falsely stated that he had taken the Escalade to Carz Unlimited for repairs in August. State Farm Insurance Company, which insured the Escalade, did not pay the claim.

This conviction follows a joint investigation by the Insurance Fraud Division of the Maryland Insurance Administration, the Regional Auto Theft Task Force, the Maryland State Police, and the Office of the Attorney General.

Independent

Just 15 minutes after stepping off the train at Baltimore’s Penn station I found myself standing behind the yellow crime-scene tape after a shooting. We had been alerted to the attack on N Milton Avenue, in the east of the city, via Twitter. In the UK, the micro-blogging site is used mainly by people wanting to follow the thoughts and inanities of celebrities such as Stephen Fry. Here in Baltimore, the police use it to alert the media to shootings and homicides, such is their regularity.

The author of the article excerpted above was part of the reporter exchange between the Baltimore Sun and the Independent. The byline was dated Saturday but he had been in town last week.

If you will recall, last week there was controversy over the Baltimore City Police Department not tweeting about rapes in city neighborhoods that resulted in a general criticism of how they have handled Twitter. A media and terrorism I attended earlier this summer also showed how they were out of tune to the nuances of Twitter at the time.

This post today is not to slam the Baltimore City PD. As a commenter on our last post noted, they reacted to the complaints last week and actually used TweetPhoto to post a picture of a rape suspect. Since then they have also posted pictures of suspects on TwitPic. They have stopped using ALL CAPS in every single tweet which looks good both on Twitter and where their feed goes over to Facebook, but they need to make sure they turn off the Caps-Lock key on every tweet.

They have also started pointing out which PIO (Public Information Officer) is on duty after-hours via Twitter as well as giving media advisories for things like Commissioner Fred Bealefeld challenging one of their PIOs (Donny Moses) to go to the regular Tuesday workout sessions at the Police Academy led by Ravens’ linebacker Ray Lewis.

The flow of the conversation on Twitter/Facebook for the Police Department is still generally one-way and the complaints about that date back to the complaints about the all caps and about them only originally posting shooting and homicide information.

They still have the chance to actually engage the community with their social media platform usage. Instead of just broadcasting information, they should engage in an actual dialogue when possible. There were people responding to them in Twitter before about their issues and nothing happened to fix them until there were complaints that made the media.

The negative attention last week could have been averted before it happened had the people on Twitter communicating back to their account had been heeded. I know they say they monitor Twitter constantly, but I think they generally are looking at that function as doing things like correcting misinformation rather than using it as a way to start a dialogue.

Bridget Forney raises some good points:

In breaking news of the past 24 hours, information was released by the Baltimore Police Department about a series of rapes that happened recently in the city. Apparently, some of the rapes have happened near bus stops, with the offender approaching women waiting for the next terminal and making threats to successfully lure them into dimly-lit areas. One victim is a 55-year old woman who was waiting for the bus after a late night church service.

The question raised by the Baltimore Sun: with more than five rapes over the past two weeks, and some that are believed to be related, why are we just hearing about it now?

The Baltimore Police Department is on Twitter @BaltimorePolice, but they’re known for tweeting about shootings that have happened, arrests that have been made and people who’ve been injured. Notice all three of those items are read in the past tense. Tweeting about what’s happening now, specifically in the circumstance of the aforementioned rapes, could raise awareness about predators and possibly in the end, save lives. Isn’t that the whole point of having the Baltimore Police Department on Twitter to begin with?

While tweeting about such dramatic and sensitive circumstances could raise awareness about these rapes, maintaining the image of Baltimore being a safe community would be damaged in the process.

According to Andy Green from the Baltimore Sun, “(Baltimore Police) Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told me today that the department, as a rule, doesn’t tweet rapes because of the sensitive nature of the crime.”

There has been criticism in the past of the city police and how they handled their Twitter and Facebook interactions. They seemed more worried about policing the comments on their Facebook page than actually interacting with citizens and there has been criticism that their Twitter account hasn’t been interactive at all, with just Tweets being sent out but not actual conversation. There has even been criticism of them for breaking one of the earliest norms of netiquette – leaving the caps lock key on.

All of these pale in comparison to the possibility that situations warning citizens of the city about a dangerous situation has not been tweeted with the given sensitivity reason and the more likely P.R. reasons.

Baltimore County Police

Four Men Arrested in July 16 Murder of Liquor Store Owner Joon Kang
Group Responsible for a Total of 16 Liquor Store Robberies

Baltimore County, Md. (October 29, 2009) – Culminating a joint County-City investigation, four men have been arrested by Baltimore County Police and charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy. The charges stem from the killing of liquor store owner Joon Kang on July 16 and the armed robberies or attempted armed robberies of 15 other liquor stores in the City and County. The crimes took place between July 4 and July 30 of this year. Additional charges are pending against all the members of this group. Two other men have been arrested but not yet charged.

The suspects who have been charged are identified as:

* Gregory Jerome Horne, 23, of the 4900-block of Edgemere Avenue, 21215
* Keith Joshua Johnson Jr., 24, of the 2800-block of Quantico Avenue, 21215
* Abayomi Nikomo McKenzie, 25, of the unit-block of Breaker Court, 21221
* Tavon Anton Shuler, 30, of the 800-block of Glenwood Avenue, 21212

Mr. Kang was murdered at about 9 p.m. on July 16, when two men entered his store, Putty Hill Liquors in the 7900-block of Belair Road in Precinct 8/Parkville. One pointed a handgun at Mr. Kang in an apparent robbery attempt and during the robbery one of the suspects shot Mr. Kang. The two then ran from the store.

Charges Pending Against Two Others

In looking at the surveillance video of this crime, detectives recognized the suspects as members of a group responsible for several other robberies in the region. Investigation of an attempted robbery on July 30 led investigators to the arrest of two suspects. Further investigation led to the identities of the other four.

When these suspects were interviewed by homicide detectives, some admitted to their involvement in the robberies. During the interviews detectives learned the identity of the man who shot Mr. Kang. The gunman was accompanied by Tavon Shuler.

From information provided by the suspects, it was determined that all of them took part in the planning, execution, and/or sharing of the proceeds of these armed robberies. During this common scheme, these suspects acted in concert to commit the armed robberies and during one of these incidents, Joon Kang was murdered.

The four suspects charged so far are being held in the Baltimore County Detention Center, with bail denied.

Locations of Armed Robberies and Attempted Armed Robberies

* July 4, 3:34 p.m., Maisa Mart, 3300-block of Eastern Avenue (Armed Robbery, Baltimore City)
* July 4, 4:28 p.m., Parkville Convenience, 7500-block of Harford Road (Armed Robbery, Baltimore City)
* July 6, 3:23 p.m., Lime Tree Liquors, 1700-block of E. Northern Parkway (Armed Robbery, Baltimore City)
* July 7, 6:44 p.m., Pleasant Stop Mart, 3200-block of Eastern Avenue (Armed Robbery, Baltimore City)
* July 7, 11:30 p.m., One Shop Stop, 4900-block of Frankford Avenue (Armed Robbery, Baltimore City)
* July 8, 7:19 p.m., Hamilton Park Liquors, 2300-block of E. Northern Parkway (Armed Robbery, Baltimore City)
* July 9, 9:30 p.m., Gussie’s Liquor Store, 1700-block of Old Eastern Avenue (Armed Robbery, Baltimore County)
* July 14, 2:00 p.m., Good Spirits, 1900-block of Old Eastern Avenue (Armed Robbery, Baltimore County)
* July 14, 10:40 p.m., The Liquor Store, 6100-block of Belair Road (Armed Robbery, Baltimore City)
* July 15, 2:35 p.m., The Store, Wine & Spirits, 6500-block of Frederick Road (Armed Robbery, Baltimore County)
* July 16, 9:05 p.m., Putty Hill Liquors, 7900-block of Belair Road (Murder and Attempted Armed Robbery, Baltimore County)
* July 22, 11:06 p.m., Discount Liquors, 200-block of W. Saratoga Street (Armed Robbery, Baltimore City)
* July 24, 12:37 p.m., Lime Tree Liquors, 1700-block of E. Northern Parkway (Armed Robbery, Baltimore City)
* July 27, 8:22 p.m., McLellan’s Wine & Liquor, 6300-block of Sherwood Road (Armed Robbery, Baltimore County)
* July 29, 7:40 p.m., Charles Village Liquors, 2400-block of St. Paul Street (Armed Robbery, Baltimore City)
* July 30, 11:30 a.m., Hamilton Quick Mart, 3400-block of Hamilton Avenue (Attempted Armed Robbery, Baltimore City)