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Sign up for FREE breaking news text alerts: More Info « Feds file more charges in Block trafficking case | Main | Girl, 12, reports being sexually assaulted at city school » November 11, 2011 Too much crime? Or not enough? Readers weigh in Either we at the paper write too much about crime or not enough. Either we're complicit in covering up the violence to help the mayor or we're out to scare everyone away from the city and leave it to ruin.
Two readers shared their opinions on crime coverage. One was upset that we referenced Morgan State University in a short story on a fatal shooting. Another was unhappy with crime coverage in Charles Village, which he thought excessive for one neighborhood.
The Morgan man writes:
Every other day people are murdered or assaulted near a John Hopkins building, dorm, or establishment and never are these issues linked together as such. Either it is ineptitude, racism, or bad judgement? Either way, I just don't get how or why this is a story about Morgan State?
I grew up in an impoverished neighborhood near one of the wealthiest universities in the world and although a ton of crime occurred, the local news never connected it with this ivy league institution. Morgan State is a safe place that girds that entire community and Baltimore. Without it, it things in some of those neighborhoods would be tragically worse.
First, it's just wrong that a person a day is murdered or assaulted near any university in the city. There isn't even a person murdered a day in the entire city. The killing occurred Wednesday night in front of a dorm located off campus. The story mentioned location, and said that the university was trying to determine if a student was the victim. We later learned the shooting wasn't connected to the school and the story was update accordingly. But the institution as a locator for the shooting remains valid.
The gentleman complaining about Charles Village owns property there, and I've learned, and I understand, that property owners get upset when we cover crime in their neighborhoods. Many people also get upset when they see a police car speeding by their home and wonder why it wasn't reported in the morning paper.
Charles Village is an important neighborhood in the city, home to a major university, and crime is a problem. It's where Johns Hopkins researcher Stephen Pitcairn was killed, and where another man was shot in a robbery just a few weeks ago. A Hopkins student was sexually assaulted in an alley last month, and break-ins are routine fodder for the university's crime log.
The story to which the writer objects was how a Hopkins student pointed out a suspicious man crouching on a rowhouse rooftop. Police arrested the man, who it turned out was wanted by police on charges that he broke into a house full of Hopkins lacrosse players. It was both a story on a suspect sought in a series of burglaries, and an alert citizen (and student) who helped police do exactly what they ask of us each day -- be alert and report suspicious activity.
It's true that Charles Village is one of the more active neighborhoods, and they report crime and other goings-on with great frequency to us and to each other. That in turns gets them more attention than other communities. But I also received several emails from Charles Village residents thanking me for the coverage.
Here are the emails from the resident, Shaun Carrick. I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks:
Dear Mr. Hermann:
It seems that you have something against Charles Village – you are regularly reporting on and rehashing crime stories that have some connection to our neighborhood (using words such as “adjacent” to Charles Village) – perhaps it is because we are a community of mainly white residents and readers read and react more to crimes in predominantly white communities.
Readers are often left with an impression that our community is one of the more crime-plagued communities in the City which is certainly not the case – we have crime as do most all city neighborhoods but your stories go well beyond simply reporting a crime – you seem to use your stories to accentuate fear and anxiety and oftentimes rehash crimes from the past to enhance your story.
“Steadfast” homeowner implies that we have a fortress mentality and that is far from the case. I trust you have some appreciation for the damage you inflict on a community with your manner of reporting.
I would ask that you please consider the ramifications of how your report crime and characterize a community and its residents – if you and your newspaper continue to report in such an irresponsible manner you will eventually run all of your readers out of the City – I’m not sure that is an accomplishment worthy of a journalist or a reputable newspaper.
I had to laugh when I read in your newspaper’s editorial earlier this year about how the perception of crime in Baltimore was out of proportion to actual crime in the City – despite year to year declines in crime the perception of most Baltimore area residents is that crime has increased – it is your newspaper and to be frank your stories in particular which I believe are responsible for this disconnect between perception and reality.
Unfortunately, perception is oftentimes more important in motivations behind actions than reality and at some point perhaps my partner and I will decide it is time to give up on Baltimore before your newspaper succeeds in convincing everyone that they should stay clear of one of “America’s most crime-ridden cities”.
I would ask that you please give some consideration to the impact of your stories and the role you play in the exaggerated perceptions of crime in the City. You really do this City a disservice.
Shaun Carrick
I responded, much the way I did above, and he wrote back:
Thank you Mr. Hermann for your response. I agree that you have a responsibility to report crime honestly and I also agree that crime is an important issue for our City and community. Although it is true that Baltimore remains among the top cities for crime on a per capita basis, using a per capita statistic can be misleading as it simply compares communities on a relative basis – it does not necessarily reflect the reality of crime and true risks of crime for a city’s residents.
In Baltimore (as in many cities), the average law abiding citizen does not have a significant risk of being the victim of crime – my guess is that if you studied crime statistics (particularly violent crime statistics), those most at risk are themselves criminals or those involved with drugs. In particular, those most at risk are young black men involved in drug trafficking – Mr. Pitcairn’s case is a tragedy but is also the rare exception.
The wounds of Stephen’s horrific death will never heal completely but we do need to keep such a tragedy in perspective. Fortunately, the criminals in that case have been brought to justice and we all must move on as best we can.
It is ironic to me that because our community has a few outspoken residents (whose work on the court watch issue I very much appreciate) more information is made available to you which in turn ends up in relatively more crime stories about our neighborhood than other neighborhoods.
I recognize that there are citizens who do not trust government or the press but I would ask that you keep their views in perspective as they do not always characterize the views of a majority in the community – they just happen to be more outspoken.
In any event, we can certainly disagree on what is the best way to report on crime – I recognize your right and responsibility to report facts – what I struggle with is the embellishment that may accompany those facts or the choice of which facts to report when the consequence is to add to an exaggerated or even incorrect perception.
As we both know, how facts are reported and which facts are selected to report can result in very different conclusions and perceptions. I first moved to Baltimore in the early 80s when homicides were almost twice what they are today and when I had neighbors in Mt. Vernon and Bolton Hill who were victims of violent crime – today the situation is very different – crime is still a problem but it is unfortunate that the public perception is that matters have gotten worse when in fact the opposite is true.
I have never been the victim of crime (except in the parking garage at Towsontowne Mall) so perhaps my view is distorted by my own personal experience but I would like to see at least the other side of the crime story told more regularly – it may not be as newsworthy or salacious but it would help provide balance on this highly charged issue.
One item in your recent story which gave me concern is the fact that a judge released a repeat offender after only 13 days in jail despite his 2 or 3 year sentence – it seems to me that part of the problem is the laxness of judges in our criminal justice system; Mr. Davis should have been in jail.
It seems to me to be appropriate to report the names of these judges in your stories so that they can be held accountable for their contribution to crime – perhaps they would be cognizant of their actions. I recognize that there may be extenuating circumstances that cause a judge to ignore sentencing guidelines but the conduct of judges would seem to be a story worth reporting.
I do appreciate the difficulty in reporting on crime but I would ask that you and your colleagues consider the bigger picture of how your stories may affect public perception – it is no one’s interest to create a perception that is out of proportion to actual facts but instead is based on fears or anxieties stoked by reporting.
I did see that your article in the published newspaper had been revised from the electronic version on-line to remove the word “steadfast” which I appreciate – the vast majority of those living in our neighborhood very much enjoy our neighborhood and choose to stay because of its many amenities – we are not walled up in our homes living in fear.
Again, thank you for taking the time to respond to my letter.
Regards
Shaun Carrick
Categories: Confronting crime
Comments As one whose court watch reports reach the editors of this crime blog, I want to thank the editors for reporting accurately about crime in Charles Village. My block is where a burglary gone bad turned into a stabbing last August and where Glen Davis was caught on a rooftop. I want to know about the crime in my neighborhood if only so that my fellow residents and I can be prepared to take the necessary precautions. And like it or not, there is a lot of crime in Charles Village. Some of it is because our neighborhood has a lot of Johns Hopkins students who come from areas where it is not as necessary to be aware of potential crime, and because those students are generally more affluent than much of the Baltimore population. I have heard statistics from the past that some crimes are more prevalent in Charles Village than in nearby Waverly, for example. And I would remind neighbors such as Shaun Carrick that the Charles Village Community Benefits District was formed originally to provide patrols against crime, even though its focus now has shifted much more to providing trash cans.
There are some of us who have lived in Charles Village for a long time and are more concerned about our quality of life than about creating perceptions that may result in higher property values. I have lived in my house since 1970 and have no intention of selling my house. Getting the repeat offenders off the streets is far more important to me than what I theoretically would be able to get if I sold my house.
In sum, I thank the Sun for reporting on crime in Charles Village. We have a problem, and we need to face it.
Posted by: Steve Gewirtz | November 11, 2011 8:37 AMConcerned about your property value? Worried about not enough crime getting reported? Too little crime getting reported? Can't figure out what is going on in your own backyard?
Peter Hermann et al, are just one little source for what is going on in Baltimore City. The fine people in our local government have made much of the data available about all the crimes, all the 311 calls, all the parking tickets available to everyone at data.baltimorecity.gov . Feel free to do your own homework to figure out whether Waverly or Charles Village has more crime. If you think the reporting is wrong then make your own crime site and show everyone how the Sun is incorrect.
Posted by: Cham | November 11, 2011 10:15 AMFirst and foremost, I love living in Charles Village, and one of the things I most appreciate is how vigilant our community is with crime and the group that shows up for trials of people who have committed a crime in Charles Village. I also appreciate your (Mr. Hermann's) coverage of our neighborhood. However, Shaun Carrick makes a good point I believe is often overlooked - the sentencing of criminals. I would love to see Judges' records. I think court leniency is a major contributor to the crime level of Baltimore, and a story that just screams EXPOSE. I think the police are (mostly) doing their jobs, the communities are doing their jobs, but individually, if you witness a crime, are you willing to show up in court knowing if convicted, the criminal will often walk away with time served or a probation sentence? That's hard to ask of anyone, as personal safety, and safety of your family, is at such risk.
To me, fix the courts, fix the problem of individual buy-in. And to fix the courts, we need to hold judges responsible and bring the legal system in Baltimore to light.
Posted by: Michael | November 11, 2011 11:06 AMThe Morgan man didn't say "a person a day" is murdered near Hopkins, he said , "every other day" and regardless, I think it's clear to the average reader that he wasn't being literal, but making a point about the frequency of crime there. By attacking the semantics, you undermine your own argument. Don't be so disingenuous.
----
Semantics or not, there actually hasn't been a single homicide (or, to the best of my knowledge, shootings) near Johns Hopkins University this year with the exception of a man found in a vehicle near Union Memorial, and it was certainly noted as such at the time of the report. -JF
For anyone who wonders why Charles Village gets a fair amount of attention, all you have to do is compare the amount of crime there to other "more violent" areas of Baltimore city. Use the city's crime map: http://www.baltimorepolice.org/your-community/crime-map
Sure, there may not be a murder there every week, but residents deal with thefts, burglaries, assaults and robberies there on an almost daily basis. That type of crime matters to residents, homeowners and renters alike (and there are a ton of renters in CV.)
Sorry, but in my view, CV has always had anywhere from a medium to a major crime problem, constantly buffeted by spree criminals who rob, steal and/or burglarize its residents.
Posted by: georgeofthejungle | November 11, 2011 12:27 PMIs a person a day murdered near Hopkins? Let's assume "near" = < 1 mile radius from N39.3290 W76.6205(the center of the JHU Charles Village campus). Looking at the last 5 years worth of data, within that 1 mile radius there were 5 homicides in 2007, 6 homicides in 2008, 5 homicides in 2009, 6 homicides in 2010 and so far in 2011 there were 5 homicides. During that time there were 1774 days. A total of 27 homicides/1774 days = 0.015 homicides per day.
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A mile radius is pretty generous, too. -JF
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About Peter Hermann
Peter Hermann started covering news for The Baltimore Sun in 1990, first in Anne Arundel County and, starting in 1994, reporting on the Baltimore Police Department. In 2001, he was assigned to Jerusalem as the Baltimore Sun's Middle East correspondent. He returned in 2005 as an assistant city editor overseeing crime coverage. In 2008, Peter returned to the beat as a daily reporter and blogger. A recent BBC report featured him in a segment on the harsh realities of covering crime in Baltimore.Coverage will focus on crime trends, problems in neighborhoods in the city and elsewhere, profiles of victims and police officers and try to offer readers a fresh perspective on one of the most vexing issues facing Baltimore and its future.
Contributing to this blog is Justin Fenton, who joined The Sun in 2005 and has covered the Baltimore City Police Department and the criminal justice system since 2008. His work includes an investigation into Cal Ripken Jr.’s minor league baseball stadium deal with his hometown of Aberdeen, a three-part series chronicling a ruthless con woman, coverage of the killing of five Amish children at a schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pa., and a job swap with a British crime reporter to explore differences in crime-fighting. A special report looking into how city police handle rape cases led to sweeping reforms that changed the way sexual assaults are investigated in Baltimore. He was recognized as the best reporter in Baltimore by the City Paper in 2010 and by Baltimore Magazine in 2011. Follow @phscoop, @justin_fenton on Twitter
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