Forget It Jake, It's Baltimore!

Jazz Shaw at Hot Air, who seems to take an unhealthy interest in Balmer, Baltimore Admits Trump Was Correct. Most Murders Went Unsolved

During his remarks on police reform on Tuesday, President Trump pointed to Baltimore, Maryland as an example of why police departments need more support and resources. He noted that no arrests were made in a majority of the murder cases recorded in the city last year. Generally, when Trump tosses out a statistic to support his arguments, the press falls all over themselves to fact check him and point out any possible errors to undermine the case he’s making, but this time they seemed to fall strangely silent. The reason for that is found in a follow-up report from CBS Baltimore. They checked with the Baltimore PD and were informed that the President was indeed correct. In a year where Charm City set an all-time record for the most per capita murders, a significant majority of them remain unsolved.

Baltimore City police confirmed the president’s statistic Tuesday saying they had a 31% homicide clearance rate, or rate of closing cases, in 2019.
A spokesperson said since Commissioner Michael Harrison arrived in 2019, the department has re-assessed assets and invested into the homicide unit, including 14 new investigators.
Now, the department is focusing on staffing and reduction in caseloads for homicide.
Additionally, the department is investing into accountability tools being put into place and the unit is building on Consent Decree policies and training.

Thus far this year, the homicide clearance rate has improved, but only slightly. The Baltimore PD is reporting a 45% clearance rate through the first five months of 2020. While that’s a significant improvement over 31%, it’s still pretty dismal, and “more than half” of the murders are still going unsolved. Approaching the halfway point in the annual calendar, the city has recorded 146 murders in 2020. That puts them on track to be at or above the 300 mark on the year yet again. Of course, the rate always goes up during the hotter summer months, so 300 may be a lowball number. . . 

It's racist to want to solve, or even stop, murders in Baltimore.