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Capital-Gazette Report finds Group analyzes stats, discovers high arrest rate Published February 24, 2008 A new analysis of city arrest data suggests The report by Citizens for a Better Annapolis found the city
had 3.6 times more drug arrests than cities of similar size in 2006. According
to the report, there were almost 1,200 drug arrests in Last
week yielded one tragic example, as a Citizens
for a Better Annapolis, a group headed by Trudy McFall, former chairman of the
city's housing authority, and Dennis Conti, the former director of the housing
authority and founder of the Clay Street Public Safety Team, previously put out
a report that said crime in Their
new report examined where and why people are arrested and where those people
are from. "We
really wanted to know where people are coming from to commit crimes," said
Ms. McFall, a possible mayoral candidate. "This tells us where the police
are making the arrests." Statewide
focus also was placed on Mayor
Ellen O. Moyer said Thursday she asked the governor to get involved in crime
efforts "to ensure that those who deal drugs will not find our "While
we have tried to stop it, our best efforts are not working. We are not winning
the war against drugs," she said. In a
statement e-mailed to The Capital, Ms. Moyer said the FBI warns against ranking
cities against one another. She said the report by Citizens for a Better
Annapolis would be shared with an independent group that currently is
evaluating the police department. Citizens'
reports Ms.
McFall, with the help of Dr. Conti, decided to take on the numbers herself when
statistics the city was touting didn't seem to add up last year. "The
city was saying crime is down, yet it seemed more complicated than that,"
she said. Last
year's Citizens for a Better Annapolis report dealt with serious Part I crimes,
which include violent crimes like homicide and rape and property crimes like
burglary and larceny. Their
follow-up report this year deals with Part II crimes, which include drug
possession and dealing. The two
reports together "provides a more complete picture," Dr. Conti said. Their
new report compares Overall,
18 percent of arrests made in Ms.
McFall, who previously was chairman of the Annapolis Housing Authority's Board
of Commissioners, admitted the authority needs to pay more attention to crime
prevention. " People
arrested in The
report found that 32 percent of those arrested for all crimes come from outside
Citizens
for a Better Annapolis is recommending community policing, including police
foot patrols and the use of more technology. One of
their recommendations is the installation of an automatic license plate
recognition system for police vehicles, which would allow officers to
electronically scan license plates. Using a
license plate scanning camera and a database, the system can identify if the
car is stolen, if the registration plate is stolen or if the registered owner
is wanted by the law. "Instead
of horses, we ought to be thinking of things like this," Ms. McFall said,
taking a jab at Ms. Moyer, who last year suggested the city obtain horses and a
Segway to help fight crime. Dr.
Conti said the cameras, which The
program announced last week by Mr. O'Malley and Ms. Moyer doesn't include
license plate scanning cameras, but does include funding for surveillance
cameras in high-crime areas. Police
respond Police
officials commended the group for their time and efforts, but some felt that
"comparable cities" were not just about population size. In the
first report, the group compared Officer
Hal Dalton, a police spokesman, also said the report didn't count the number of
public housing units that the cities have, and that Lt.
Brian Della, another spokesman, said he agrees with the report's finding that
at least 80 percent of cases in the State's Attorney's Office are drug-related. "A
significant number of crimes that occur in Lt.
Della also supports many of the group's recommendations, including youth
mentoring programs, vocational training and more and better drug treatment
programs. The use
of technology also is valuable, but police often try to publicize the use of
technology after it has been used, rather than in a way that alerts people they
have it, he said. Other
recommendations, like their suggestion for "community policing,"
didn't receive a welcome reception. The police department already does
community policing in which officers get to know their neighborhoods. "That's
been the model for 15 years or so now," Officer Dalton said. The
fact that the report is based on arrests, and not crimes committed, struck a
chord with Officer Dalton. "That
could mean the other cities have just as much crime, but we do a better job of
arresting people," he said. Staff
writer Nicole Young contributed to this report.
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