"Baltimore a national leader in unfounded rape cases"

Reports the Baltimore Sun.

The Baltimore Police Department has for the past four years recorded the highest percentage of rape cases that officers conclude are false or baseless of any city in the country, according to The Baltimore Sun's review of FBI data. More than 30 percent of the cases investigated by detectives each year are deemed unfounded, five times the national average. Only Louisville and Pittsburgh have reported similar numbers in the recent past, and the number of unfounded rape cases in those cities dropped after police implemented new classification procedures. The increase in unfounded cases comes as the number of rapes reported by Baltimore police has plunged — from 684 in 1995 to 158 in 2009, a decline of nearly 80 percent.

This could mean that women in Baltimore make more false accusations. It could also mean that police here are more likely to ignore legitimate cases of rape. Most likely, it's some of both.



UPDATE: Somewhat related, from Dr. Helen:

Pressured by the Obama administration, universities abandon any pretense of due process in sexual assault cases.

Five local watershed groups in Baltimore announce plan to merge

From the November newsletters of the Herring Run Watershed Association and the Gwynns Falls Watershed Association:

Executive directors and board representatives from local watershed organizations – Herring Run [Watershed Association], Jones Falls [Watershed Association], Gwynns Falls [Watershed Association], Baltimore Harbor [Watershed Association] and the [Balimore] Harbor Waterkeeper – have met several times during the past several months to evaluate a strategic restructuring involving the five groups. . . .

The five organizations have signed a Good Faith Resolution to move forward toward the goal of evaluating restructuring to form a single organization, focused on water quality issues in the greater Baltimore metropolitan area.

Sounds like a good idea to me as long at they can handle the merger process reasonably quickly and smoothly.

Five organizations merging at once should be a challenge, given that mergers of two can be difficult. So it's probably a good thing that they've hired a consultant with experience in organizational development and restructuring.

Each of the groups has retained the option of withdrawing from the merger if they find that the final arrangements aren't to their liking.

The difference between Baltimore City paychecks & Baltimore City utility bills

Even though I live in Baltimore County, I've had occasion to receive both bills and paychecks from Baltimore City. The bills are for water & sewer services (which the city provides to surrounding counties) and the paychecks were for serving as chief election judge a year or so ago in the post-O'Malley special election for Mayor of Baltimore.

The printing on the paychecks said they came from the Mayor and the City Council.

The printing on the bills says they go to the City of Baltimore

As JFK said, "Victory has a thousand father, but defeat is an orphan."

UPDATE: Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of my Balto City paycheck. If anyone out there sends me a jpg of one, I'll post it here. Send it to baysense (at) comcast (dot) net. Please cover up the recipient and amount on the check.