"Baltimore Is Being Murdered"

An "End to Murder"? Not Likely Around Here

A Jan. 24 article in L.A. Weekly
bemoans Los Angeles' 478 homicides and discusses what is and isn't
being done to stop murders. According to U.S. Census figures, about 3.8
million people live in Los Angeles, so roughly one in 8,000 residents
were the victim of homicides. Baltimore City, by contrast, has just
over 600,000 residents and had 275 murders in 2006, making roughly one
in every 2,000 residents a victim of homicide. Want to be even more
horrified? New York City has some 8 million residents and 594 homicides
in 2006, or one in 13,000 residents being murdered. All three cities
use the much-touted CompStat to track crime.

Perhaps, as
the article's author, David Zahniser, posits, it's the ratio of cops to
residents that makes the difference. According to the article, "New
York has one officer for every 228 residents; LAPD has one officer for
every 426." Baltimore spoils the hypothesis with one officer for every
188 residents and the highest per capita homicide rate of the three
cities.

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