BALTIMORE IS A MESS – AT 12:48 P.M. ET:  What a tragedy.  Murder in Baltimore is out of control.  The police force cannot find enough qualified officers to patrol the streets.  Institutions live in fear.  This is the legacy of the Obama Justice Department, which went after the Baltimore cops after a young, repeat offender, died in police custody.  It is the legacy of racially charged rhetoric by city "leaders," pledging "justice" for the people.  They delivered only degeneration, and made a farce of the legal process.  From Powerline:   

Johns Hopkins University wants to form its own police department with armed, sworn police officers to patrol its university and hospital campuses. The University already has its own security personnel, approximately 1,000 strong. Even so, last Fall there were 16 gunpoint robberies around its main campus in Baltimore.

Thus, the Baltimore delegation to the state general assembly will propose legislation to enable Hopkins to have its own police department. The plan has the support of Baltimore’s police chief and its mayor.

Activists and some local politicians are wary of the idea, though. So, apparently is the Washington Post. Reporters Ian Duncan and Talia Richman write darkly about “a new force of uniformed, armed and sworn officers controlled by an institution with a historically troubled relationship with Baltimore’s African American community, at a time when policing in Baltimore is under federal scrutiny.”

As far as I can tell, the “historically troubled relationship” refers to unhappiness with practices of the University’s hospital. Most of the events that gave rise to the unhappiness are ancient, none is current, and none appears to have anything to do with policing. They form no valid basis for preventing Hopkins from protecting students and staff, via a police force, from armed robbery and other crimes.

The fact that the Baltimore police department is under federal scrutiny is relevant, but not in the way the Post suggests. The attack on Baltimore police officers that began with Freddy Gray’s death and produced a deeply flawed report by the Obama Justice Department is a major reason why violent crime has soared, and thus why Hopkins needs its own police force.

Baltimore’s police force is about 1,000 officers short of what it needs to effectively police the city, according to the mayor. As we noted two years ago, this problem stems to a considerable degree from the demonizing of the police after Gray’s death, which demoralized officers and caused them to seek work elsewhere.

COMMENT:  Another great contribution of the Obama administration.  For eight years we had a hopelessly uninformed and incompetent president, one who didn't even like his own country and who received automatic cover from the liberal press.  Baltimore and other places are paying the price.   If Iran goes nuclear, and places its superweapons on missiles, we may all pay the price.  But by that time the Obama memorial will be built in Washington, and we will be taught to worship accordingly.

March 20, 2018