Thursday, November 10, 2005

Crime Rate in Baltimore

Must be lower than ever... at least, that's what I must assume given the Baltimore Police Department's November 4 raid on a private club that netted 80 poker players.

What's funny about it is that the police were as effective at getting convictions against poker players as they are against rapists and murderers. Because they can't fill out the forms with the right code, everyone was let go.

There does seem to be a little sanity in the prosecutors' office:
Prosecutors said they're dropping the charges for a variety of reasons: Police used the wrong subsection of the law when they filled out the citations. It is not entirely clear that the right subsection would have been properly applied in this case. And recharging the players and taking them to court would tie up the city's already well-stretched resources.

"We don't believe there will be any new charges filed against the players," said Assistant State's Attorney Patricia Deros, chief attorney at the Eastside District Court, after reviewing the citations and obtaining final approval to dismiss them from city State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy.

Deros said part of the decision has to do with "judicial economy," or the cost of processing the cases. If the poker players requested jury trials, as is their right, the court system could become even more overburdened, she said.

The guy in charge is running for Governor. And he'll probably win.

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