Shooting shows Annapolis needs more police | COMMENTARY

By STEVEN STRAWN CAPITAL GAZETTE |JUL 07, 2021 AT 5:30 AM

Michelle Cummings, the mother who was visiting Annapolis to watch her son be inducted into the Naval Academy, was murdered not 400 feet from my house and just a few blocks from Mayor Gavin Buckley’s. Yet he says Annapolis is safe. I believe the family of Mrs. Cummings would beg to differ.

I don’t know about Buckley but this week marks the first time since moving here I have thought twice before walking downtown. This is not just because of the murder but also the beating of a woman in front of a Main Street bar by a group of at least seven people – all caught on video.

Watching that I kept wondering where are the police Buckley adamantly claims are well funded? Just last week there were 30 shots fired in Eastport. The only reason we don’t have more murders is because of bad aim. That is the reason that Ms. Cummings lost her life when she was at her hotel. The bullets that hit her were from a gun fight across the street. We need law and order in this city, now!

Mayor Buckley needs to lay out a plan and his vision of how he is going to address the rising and unacceptable level of crime. The tragedy of Cummings’ senseless death will not be forgotten. The reality is this is not an isolated incident as Buckley keeps reiterating; it was the third homicide this year. Dodge City, that lawless town of western lore, averaged three homicides per year in its heyday, and we’ve equaled that in half that time.

At his town hall last week, Ward 8 Democratic Alderman Ross Arnett said we only have 98 sworn officers. The city has a budget for 124, so why aren’t we hiring them? It sure looks like a neat and tidy way to secretly defund the police.

They realize in an election year they cannot politically cut the police budget until after the election so they fund the positions but just don’t hire them

Alderman Arnett also mentioned the Eastport police substation was having challenges staffing it with officers. You read that right: the Eastport police sub station will not be consistently staffed with police!

Here are the steps the city needs to take:

1. Immediately hire new officers. If that means increased pay or benefits, the city should use all that money they are getting from their tax increases and the federal government.

2. The mayor must call the county executive and the governor and ask for help. We don’t need another study; we need people to come in and help.

3. The mayor must ask the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to dedicate a team to come in. Increasing the reward will not fix the problem; they need to send in a team and lay out a plan for the city to adopt.

4. The city must install more cameras, which have proven to help solve crimes.

We don’t blame the mayor for Mrs. Cummings death, but we must hold him accountable if he does not lay out a plan. Buckley talks the talk; it’s his walk that is suspect.

Steven Strawn is the Annapolis Republican Central Committee chair.

Și așa s -a găsit: cea mai periculoasă perioadă în care partenerii de lungă durată, cel puțin, a se vedea (despre maxim, de asemenea, cred înfricoșător) din stânga, se desfășoară între șase și zece ani de viață împreună. În scuza oral jelly kamagra a murmurat ceva despre cum a fost rănită această maternitate blestemată (și sunt femei sau unde?) Și cât de dureros – atâția ani de văzut în pat și același profil.