Officials vow to end public housing crime

Ambitious agenda surfaces at Eastport meeting

By EARL KELLY, Staff Writer

Published 05/16/08

Annapolis will put an end to the wave of violent and nuisance crimes flowing out of housing projects, officials promised Eastport Civic Association members last night.

"We are going to make the city of Annapolis the safest capital in the United States, that is our goal," House Speaker Michael Busch, D-Annapolis, told the approximately 100 members of the Eastport Civic Association who gathered at Eastport Elementary School.

"If there are any other resources we need, you can hold me accountable," Mr. Busch said.

An African-American historian, however, cautioned that the problems are much deeper than crime statistics, and a better understanding of the black community is needed if crime is to be reduced.

"Crime comes from something," said Janice Hayes-Williams. "Understand what is going on with the people."

Mr. Busch introduced the evening's principal speaker, the city's new police chief, Michael Pristoop.

Chief Pristoop, who has been on the job for five weeks, said that 15 agencies are working together to identify repeat offenders and remove them from the community.

"We identify the people who are causing most of the crime, and we bring down the resources on them," he said.

As for public housing, specifically, Chief Pristoop said he meets regularly with Eric Brown, executive director of the Annapolis Housing Authority.

"There are issues, but there are no challenges here I believe are insurmountable," Chief Pristoop said.

Before coming to the Annapolis Police Department, Chief Pristoop, 42, spent seven months as head of the Department of General Services police. He previously served 21 years in the Baltimore City Police Department, where he reached the rank of major and headed the Northern District of Baltimore.

Annapolis has already had six homicides this year. Last year, the city had nine homicides - all nine victims, and all nine suspects, were black.

Several members of the audience last night encouraged Chief Pristoop to lock up criminals who are repeat offenders.

City Alderman Dave Cordle, R-Ward 5 and chief investigator at the State's Attorney's Office, blamed judges for the problem.

"The problem lies in the judiciary … it is a revolving door. Fifty percent of our serious Circuit Court cases are violations of probation," he said.

Ms. Hayes-Williams, a featured speaker at the meeting, encouraged the new police chief to learn more about the African-American community if he hopes to achieve any lasting solution to the crime problem.

A large number of young African Americans live in dead-end communities, she said, with little hope of getting a decent education or a job.

Urban renewal became "urban removal," she said, and many blacks were herded into housing developments that have never received serious public attention.

"In some places, urban renewal looked like ethnic cleansing," she said.

"You are fighting crime," she told Chief Pristoop, "but you need to understand what you are dealing with. You are dealing with people who lived 40 years in public housing … They haven't had law enforcement in 40 years."

Ms. Hayes-Williams said, "We have to work with the children, we have to give them something (constructive) to do."

On the way out of the school after the meeting last night, Chief Pristoop and Ms. Hayes-Williams exchanged phone numbers.

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Unbelievable - May 22, 2008

I have read each of your comments. Public Housing was not created for people to live there for 40 years. The is a gap in the system. While some people may have received government assistance to get into public housing... there are a large number of people who are tax payers and pay market rent in these developments. Unfortunatley for some, they are comfortable where they live. They may be afraid of homeownership. I'd just like to ask that one not judge everyone that lives in Public Housing. I am sure that in every home in these neighborhoods there is a story that can tell of the single mother working to take care of her kids. There is a story of the mother, grandmother or aunt who turned to drug abuse. There is a story of a teenage mother whose "baby daddy" comes by from time to time to make deals... And finally there is the story of a single mother, who got a decent job, is no longer getting subsidized rent, paying market rent to live in the same Public Hosuing neighborhood. These are just a few scenarios of the possible household environments in these neighborhoods. So before we judge and say lets get rid of Public Housing... could it be possible that there needs to be improved screening processes and annual assessments of one's financial status and to promote homeownership.