It’s a sad state of affairs indeed when local law enforcement agencies are called on to help quell violence in any jurisdiction other than their own, and it’s even more unsettling when they are needed in a metropolitan area.
This isn’t to suggest that our police aren’t capable of doing the job if called upon. Quite the contrary is true, since they would not have been contacted at all if the leadership of the Maryland Emergency Services Agency hadn’t thought they were qualified.
It also didn’t hurt that the director of that agency is Clay Stamp, a local product who is well aware of the resources in the coastal communities, having proved himself some years ago as the resort’s emergency services director.
In that sense, the level of trust in our police is a good thing, but it remains a terrible business that requires them to be needed elsewhere in the first place.
Monday’s violence in Baltimore will spawn all sorts of explanations and analyses of its possible cause. Most of them will have little to do with the tragic incident that preceded it – the death of Freddie Gray during the course of his arrest by Baltimore Police for no clear reason other than he ran when he saw them.
The rioting, looting and burning that occurred on the day of his funeral was about something else and all people can do is offer theories that will justify whatever it is they are predisposed to believe.
Besides, pinpointing the actual cause wouldn’t mean anything without also pinpointing the real solution.
Just about everyone in this area probably thought at some point early in the week how lucky we are to live where we do. At the same time, however, the call-up of local police to help protect that city and its residents from harm also shows how some events, no matter how far away they may be, affect us all.