ANNAPOLIS, Md. — At a time when state lawmakers are talking about making juvenile criminals more accountable for their crimes, the Annapolis police chief is taking the community to task on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day for allowing some youths to go astray.
“He didn’t sacrifice his life so that Robinwood and Harbour House and Eastport Terrace and Bywater Mutual Homes and Clay Street and Obery Court can send our loved ones to the morgue,” said Chief Edward C. Jackson.
Fed up with armed robberies, carjackings, and shootings, the chief says his officers will enforce laws and arrest youths, but more is needed.
Community leaders are invoking the memory of Dr. King asking people to step outside of their safe zones to affect change.”
“We have to make a difference in our community. We have to come together. We’ve got to do this, what we did this morning in Annapolis, on a grander scale,” said Hon. Noel C. Osborne of the Prince Hall Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons, “We need Howard County, P.G. County, Anne Arundel County, Harford County, Cecil County, Baltimore County, Baltimore City—-we need them all in one space so we can share the information and the dialogue to make a difference.”
It’s a call to action at a time when virtually everyone is reacting to juvenile crime, while few are trying to address it.
“Like Dr. King said, we can go on all day, injustice anywhere is a threat to what? Justice everywhere so when you see injustice, then you report it,” said Chief Jackson, “That’s what a good citizen does. Take civic responsibility. That’s not snitching. Let’s give these young men and women some hope.”
