Daryl lives five doors west from me, across the street, closer to the main drag. While the big house I live in has been converted to an urban combat arts barrack, this middle-aged man lives in an assisted living house. I have waved to Daryl before as he sits on his porch. Now I encounter him in a bar, which he has travelled to with his friend Rick. He is using the buddy system to get around now, making sure that he is home before dark. I journey to our neighborhood mixed-race bar on a weekly basis to collect recent mugging and attack stories—few of which [only those with female victims] get reported to the police, not because the police would not try and help, but because Harm City dwellers universally believe that the police are not in a position to do anything.

This seems to be the case recently. A month ago a rash of gang shooting on the West Side and uptown has garnered the attention of the press. Despite the fact that the cover of the Sun Paper this weekend concerned a reality TV food show, TV stations have reporters in the field asking why the police cannot "stop the [black-on-black] violence." Since this media blitz I see one cop a day instead of five in the Northeast. The police chopper has not circled this area for over a week—even though it used to on a nightly basis. The fact that criminals are flooding into an area and acting with impunity [committing predominantly black-on-white crimes] immediately after law officers have been pulled back, is clear evidence that Baltimore Police do make a difference when they are present.

Over the past two weeks I have had six individuals tell me that they, or someone they know, has been attacked by a car load of three to four young black men. Smart phones are high on the list of articles taken. These hits are usually conducted ruthlessly and without weapons [5 out of 7 unarmed], and all have happened after dark, and before midnight.

Cops in Baltimore change shifts at midnight. Processing suspects at Central Booking is such a hassle that city cops have long avoided making arrests, and are notoriously inactive and slow to respond, between the hours of 10 P.M. and 12 A.M. You do not want to be alone and on the streets of a quiet police sector in Harm City just before midnight. County cops, on the other hand, are aggressive at these hours. County criminals look to the late night hours to commit their crimes. Do not think that these are two different sets of criminals. They are car-mobile and use these vehicles to access areas with a lack of police activity.

Daryl is a tall man of fifty, with a medium build and short black hair, and a rural accent. His friend Rick is just as tall but slender, with long red hair, classic Baltimore Stoner Trash. I overhear their conversation, introduce myself as a "violence writer" and order a beer.

Daryl: “I don’t like Baltimore. I’m not from here. Moved into town a year ago to be with a girl. [Rolls eyes like that did not work out.] I grew up on the Eastern Shore near Chester, worked on farms my whole life. This place is terrible. I’m still on foot—recovering from a bad car accident up in the assisted living home. I just got my license renewed and am looking for a car…especially after what happen the night before last [Thursday, August 8 2013].

“My friend and I are coming home with a pizza and a soda, from having a few beers, just minding our own business, just stepping off from the ATM, when this carload of four young black guys rode by and said something smart—I don’t know what, just ignored them and kept going.”

[This ATM is stalked from 20 paces by groups of teenage black youth, who stand beneath a tree in front of the church across the side street from the ATM. They hit people who stay on that side of the main street, particularly those who walk back into the residential area behind the bank and the church. I have often seen them gather, and have even flashed my wallet in front of them, hoping to draw them off in pursuit through the back streets. They do not take the bait, waiting for drunk or female prey.

The other position from which this ATM is stalked is across the main street, diagonally, from an open no-parking zone before a business that closes in the afternoon. These ambushers are more consistent then the teens, as well as more versatile and less obvious. I see them virtually every time I am in the area. From here groups of three to four black men in their late teens and early twenties watch for people leaving the ATM with cash. It was a group of these "drive-up bankers" that watched Daryl use the ATM and cross the street to their side, before cruising by him and his friend and sending out a verbal bait.

If Daryl would have acted aggressively this could serve as a sham fight. In such a "fight," if the "drive-up bankers" win, they take wallets and go. This is one reason to target people who have been drinking, as in any mutual combat situation the sober party will have police sympathy on their side. If the police interrupt it—unlikely—then it was just a fight, and the cops that show up to impose order document it and take down everyone’s name and address for court filing purposes. In this case the criminals now have Daryl’s ATM location and his home dialed in for surveillance.

If he ignores them they proceed with their mobile ambush. If he appears alert, armed or dangerous they abort, and find a secondary target. Daryl and his friend walked one block to the secondary street that he and I live on and made a right. The drivers followed.]

Daryl: “We get halfway down the block, maybe four houses from my place, and they have pulled up a ways back. Now three of them are running us down, running flat out. They are all between five-nine and five-eleven, about one-fifty to one-seventy, athletic kids, kind of stocky. I would guess the ages at from nineteen to twenty-five.

“I’m thinking, ‘What do I do?’ I don’t want to go to jail. It’s against ‘The News’ [I love this being replaced for ‘The Law’] to hurt a black kid. I’m at a loss. If I open someone’s head up, am I in cuffs? Plus I’m just starting to feel better. That was a bad accident. I just turned and stood my ground [with the pizza box held behind].

“They were just about on us when the old black gentleman that lives across the street came outside and yelled, ‘You boys, I see what you’re doing. I already called the nine-one-one. You better get!’

“They just ran away, back to their car, and we thanked the man. Really, I don’t go out at night anymore. I’m nervous. Groups of young dudes running you down will ruin your appetite.”

Rick: “You know that young girl up the way—the blonde—she got jumped by three of them last night; came right out of the bushes [hit the sidewalk victim from a hedged yard]. They took her phone and money and stabbed her. She did not get hurt bad. The police said she shouldn’t of fought. What are we supposed to do?”

Daryl: “I’m thinkin’ of getting me some mace. What do you think about that?”

[There, was, by-the-way, a middle-aged black man sitting to my right, listening to the conversation.]

Author: “Mace is more effective when used by a man than a woman. If you just extend your open hand as you stand your ground and reach for something, even armed individuals and aggressive groups will hesitate. Women tend to get overwhelmed while they are accessing the mace. Men, particularly big men like you, are not approached without hesitation unless it is a pre-planned murder. These car-mobile muggers are hesitant by the very nature of their operation—be assertive and standoff. They marked you as unaware when you seemed not to notice the comment. Next time take notice, make hard eye-contact, and continue on your way ready for an attack. Do not say anything. Black culture is vocal, with strong verbal aggression cues. They fear silent white men. Roll your shoulders forward. Don’t puff the chest. This is predation, not fighting. Fail the interview, and do not be selected as their next ‘customer’.”

[laughs]

Daryl: “Thanks man. I know your house, see you guys. Stop by and say high sometime brother.”

Conducting the Moral Autopsy 0f a Nation