It's early, and you can chalk at least some of it up to the weather, but so far in 2010 Baltimore has seen its lowest murder tally in at least 40 years, according to police and The Sun's records. All told, 24 people were killed in January and February, besting the January-February total from 1977, the previous best start to a year when 25 people were killed. Baltimore had about 200,000 more people then, and went on to record 171 homicides, one of only two times that the city has seen less than 200 murders since 1970
Six-or-so feet of white stuff surely played a role, but police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi was ready for that with a counterpoint: in 1996, when the area was hit with a similar dump of snow, there were 43 homicides in January and February.
Is such a start sustainable? Not likely, as this year's current pace would result in just 144 slayings for the year. But we can hope.