TV's `Homicide' Puts Spotlight On Baltimore Crime

----------------------------------------------------------------- CITY OFFICIALS have mixed feelings about a crime show that focuses on violent crime in Baltimore. But many residents watch the show. -----------------------------------------------------------------

BALTIMORE - One of the most brutal crimes in recent Baltimore history was the slaying of Sister Myra, the matriarch of Baltimore's Gypsy community, in 1994. She was bludgeoned to death, then decapitated. Her son discovered her body in her living room; the head was nearly 10 feet away.

Six months later, the NBC television drama "Homicide: Life on the Street," aired an episode that many Baltimoreans found familiar. The plot centered on the murder of "Sister Zelda," a psychic adviser and Gypsy matriarch who was found dead, beheaded, in her home.

But the fictional series - an hour-long cop show that is filmed entirely on location in Baltimore - added a campy prime-time twist: Zelda's head was missing. The rest of the plot focused on the two petty criminals who had stolen the head and were mailing Polaroid snapshots of it to the police department.

Baltimore is riding high on "Homicide," which has brought tourists to its waterfront and celebrities to its neighborhoods. Yet the show capitalizes on something the city is not eager to publicize: a rising homicide rate, gang violence and a beleaguered police department. A spate of high-profile slayings, including the fatal barbershop shooting of a 3-year-old boy about to get his birthday haircut, has renewed public outrage.

"People are leaving the city in droves," said City Council member Martin O'Malley. "We've lost a heck of a lot of our population. The primary reason for that is crime and the fear of crime, and what that has done to property values and schools."

A surprise local hit

But far from being apprehensive about serving as a backdrop for a fictional drama about solving slayings, the city has embraced the show, which airs Friday nights at 10. Ratings are twice as high in Baltimore as in the rest of the country.

"When I first heard about the concept of the show, I was a little bit concerned," conceded Mayor Kurt Schmoke, who's had two cameo appearances on the series and recently filmed his third. "But the emphasis is really on the interactions between the officers in the squad room and less on the grisly nature of crimes in the city."

"I don't think the show glamorizes murder, and I don't think it casts violent offenders in a positive light," said Police Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier. "I think it is seen as very positive, for both the police department and the city."

A city that used to be known mainly for a trend-setting baseball stadium housing the Baltimore Orioles is perhaps now known for murder and baseball.

Sometimes in the same episode.

"They did a show a while back about a tourist being murdered outside of (the Orioles stadium) Camden Yards, and that scared me," said Gil Stotler, director of communications for the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association. "I was a little nervous about that one. We've never had a murder after a ballgame. A couple of fights after too much beer maybe, but never a murder."

At a time when violent crime rates are dropping nationwide, Baltimore's homicide rate continues to rise. The city recorded 331 homicides in 1996, up slightly from 325 in 1995. The record was set in 1993 with 353.

Drugs and gangs a problem

Drug trafficking in heroin and cocaine continues to be a major problem. A recent study revealed that a majority of the city's homicide victims died in gang-related, execution-style slayings.

"It's always been so ironic that something that is so positive for the city is based on the fact that over 300 people a year die here," said Gary McLhinney, president of the Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police. "But I watch it. I enjoy it. I think most cops do. I don't hear any grumbling."

The city's merchants aren't grumbling, either. Maryland's Economic Development Office estimates that filming of the series pumps $27.5 million a year into the local economy.

The cast and crew spend much of their salaries in the city. The Admiral Fell Inn now sponsors a "Homicide"-themed weekend getaway, complete with lunch at the Waterfront Hotel, which doubles as the cop bar on the show.

"Random tourists come in all the time," said Pat McCormick, the Waterfront's general manager.

More than one city police officer has done a stint as an extra on the show. And Gary D'Addario, a former homicide lieutenant who is now a captain in the department, moonlights as a technical adviser. D'Addario reviews all of the scripts to ensure that law enforcement techniques depicted on the show are credible.

"The decapitation episode wasn't an authentic reproduction of the real homicide case," D'Addario said. "Investigations are very lengthy and detailed and require a great deal of work. The television show has to compact that into 47 minutes of entertainment. They can't include all the nitty-gritty details."

Sometimes the lines between fact and fiction become blurred. In one episode, a crew of real drug dealers was recruited to work as extras - and protested that the script, as written, would make them look like amateurs. A real crew would never carry such large amounts of cocaine on their bodies, they said. The script was altered to incorporate their advice.