The ongoing “squeegee worker” problem in Baltimore isn’t getting any better under the current city administration and it’s arguably getting worse. These “workers” (who are not actually workers in any sense of the word) have been harassing drivers and attempting to extort money out of them for years, with many of them having engaged in violent attacks. But in a strangely ironic twist this weekend, one of the targets they picked turned out to be a poor choice. The car in question was being driven by Chief District Judge James Bredar who had his wife along with him in the passenger seat. After the judge declined to accept their “services” multiple times, they took to threatening and harassing the couple and defacing their car. The judge called the police to the scene after taking a photo of one of the assailants and sending it to them. The “worker” in question was interrogated by the police who “warned him to stop squeegee activity.” (I’m sure that fixed everything.)

The federal judge overseeing the Baltimore police consent decree had to call officers after squeegee workers harassed him Sunday, the 11 News I-Team confirmed.

According to a police report obtained by the I-Team, police labeled the incident a disorderly conduct case. The report states Chief District Judge James Bredar and his wife repeatedly refused service just before 2 p.m. at the intersection of Mount Royal and West North avenues when two squeegee workers became aggressive to the point where the couple felt the need to call police.

According to the police report, one worker raised his middle finger and spat on Bredar’s SUV. Bredar said another worker used soap suds to write the word “racist” on several of the SUV’s windows.

The bit of irony I mentioned above is found in the fact that the judge that was being harassed is the same one who is charged with overseeing Baltimore’s police consent decree. For those not familiar with this system, cities falling under a federal police consent decree are monitored to ensure that they are treating all of the criminals “fairly” enough and not arresting too many people, particularly in communities of color. This essentially ties the hands of the police in many cases.

That situation is compounded in Baltimore by the Mayor and the City Council who have established what is known as the Mayor’s Squeegee Collaborative. The office has yet to propose a single solution to this ongoing system of extortion, though they keep promising to do so soon. The net result is that there are police hanging around at some (though not nearly all) of the corners where this is taking place but all they do is stand and watch unless somebody draws a gun. (Which has happened on multiple occasions.) So the judge who is overseeing the system fell victim to the same people he was helping to shield by reining in the police.

This entire squeegee scam is nothing but an organized, junior varsity criminal syndicate that’s being conducted out in plain sight. These extortionists are not “workers” because nobody requested their services. The “work” they do is unsupervised and forced on motorists through threats and intimidation. And Baltimore allows this to happen on a daily basis and then acts shocked when someone winds up being injured or sent to the hospital.

We should also keep in mind the fact that every officer who is assigned to “squeegee worker” supervision duty is one more officer that is not out on the streets dealing with the gangs. Baltimore is once again on track to set another record for the most homicides recorded in the city in a single year. (It’s a record they’ve been breaking for many years in a row now.) And, of course, the drug epidemic is still taking even more lives as fentanyl floods the streets.

But instead of keeping the Baltimore Police Department on top of those far more deadly issues, they are cooling their heels and watching young people extort money from motorists without lifting a finger to stop them unless violence breaks out. How is Charm City managing to keep the lights on at this point? The streets there are more dangerous than those in El Salvador. How is it that every person with the ability to flee hasn’t already left?