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"Thank God for Detroit," whispered Baltimore officials year after year as national rankings were posted for murders, crime, drop-outs, unemployment and all the other urban ills. No matter how badly Baltimore fared, Detroit always did worse — thank God.

But, this week, when the FBI's murder rates for cities with populations over 500,000 were released, Detroit leaders undoubtedly high-fived exclaiming, "Thank God for Baltimore." Yes, Baltimore now leads the nation in homicides, 37 for every 100,000 residents. Detroit, at 34 per 100,000 now ranks second.

Consider this perspective: Baltimore with about 650,000 residents had 234 murders last year. Montgomery County, with about 950,000 residents, had less than 20 murders last year.

And Baltimore's homicide rate is on the rise: There were 95 murders as of Tuesday compared to 82 at the same time last year. Twelve killings have taken place in the last 11 days.

But being No. 1 in homicides, while embarrassing, hasn't sparked public outrage or even a Baltimore Sun editorial. Most of Baltimore's homicides are young, black drug dealers killing each other in their own neighborhoods — tragic but no more disruptive of the city's daily life than watching "The Wire" on HBO.

What is disruptive, what is sparking public outrage and what's generated two Sun editorials in three days this week are the wildings. Gangs of young punks are randomly attacking people on the streets, often in broad daylight. They aren't stealing, they're viciously beating random strangers just for the fun of it. They don't call Baltimore "Mob Town" for nothing.

And what's worse, these wildings are occurring in the city's business district, in the tourist section and in the upscale neighborhoods — Federal Hill, Mount Vernon, The Inner Harbor, Otterbein, etc. The gangs are black but the victims are white, black and Hispanic.

A New Jersey cop, visiting Baltimore with his girlfriend, was attacked on Lombard Street by four young males and three females who threw him on the ground and started "using my head for a soccer ball, back and forth, back and forth." His girlfriend was knocked unconscious. Baltimore police told him that there were 11 similar attacks that night.

Other wilding victims include a former Baltimore cop who now heads the police union, four Canadian Navy officers, a 16-year-old boy walking home from school, a 20-year-old waiting at a light rail stop, a woman assaulted by a gang of teenage girls, a man who was knocked unconscious and lost two teeth, a nanny with an infant in a stroller and a major Inner Harbor disturbance causing restaurants to lock doors to protect their patrons.

All these attacks were unprovoked, without motive and committed by young people unknown to their victims. On Monday, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official, after recently visiting the city, e-mailed the mayor complaining that Baltimore is too unsafe for a planned June conference: "Two dead bodies were found one block away the first day we were here. Gun shots have been heard in the streets."

At first city officials downplayed the wildings. "It's summer and schools are letting out and kids are coming to the harbor," said the police chief. A Baltimore Sun editorial called the wildings "troubling incidents" committed by "unsupervised youths" who need "a higher level of supervision … regular home visits and curfew checks."

Sure, it's just Wally, Beaver and Eddie Haskell pulling pranks on the tourists. Ward and June will ground the kids after a good spanking.

Sorry, this isn't "Leave it to Beaver," it's inner city "Clock Work Orange" on steroids. "Unsupervised youths"? No, uncivilized punks and everyone knows it. Remember the Baltimore teacher beaten by female students in her classroom while one of them videoed on her cell phone? Remember the Baltimore bus "beat down" when a gang of middle school (repeat, middle school) kids beat a homeless woman over a seating dispute? The victim almost lost her eye.

We're talking about a city where changing school boundaries includes the consequences of moving students across neighboring gang lines. We're talking about a city where upscale residents vehemently oppose locating a public school nearby. Last year, the Canton neighborhood fought to keep out a public school because "there's groups of children that wander up and down the alleys and crawl under people's decks to smoke pot. At the bus stops, when the children leave school, there are many observed incidents of children in groups assaulting innocent bystanders."

We're talking about a city where vast numbers of residents view the police as occupying forces, where the "don't snitch" and witness intimidation culture is firmly entrenched and where juries refuse to convict felons.

Two days after the "unsupervised youths" editorial the Sun ran a more anxious editorial proclaiming "Baltimore simply can't afford any more assaults on its reputation … The city needs to do whatever it takes to restore public confidence."

But it may be too late.

Blair Lee is CEO of the Lee Development Group in Silver Spring and a regular commentator for WBAL radio. His column appears Fridays in The Gazette.