Around this country of ours, spirits are high. Cities are thriving. People are smiling. And most important, things just work.

But not in Baltimore. In this Maryland metropolis, things seem to be irrevocably broken. And nothing anybody does ever seems to fix them.

The downward spiral seemed to begin with the 2000 shooting of Al Giardello, a police lieutenant running for mayor of that troubled city. Giardello’s death seemed to trigger a cascade of horrible events — drug deals gone bad, ineffective policing, even corruption in the dockworkers’ union. And now come reports that even the education system is failing.

It gets worse. Every time we hear from seemingly innumerable public officials — police investigators, mayoral candidates, lawyers, respected drug lords — they seem unanimous in their feeling that no matter what they do, they’re powerless in the face of bureaucracy and that even their best efforts go for naught.

Come on, Baltimore. Do you have to be such a downer?

Take crime prevention. Other cities don’t seem to have the problem putting bad guys behind bars that Baltimore does. In Las Vegas, advances in DNA have helped police solve even the most salacious and sensational crimes, usually in no time at all. The same goes in Miami. Even Navy investigators are able to capture criminals with the use of technology and plain old-fashioned derring-do. Perhaps the most inspiring example of a city taking control of its own destiny is Philadelphia, where the police have become so adept at solving homicides, they’re going back to solve cold cases. If these cities can turn things around, then why can’t Baltimore?

Baltimore needs to be less concerned with gritty, nuanced approaches to crime fighting and take a black-and-white page out of these other crime fighters’ easy-to-follow books.