BALTIMORE, MD. (Thursday, May 26, 2022) — Mayor Brandon M. Scott released the following statement in response to Governor Hogan's letter addressing public safety efforts in Baltimore.
"I am confused by the Governor’s letter and its request. First and foremost, if the Governor wanted to ask me about the crime fight, he could have asked me in person on Saturday, but he chose not to and instead played publicity games with public safety. Moreover, since he’s taken office, two things are true: he has refused to offer Baltimore any meaningful help, and crime has gone up every year. On multiple occasions, I have invited Governor Hogan to come to Baltimore to get a first-hand look at the work our officers and public safety agencies are doing daily. Each and every day, I work to prevent the loss of life in Baltimore city. The Governor knows how to help, but he refuses to do so. If the Governor wants a briefing, I’ll brief him, and if he wants to take me up on my offer to come to my city and see what we are doing every day, that offer stands.
“Let’s begin with some facts: On February 1, Baltimore was 28% above 2021 in homicides and 25% above in non-fatal shootings, and as of this morning, Baltimore is at 2.4% and 8.3% above, respectively. In Baltimore, year-to-date gun seizures are up 11%, violent gun seizures are up 19%, the homicide clearance rate is up 3.7%, and we are clearing warrants quicker than we did in 2021. In partnership with the Warrant Apprehension Task Force (WATF), we have cleared murder warrants in an average of 13 days, which is over an 18% increase from 2021.
“Now, I say again: The Governor should come to Baltimore and spend some time with me to gain insight and better understand today’s violent crime fight. It would also be great for him to spend time with the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood and Safety Engagement (MONSE) to learn about the Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS) work and to take time speaking with our violence interrupters and Safe Streets workers to understand the challenges they face in the work.
“If the Governor is curious, I can give him a tour of our new Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and demonstrate the coordination with our CitiWatch cameras and the collaboration with the Watch Center at Baltimore Police Department HQ. It would also benefit the Governor to join me on a visit to one of our 4 Baltimore City Intelligence Centers (BCICs), which are embedded in communities with high violence rates and provide real-time data and intelligence to our officers on the street. This way, he can see the work being done instead of pointing fingers from Switzerland without much effort.
“I invite Governor Hogan to visit Baltimore so that we can show him the full extent of our work and make sure he understands the pressing need within our communities to build a safer Baltimore truly."
Mayor Brandon M. Scott
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