Baltimore Mayor Tackles Crime by Expanding Violence Intervention Programs

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott plans to nearly triple the number of the city’s violence intervention programs, currently offered by Safe Streets and others, as part of a plan to reduce gun violence by 15 percent annually, reports the Baltimore Sun. The plan calls for a coordinated approach to combat violence in the city over the next five years that would include participation from the city’s numerous agencies and various community partners in the city. Among the goals laid out in the 36-page plan is a “significant investment” in Baltimore’s violence intervention program that currently includes 10 Safe Streets sites as well as seven hospital-based partnerships, Roca and several other community organizations.

Safe Streets Baltimore, operated by Catholic Charities, employs “interrupters” to defuse potentially violent situations and connect city residents with services in targeted neighborhoods of the city. Over the next five years, Scott hopes to add 20 new contracts to the program, relying on some of the city’s $640 million allocation from the feds’ American Rescue Plan as well as other federal funding to make it happen. Scott’s plan also calls for the implementation of a group violence reduction strategy that would target a small number of people likely to be involved in violence or be the victim of violence and offer them support over a sustained period of time. At Scott’s direction, the Baltimore Police Department is creating a Group Violence Reduction Unit, and 50 officers within the department have applied to participate. Scott’s plan also includes plans for community engagement and public reporting on its successes and failures, but has yet to have a price tag.