Last week, for the eighth consecutive year, Baltimore reached the grim milestone of more than 300 homicides in the year, with a month still to go. There are those who insist on telling the story of our city by focusing on the number of murders. But to tell it only through the lens of crime is, of course, to tell our city’s story incompletely, and it does a disservice to those who help make Baltimore’s story a positive one.
But the murder rate is definitely something to which political and law enforcement leaders should be held accountable. Mayor Brandon Scottmade promises about the rate at which violence in our city would be reduced that he has not been able to keep. Two years ago, Scott promised a 15% annual reduction in the number of annual murders. That goal remains merely an aspiration.
It's not that the Mayor hasn’t thought about how to improve this situation. In July of last year, he released a five year, comprehensive violence prevention plan. At the heart of this plan is GVRS, or Group Violence Reduction Strategy, launched in partnership with the Baltimore Police Department, the State’s Attorney’s Office and federal partners.
A pilot program of GVRS has been in place for almost a year in the Western Police District. Has it been effective, and is it ready to be scaled up to other areas in the city?
The plan is overseen by Shantay Jackson, who directs the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, or MONSE. Last June, a year after the plan was released, Ms. Jackson faced a frustrated Baltimore City Council, many of whose members expressed impatience with the pace of improvement.
As 2022 nears a close, we’ve invited Director Jackson to be with us today to explain what the Group Violence Reduction Strategy is, and to assess its value moving forward.
MONSE Director Shantay Jackson joins us on Zoom…
