BALTIMORE COUNTY — The 4th of July is a time meant to celebrate the freedoms we have as Americans.
But after the mass shooting at the Brooklyn Day celebration over the weekend in Baltimore, BPD Acting Commissioner Richard Worley said police are in full force for large group celebrations that will be happening.
"You will see multiple officers deployed through several zones around the harbor as well as officers in the districts working to patrol and keep those communities safe and anything that may pop up on the 4th of July during the day or nighttime, either permitted or unpermitted,” said Worley.
Many will be resorting to places like the Inner Harbor and Cherry Hill for the festivities in the city. But even with a police presence some people like Lakeisha said she has concern for her children, especially when a recent shooting occurred.
"We have a lot of conversations about that, they can attest to that. I don't always like them to go outside at nighttime even though things can happen at any time of the day but you can't raise your kids in fear,” said Lakeisha.
While others like Richard Carroll said they have no safety concerns, "It feels safe here and there is good police presence, as I was saying to another fella earlier with police presence, uniform police are always helpful."
It's not just the city preparing for the large crowds at the 4th of July celebrations.
Baltimore County police spokesperson, Detective Trae Corbin, said they also are using all their resources to ensure police are at every celebration that is going on.
"We have officers from our outreach all detailed to all the events that are going on throughout the county. That is the fireworks that are going on that is the parades that are going on today and it's been like that throughout the weekend,” said Corbin.
One Baltimore County man said despite added officers, fear remains.
"The fireworks are kind of disappointing, not because of the people who put in the effort to do the fireworks or the people who put in the effort to keep us safe, they're doing their jobs. It's these people out there that are getting these guns and putting lives in danger.”
