BALTIMORE — For the second year in a row Mayor Brandon Scott can say the City of Baltimore saw a reduction in the number of homicides by at least 20%.
"You’re talking about a lot of lives saved in the City of Baltimore, a lot of communities not dealing with trauma, a lot of families that haven’t been interrupted," Mayor Scott told WMAR-2 News in an interview on New Year's Day. "That’s tremendous progress. But also for the city to two years in a row set a record on reducing homicides - 20% in 2023, going to 24% in 2024 - is a big deal. We have to understand that progress, but it’s not a time to celebrate. Because 201 is still too many."
201 people were killed in 2024. Last year that number was 259, which was the first time in nearly a decade that the city saw fewer than 300 homicides.
"300 homicides kinda became a way of life and acceptable, and that's not the way we want people to feel," Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said.
All categories of violent crime also saw decreases, with the exception of rape, which saw an 8% increase. Commissioner Worley said that could be interpreted in a positive way because it means more people are trusting the department and reporting the crime, which is historically underreported.
While juvenile crime remained a hot button issue this year - with more than 3,000 people signing a petition calling for the removal of the department of juvenile services secretary - officials say the numbers are trending in the right direction. That's for both for young people committing crimes, and young people being the victims of crimes. Juvenile victims of homicides and shootings decreased by 74%, according to BPD.
RELATED: Baltimore sees reductions in gun violence and homicides, BPD says
But the Mayor and Commissioner say they continue seeing the same teens getting arrested.
"Almost every crime category that we have compared to last year is down," Commissioner Worley said. "The stolen autos - it escalated last year. There's still an issue, but DJS has made some strides with the home monitoring and we're all working together to solve some of these, because it is the same young people that we run into on a regular basis."
"You can be frustrated and still have progress," Mayor Scott said. "The fact that we can actually pick up the phone and call the Secretary is a big change. The fact that I can pick up the phone and call the Governor and he pick up and we can have conversations about this is a big change."
That kind of partnership is why the Commissioner believes the city's "Group Violence Reduction Strategy" is working this time.
"For the first time in history - I've been here all three times it's been tried - The first two times, not all the teams worked together. This time all three components - the Mayor, State's Attorney's office, and police department - are working together in unison for one goal, which is to lower crime."
And it wouldn't be New Year's Day without some resolutions. We asked the Mayor and Commissioner their goals for making Baltimore a safer place in 2025.
"For me, it's continue the work," Mayor Scott said. "We have to continue to reduce violence in the City of Baltimore in every way that we can, every part of the system, every single person."
"I want to be under 170 homicides, which has not been done since some time in the 60s," Commissioner Worley said. "But I also need to get my men and women help. We need more police officers that I think we've ever been. But we're attracting a lot of officers. We’ve had a lot of things change in our department over the last few years. We’ve got better cars; we’ve got better technology; we’re getting brand new uniforms. All the stuff we’ve been able to do with the money from the state and the Mayor has allowed us to do these things, and make our officers better at their job."
BPD hired 160 police officer trainees in 2024, but the department is still short hundreds.
Commissioner Worley also pointed out a particularly "good hire," Deputy Chief Lisa Reynolds, who he says previously worked at DJS.
"So she knows that system. She has relationships there. So things that we weren’t able to do before, she can call someone and basically speak to them about, ‘what happened to this young person; what can we do to get them the assistance that they need?’"
We also asked Mayor Scott about any concerns he has with a shake-up in the White House coming this year.
"We hope that the President-Elect and the folks coming to the White House with him will see that we’re actually doing what they say they wanted to do. They have ran and campaigned on reducing crime in the cities, and Baltimore has done that in record fashion for two consecutive years, and my hope is that they don’t disrupt that apple cart, that they allow all of our special agents in charge from the ATF, FBI, all of our federal partners to stay in place, and allow that work to continue. Regardless of who’s in the White House, we are still gonna have the best congressional delegation in the United States Congress that we know will be out there and carrying our message, and be able to bring back support for our public safety efforts in the City of Baltimore," Mayor Scott told WMAR-2 News.
Below are the 2024 year-end highlights provided to us by BPD:
Arrests: Overall arrests increased by 14%, including a 29% rise in homicide arrests, a 60% increase in misdemeanor drug arrests, and a 46% increase in auto theft arrests.
Community Engagement: The Community Partnership Unit, in collaboration with the City Administrator's Office and the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE), organized 26 interagency “blitzes” across all nine districts to tackle environmental issues contributing to crime (e.g., illegal dumping, vacant buildings, abandoned vehicles, and lighting), while providing human services such as homeless outreach and youth engagement.
Recruitment: The Recruitment and Application Section hired 160 Police Officer Trainees and 14 Cadets, streamlining the hiring process and upgrading marketing campaigns to attract more applicants.
Juvenile Safety: Juvenile victims of homicides and non-fatal shootings decreased by 74%.
Gun Seizures: Over 2,530 firearms, including 294 ghost guns, were seized.
Crime Lab Efficiency: The Crime Lab reduced its overall backlog by over 55%, including eliminating delays in the Latent Print Unit and DNA testing of historical SAFE kits.
Proactive Policing: Proactive enforcement activities rose by 68%, with foot patrols and bike patrols increasing by 139% and 92%, respectively.
Victim Services: The Victim Services Unit expanded its team with 10 new hires, enabling the unit to assist nearly 1,700 people – to include victims of a broader range of crime types and their family members.
Childcare Support: BPD launched the Childcare Support and Accessibility Project, providing financial allowances to assist 100 members with childcare expenses.
Civilian Investigators: The department has 23 Civilian Investigators to support investigations in Homicides, Public Integrity, Backgrounds, and other areas.
National Model: Nearly 40 agencies from across the U.S. and World have visited BPD to learn policing best practices and gain insightful information about our policies, programs and operations.
