BALTIMORE — Baltimore's homicide and non-fatal shootings are down a significant amount since this time last year.
With 53 days left in 2023, the city is on pace to have less than 300 homicides which would end an eight year stretch.
Colonel Monique Brown with the Baltimore Police Department is seeing real change from a program that gets 17-24-year-olds the help they need.
"So we do have, say a young person or someone that is within that targeted age group. That maybe a family member, a friend or an associated of them who may have been a victim of violence or may have committed an offense. Now, we're connecting with them to see what services we can provide them with to be able to see what services they need to be able to pull them away from that criminal involvement," said Brown, Chief of Criminal Investigations at BPD.
The police department and U.S. Attorney's Office partner with Roca to give those services.
Molly Baldwin, the nonprofit's CEO, says they're relentless in making sure people follow through with the services, focusing on conflict resolution.
"The core of our model as a behavioral health approach is about really teaching young people how to take an eight to twelve second pause between what they think and feel versus what they do. It's really based on cognitive behavior theory," said Baldwin.
To get that result, Baldwin says they need about two years of working with the young person.
Colonel Brown says they're seeing the improvement already.
U.S. Attorney Barron mentioned the job isn't finished despite the decrease in violent crimes.
"This year, knocking on wood is looking like it's going to be a historic year, breaking an eight to nine year cycle. We have a lot more work to do and that's what this public service announcement demonstrates. We're not sitting on our laurels, we're finding relentless ways to reach this target audience," said Barron.
The U.S. Attorney's office launched a public service announcement campaign to show the negative impacts gun violence has on people, even those not involved in the incident.
