BALTIMORE — The Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement says they're making progress in reducing violence across Baltimore City.
In a public hearing, Wednesday afternoon in city hall, they shared what they're calling sustained success.
The Group Violence Reduction Strategy is a collaborative effort with MONSE, the State's Attorney's Office and Baltimore Police Department aimed at making the city safer.
"The western district has been historically the most violent district in our city," said MONSE's Director, Shantay Jackson.
She's leading the effort saying in the Western District shootings are down 30 percent.
"We can see that we are seeing sustained declines in both homicides and non-fatal shootings in the Western district and through October 31, we are down 20 percent in homicides and 70 percent in non-fatal shootings," said Jackson.
A key concern for councilmembers are the amount of illegal guns still on the streets in Baltimore.
"You have to first gain trust, and I get that, and gaining trust in saying we really want you to do X, Y, and Z. I get that, but this is a huge priority to figure out what we're going to do with these guns," said Councilwoman Odette Ramos.
East Baltimore Councilman Antonio Glover raised the question of where is the money heading, as 50 million dollars was granted to the MONSE through ARPA funding.
"I know that MONSE received a whole lot of money through ARPA funds and things of that nature, so I want to know if there are any other crime reduction groups that you guys have distributed those funds to," questioned Glover.
"To date, we've rewarded over 18 million dollars. There are a whole host, dozens of community-based organizations that we have funded as part of the mayor's investment in this work," Jackson responded.
While there are some signs of success so far, Councilman Mark Conway questioned where the finish line is for MONSE and GVRS.
"I'm really curious at what point do we know that we've succeeded with an individual or with a group such that they no longer need to rely on our resources or our programs," Conway stated during the hearing.
"What success looks like over time is, we don't see an individual become revictimized after a certain point of time. We don't see them victimize anyone else or become a person of interest in victimizing someone else," Jackson responded.
