BALTIMORE — It's been a tough year for violent crime in the Baltimore metro.
The city has reached more than 300 homicides for the fifth straight year, but the county is struggling too.
It is against that backdrop with the increases of certain violent crimes in both jurisdictions that federal lawmakers announced new grant money on its way.
"We established early in this congress that public safety in Baltimore would be a congressional delegation priority," said Senator Ben Cardin.
Cardin punctuated that remark by announcing that Baltimore County and city will receive 4.6 million dollars in federal grant money.
"We're fighting and one of the things that I want to focus on today is that we are fighting to make sure that Maryland and Baltimore and Baltimore County and the region get their fair share of the monies that they need," said Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger.
Those monies brought back by federal lawmakers are earmarked for each law enforcement agency to form better partnerships with one another in order to fuel combined efforts to reduce gun crimes and enhance community policing -- but there are also funds to tackle the opioid crisis and violence against women.
It helps develop a more metro approach to a crime rate that, in both areas, continues to rise at a stubborn rate.
"It pulls us out of silos and helps us to create initiatives where we work more collaboratively together in tracking where guns come from, what’s happening with guns, who are the people using guns and not how we do that independently in the county and the city, but, together," said Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison.
The funding, provided through the U.S. Department of Justice, includes:
- $396,922 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Baltimore Handle With Care Pilot Program through the Community Policing Development Program.
- $199,995 to the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation Badges for Baseball through the Community Policing Development.
- $374,891 to Baltimore City through the Elder Justice Program.
- $687,749 to Baltimore City through the Enhancing Community Responses to the Opioid Crisis: Serving Our Youngest Crime Victims Program.
- $750,000 to Baltimore City through the Local Law Enforcement Crime Gun Intelligence Center Integration Initiative.
- $859,773 to Baltimore City through the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program.
- $321,731 to Baltimore County through the Edward Byrne Memorial JAG Program.
- $43,468 to University of Maryland-Baltimore through the Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program.
- $275,000 to the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office through the Upholding the Rule of Law and Preventing Wrongful Convictions Program.
- $277,762 to Baltimore County through the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) Law Enforcement-Based Victim Specialist Program.
- $420,919 to University of Maryland-Baltimore County through the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) Research and Evaluation Initiative.
