As crime remains a concern in every American city, Baltimore, Detroit and San Antonio say they have turned the tables on violence by making major changes.
The cities – particularly Baltimore and Detroit – have often been portrayed as some of the most dangerous in the United States, but now they claim that crime has suddenly decreased.
Brandon Scott, the mayor of notoriously crime-ridden Baltimore, says his efforts began in a barbershop.
He claims that the city, which Hollywood has used for decades as a setting for crime-fighting cops in shows like The Wire and Homicide, used barbershops as the only true safe havens.
Now, it is trying to expand those places of refuge, with a massive group violence reduction strategy that led to a massive drug bust, with 12 people indicted on drug and weapons charges.
As crime remains a concern across the United States, cities like Baltimore (pictured), Detroit and San Antonio say they have turned the tables on violence by making major changes.
Brandon Scott, the mayor of notoriously crime-ridden Baltimore, says his efforts began in a barbershop.
The strategy involves the city asking those caught up in drug trafficking and gang violence to work with them.
“Take advantage of our opportunities to change your life or end up… charged and sent to prison,” Scott said. cnn.
The results: a record 21% drop in homicides in the city – not even a decade after the riots that followed the death of Freddie Gray – in 2023, with a further 34% drop through the first half of 2024, according to the mayor.
Stefanie Mavronis, the city’s neighborhood safety director, says Gray’s death while in police custody prompted the city to make changes.
“We’re not often a credible partner, and coming out of the uprising there was a lot of community energy around the idea that the community has to be part of the solution and has to be a co-owner of our strategies going forward.” she said.
Scott says Baltimore has made progress thanks to these programs that promote ‘intentional collaboration between law enforcement, social services, and community members.’
The programs cost the city $7.3 million a year, with contributions from the federal and state governments as well as donors.
Another city that has preached collaboration between community and law enforcement is Detroit.
He claims that the city, which Hollywood has used for decades as a setting for crime-fighting cops in shows like The Wire and Homicide, used barbershops as the only true safe havens.
Another city that has preached collaboration between community and law enforcement is Detroit.
They used funds from the American Rescue Plan to fund a program called ShotStoppers in the Motor City.
Six community groups receive a budget of $700,000 a year to implement strategies to reduce murders and shootings in a particular part of the city.
Communities can receive bonus funds of another $700,000 if they reach certain milestones.
One example is FORCE Detroit, which uses money to provide access to the needs of those most at risk.
In their region, murders and shootings decreased 72% from last November to January of this year compared to the year-ago period and another 67% drop from February to April, earning FORCE Detroit bonuses worth $175,000 .
FORCE Detroit and three other groups extended their contracts by one year based on their results, and the city plans to expand the program.
San Antonio, Texas, has adopted a somewhat different strategy, one provided to them by people who study crime at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
While the initial plan calls for increased targeted policing in high-crime areas of the city, after that the city will work on what they say are the underlying conditions behind the criminal activity.
San Antonio, Texas, has adopted a somewhat different strategy, one provided to them by people who study crime at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
While the initial plan calls for increased targeted policing in high-crime areas of the city, after that the city will work on what they say are the underlying conditions behind the criminal activity.
The city’s most troubled areas saw a 37% drop in crime in 2023 and an overall 7.3% drop in violent crime in the city, although some have criticized this as a cosmetic attempt to reduce crime.
“When this plan was first put in place, not many people were happy with it because it seemed too simplistic and, again, frankly, kind of boring,” said San Antonio Police Chief William McManus.
“But the fact of the matter is that it’s working and I think everyone’s gotten used to it.”
This follows news in July that the city of Boston saw its homicide rate drop in the first half of 2024.
New statistics show the city’s law enforcement agencies are easily exceeding their goal of reducing homicide incidents by 20 percent in three years.
Compared to the same six-month period in 2023, from January 1 to June 23, Boston has seen its murder cases drop from 18 to 4.
Crime statistics also show that the number of rapes has decreased by 39.7 percent (from 90 to 67), as Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox praised the city’s efforts.
“We’re doing a lot of things and we hope they’re having an impact,” he told the New York Times.
Nationally, crime rates have increased during the pandemic, with rates of murder, rape and widespread robbery increasing in major cities across the country.
Some cities remain mired in higher crime rates, such as the California city of Antioch, recently dubbed “the new Oakland.”
Crime was already rising in every major indicator before a weekend of unprecedented gun violence left one man dead, emptied the city center and left business owners fearing for their future.
The number of police officers has been reduced from 115 to 76 in the last four years under Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe, who was elected despite opposition from the local Police Officers Association.
And the city has become a magnet for “Chinese criminal syndicates” that supply drugs to the rest of the state, with more than 60 illegal marijuana dens discovered in the last two years.
“Now Antioch is old Oakland,” said Tony Loinab, a local bar owner. ‘In one week there were more than 200 shots fired in Antioch, how many people were shot? Three or four? In a week, not in a year, but in a week!’
Homeless encampments have returned to the city after a cleanup under the previous mayor’s administration in 2018, and murders increased by a third in the first six months of the year compared to the same period last year.
Burglaries increased 12 percent, thefts increased 40 percent and vehicle thefts increased 65 percent.
At a time of falling crime rates across the country, there were also increases in robberies, vandalism and assaults.