3 days ago
Baltimore leaders tout decline in crime at National Night Out as some residents still feel unsafe
During a National Night Out event in Baltimore on Tuesday, city leaders touted a decline in crime statistics.
However, some neighborhoods are still feeling unsafe after recent incidents.
Each year, National Night Out celebrates community and law enforcement partnerships nationwide.
Baltimore City hosted National Night Out events at several locations, including on Arbutus Avenue in Park Heights at the Langston Hughes Community Resource Center.
Some neighbors in Park Heights are asking the city for more recreational centers and activities for young people.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott doubled down on the city's violence reduction plan, saying it works and that the city will keep using it to drive down crime.
"While much has changed, it still hasn't changed far enough," Mayor Scott said. "Baltimore has 84 homicides, which is one too many for me, but it's still the lowest number we've had at this point of the year on record."
The Group Violence Reduction Strategy, the city's main law enforcement plan to curb crime and increase community partnerships, was recently added to Baltimore's Southern District. This is the fifth of nine police districts to participate in the program, which the city points to as the main force decreasing crime.
Mayor Scott says communities also need to be involved to build safety.
"When people have that deep involvement, when people have that understanding that they are too a part of it, a part of something greater than themselves, then that's when you feel it," Scott said. "Perception often travels behind reality, and we now know that we are hitting this stride."
Some Baltimore residents say the statistics are not enough to convince them the city is safer.
Mark Cannon, who works with We Are Us, a community engagement group, says he still sees young people getting involved in crime at an early age.
"Statistics is statistics, but we're real life," Cannon said. "You got to have resources, and you got to have consequences."
Others say there needs to be more outreach to young people.
"Because there's so much violence out here, so much negativity going on out here" Baltimore resident Quionna Silver said. "The games they play are violent, so I think they need more positive people, positive games, and more positive activities."
Two Baltimore neighborhoods have been a hot spot for crime.
Just over a week ago, a 39-year-old woman was shot and injured in Federal Hill.
In July, a pastor was carjacked in Upper Fells Point by a group of teens, and a mother was carjacked in Federal Hill with her child in the car, after a teen allegedly pulled a knife on her.
Last month, more than 60 vehicles and a few businesses were vandalized during a weekend in Federal Hil.
