Council President Scott Renews Call For Comprehensive, Coordinated Agency Response To Gun Violence

Council President Scott Renews Call For Comprehensive, Coordinated Agency Response To Gun Violence

On Tuesday, Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice To Present to Public Safety Committee

BALTIMORE, MD (November 14, 2019) — City Council President Brandon M. Scott released the following statement Thursday morning regarding the need for a comprehensive, coordinated agency response to gun violence in Baltimore: 

"Today, I'm speaking about the need for a regular, coordinated vision for how we use our city resources to reduce violence. Last night, we hit 300 murders so far in 2019. As a city, we carry the pain and trauma of that sheer loss of life. 

It’s easy to get desensitized in this work and it’s easy to look the other way. But it’s our responsibility to hold space for that reality and take action to change it. At every City Council meeting, I call a moment of silence for the victims of gun violence and overdose. It’s one small way we ground the policymaking work we do as legislators in Baltimore City in humanity and life.

On Sunday, I called for the Mayor to come prepared next week to show the City Council progress on his comprehensive crime plan, one that engages all of our city agencies in the fight against  gun violence. On July 18, when Commissioner Harrison released BPD’s crime plan, the Mayor said the plan outlining a coordinated agency response to violence would be ready in a few weeks.

Since then, the Mayor claimed that there won’t be another plan, that we’ll just follow Commissioner Harrison’s plan. BPD’s plan incorporates a lot of ideas the Council and I have been asking the Department to take seriously for years. But we know we can’t police our way out of the violence we face as a city. In the absence of a coordinated, comprehensive plan, a policing-only strategy becomes the default.

We know the roots of our violence are deep and connected to fundamental issues like lack of investment, historical inequity, and corruption that’s permeated everywhere from the police department to the highest echelons of our government.

As elected leaders in Baltimore, it’s our job to treat this challenge with the seriousness it deserves, with the full power of our city resources. Saying that it’s not our responsibility as city leaders to address the violence plaguing our city cannot be our approach. Our response to violence as elected leaders in Baltimore cannot be to avoid responsibility. We are all responsible.

Our residents deserve to know their leaders have a vision to coordinate our precious resources in the fight against violent crime in the most effective and urgent way possible, not simply passing the buck.

Baltimore can only be cured of violent crime in a comprehensive way. But let me be clear, that includes targeted, data-driven policing. BPD must be focused on taking the fight to the violent repeat offenders committing the majority of violent acts in Baltimore, along with the flow of illegal guns into our city. Prioritizing that approach amid the level of violence we are seeing is a must. 

Since 2017, when I was Chair of the Public Safety Committee, I've called on Mayors to provide the people of Baltimore with a holistic, comprehensive approach to addressing violent crime. When our former Mayor said she wasn’t going to produce one, I worked with my colleagues on the Public Safety Committee to release “Live to Bmore,” a plan that drew inspiration from the NOLA for Life model in New Orleans. That plan has been effective at reducing violent crime there.

Upon becoming Council President, I named as a priority and introduced legislation that will ensure we don't end up in this situation again: my bill will require any future Mayor to provide a comprehensive, cross-agency approach to addressing public safety — updated every other year.

The City Council's Public Safety Committee will hear this bill (19-0451), which is strongly supported by the City Council, on Tuesday, November 19 at 4pm. The comprehensive crime reduction strategy would be coordinated by the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, and would enumerate the ways our city agencies can directly contribute to reducing violence. This plan would complement and bolster BPD's strategy and take a public health approach to public safety.

At this hearing, we’ll also discuss another bill I introduced (19-0443) to hold gun traffickers accountable who bring weapons into Baltimore City and sell them illegally to minors. This information is not currently tracked in the existing gun offender registry. 

I encourage the public to come out and offer your suggestions for how we can best leverage our resources and invest in proven solutions to reduce violent crime.

Reducing violence with proven solutions hasn’t just been a focus of mine — it’s been a major focus of this City Council. We can’t go months, let alone years, without a regular, coordinated vision for how we deploy our city resources in this fight to make our neighborhoods safe. If all of us aren’t working toward that vision in a focused and strategic way each day, then what are we working towards as a city?

This Council will move this bill forward. But I am also calling on the Mayor to reassure the public that he will fulfill his commitment to providing a comprehensive crime plan. We look forward to learning about the progress the Mayor and his team have made on the creation that plan at next Tuesday’s hearing.

Our city deserves nothing less than all of its leaders and agencies working together to stop the violence and make sure Baltimore is safe for everyone."

The Public Safety Committee will hold a hearing to discuss progress on the creation of a comprehensive crime plan in Baltimore on Tuesday, November 19 at 4pm in the "Du" Burns Council Chambers. The Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice is expected to attend.

This hearing is open to the public and will be broadcasted on Charm TV (Channel 25). It will also be livestreamed on the Council President's Facebook page. 

Council President Scott called for a comprehensive crime strategy as part of his 26-point Legislative and Policy Agenda, which was released in July. Members of the public can follow the progress on this and other initiatives using the Council President’s Legislative and Policy Tracker.

You can view the livestream from this morning's address here.