As crime remains a concern in American cities, Baltimore, Detroit and San Antonio say they have turned the tide on violence by making major changes.
The cities, especially Baltimore and Detroit, are often portrayed as among the most dangerous in the United States, but now claim that crime has suddenly dropped.
Brandon Scott, the mayor of notoriously crime-ridden Baltimore, says his efforts started in a barbershop.
He claims the city – which has been used by Hollywood for decades as a backdrop for crime-fighting cops in shows like The Wire and Homicide – used barbershops as its only real safe havens.
Now he’s trying to grow those havens, with a sweeping strategy to reduce group violence that has led to a massive drug bust, with 12 people indicted on drug and gun charges.
As crime remains a concern across America, cities including Baltimore (pictured), Detroit and San Antonio claim to have turned the tide on violence by making major changes
Brandon Scott, the mayor of notoriously crime-ridden Baltimore, says his efforts started in a barbershop
The strategy involves the city asking those involved in drug trafficking and gang violence to work with them.
“Take our chances to change your life or end up… indicted, headed to jail,” Scott shared CNN.
The results: a record 21% drop in homicides in the city — less than a decade removed from the riots following Freddie Gray’s death — in 2023, with another 34% in the first half of 2024, the mayor said.
Stefanie Mavronis, the city’s director of neighborhood safety, said Gray’s death while in police custody prompted the city to make changes.
“We’re not often a credible partner, and after the uprising there was a lot of community energy around the idea that the community needs to be part of the solution and co-own our future strategies,” she said.
Scott says Baltimore has made progress through these programs that “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 and donors.
Another city that has preached cooperation between the community and law enforcement is Detroit.
He claims the city – which has been used by Hollywood for decades as a backdrop for crime-fighting cops in shows like The Wire and Homicide – used barbershops as its only real safe havens.
Another city that has preached cooperation between the community and law enforcement is Detroit
They used American Rescue Plan funds to fund a program called ShotStoppers in the Motor City.
Six community groups will be given a budget of $700,000 a year to develop strategies to reduce the number of murders and shootings in a specific part of the city.
The communities can receive a bonus amount of an additional $700,000 if they reach certain marks.
One example is FORCE Detroit, which uses the money to provide access to necessities for those most at risk.
In their region, homicides and shootings fell 72% from the previous January period last year, and another 67% between February and April, earning FORCE Detroit bonuses worth $175,000.
FORCE Detroit and three other groups had their contracts extended for another year based on their results and the city’s plans to expand the program.
San Antonio, Texas has followed a slightly different strategy, one brought to them by people who study crime at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
While the original plan calls for targeted, increased policing in high-crime areas of the city, the city will then work to address what they believe are the underlying conditions behind criminal activity.
San Antonio, Texas has followed a slightly different strategy, one brought to them by people who study crime at the University of Texas at San Antonio
While the original plan calls for targeted, increased policing in high-crime areas of the city, the city will then work to address what they believe are the underlying conditions behind criminal activity.
The city’s most problematic areas saw a 37% decrease in crime by 2023 and an overall decrease in violent crime of 7.3% in the city, although some criticized it as a cosmetic attempt to reduce crime.
“When this plan was first rolled out, not very many people were happy with it because it just seemed too simplistic and, again, very candidly, kind of boring,” San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said.
“But the fact is that it works, and I think everyone has gotten used to it by now.”
This follows news in July that the city of Boston saw a drop in homicide rates in the first half of 2024.
New statistics show that the city’s law enforcement officials are far beating their goal of reducing homicides 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 homicide rate drop from 18 to 4.
Crime statistics also show that rapes have fallen by 39.7 percent – from 90 to 67 – while Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox praised the city’s efforts.
“We’re doing so many things, and hopefully it will have an impact,” he told the New York Times.
Nationally, crime rates have soared during the pandemic, with murders, rapes and robberies increasing in major cities across the country.
Some cities still suffer from higher crime rates, such as the city of Antioch, California, which was recently dubbed “the new Oakland.”
Crime was already rising in all major areas before a weekend of unprecedented gun violence left one man dead, emptying the city center and leaving business owners fearful for their future.
Police numbers have fallen from 115 to 76 over the past four years under the term of 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” supplying drugs to the rest of the state, with more than 60 illegal marijuana dens uncovered in the past two years.
“Now Antioch is the old Oakland,” said local bar owner Tony Loinab. “In one week, more than 200 shots were fired in Antioch. How many people were shot? Three or four? In one week, not in one year, one week!’
Homeless camps have returned to the city after an eviction under the previous mayor in 2018, and homicides rose by a third in the first six months of the year compared to the same period last year.
The number of robberies increased by 12 percent, the number of thefts by 40 percent and the number of car thefts by 65 percent.
At a time when crime rates were falling across the country, a rise in burglaries, vandalism and assaults was also recorded.