Law enforcement expert: more urgency needs to be shown to fight gun violence in Baltimore - Fox Baltimore
BALTIMORE, Md. (WBFF) — In a city in crisis, more families are in mourning.
This past week saw a father gunned down, murdered in front of his children as he was taking them to school.
A 3-year-old girl was grazed by a bullet Saturday and a woman killed in Federal Hill. Her murder is related to a murder-suicide in Howard County.
Amid the seemingly endless violence, some are calling on city leaders to act with more urgency.
“It’s more important for them to tell us how they’re going to get more of these guns off the streets and collect upon these people that are shooting people in the street,” says Pamela Dennis.
The Baltimore Police Department has released a new video with Commissioner Michael Harrison talking about the work officers are doing, future plans for the agency and the number of drug arrests and gun seizures made this year.
But not everyone is viewing the video in a positive light. Critics complain it downplays the city's crime crisis.
"It's a total act. It’s theater. People are complaining, and the innocent victims that keep popping up. We have children and elderly folks being murdered. A good PR move would be bringing the crime rate down," says Sean Kennedy with the Maryland Public Policy Institute.
"I don’t see it in a bad light. I think the public needs to know they’re doing something," says former FBI agent Dr. Tyrone Powers. "I think that momentum will allow other people to decide maybe to help the police department because they’re actually trying to do something. While some see it as a publicity stunt, I see it as a necessary part of the psychological battle against crime that may get the community more involved if they know police have not completely taken a knee."
Dr. Powers says there should be a balance though with more urgency shown given the staggering number of lives lost in the city, as of Sunday morning at least 321 people have been killed so far this year.
"Violence is contagious," he says. "It will spread if you don’t control it. It will spread to areas where it hasn’t hit before. There’s no way of controlling something from spreading out once people believe they can get away with it without consequences. Obviously more needs to be done and a sense of urgency needs to be involved and they need to talk about that too when they put out these particular video presentations."
source: https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/law-enforcement-expert-more-urgency-needs-to-be-shown-to-fight-gun-violence-in-baltimore
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