On Tuesday, Governor Larry Hogan announced that he will be implementing several new initiatives to target violent crime in Baltimore City, citing the increasing violence as “completely unacceptable.” Hogan plans to open a Violent Crime Joint Operations Center in the city that will have 200 “strike force” officers from 16 federal and local agencies to fight crime and gangs.

“Citizens across the state are outraged by the daily headlines of this rampant gang violence,” Hogan said at the press conference. “They don’t feel safe in their own neighborhoods . . . They’re crying out for somebody to do something to stop these killings.”

For the last four years, the city has exceeded more than 300 homicides. Hogan said that “enough is enough” and that he will use every resource available to curb the amount of violence in Baltimore, including providing additional funding to the Baltimore Police Department for signing bonuses to attract more recruits, as well as $50 million to fund every request received from victim service providers across the state.

“All of these efforts won’t be enough if we can’t keep these repeat offenders off the streets,” he said. “According to the BPD, 60 percent of those convicted of gun crimes in Baltimore City do not serve any real time and are released back onto the streets to commit violent felonies again and again. This is completely unacceptable.”

The governor will fund the expansion of Project Exile, a federal program that targets repeat offenders and have them charged under federal laws and courts that may lead to longer sentences. Hogan also said he would introduce legislation at Maryland’s General Assembly session, which begins today, that would increase the mandatory minimum sentence for repeat gun offenders.

“The federal mandatory sentences are 10 years. If we can process them on federal gun crimes and federal courts, we can put them in jail rather than a slap on the wrist with Baltimore City judges and without mandatory sentences with prosecutions here in the city,” Hogan said. “They are not enough prosecutors to handle all these cases, and we ask them, ‘How could they do more of them,’ and they said they need more manpower, so we’re paying for them.”

Hogan believes that there has been too much focus on the misconduct of the BPD and not enough on the violent criminals plaguing the city, pointing the finger at the consent decree that was implemented in 2017.

He also said that permanent leadership is vital to make this all work expressing his frustration at the vacancy of the position for the past seven months. This comes just one day after Mayor Catherine Pugh announced New Orleans Superintendent Michael Harrison as commissioner-designate.

“There’s been a whole lot of focus on the consent decree, that’s all people have been talking about,” Hogan said. “I think it’s out of balance. We’re going to focus on getting the criminals off the street.”

On Sunday, Mayor Catherine Pugh announced that she would expand the Baltimore City Police Department’s technologies in an effort to address the city’s increasing violence. The new investments are made possible through a $5 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies and come on the heels of another deadly weekend that puts the number of homicides in Baltimore over 300 for the third year in a row.

“Equipping our police officers with the tools they need to fight and solve crime is a critical component of our violence reduction strategy,” said Mayor Pugh in a statement. “This grant will help provide state-of-the-art equipment to our police force to ensure the safety of our city’s citizens and visitors.”

The new tech will beef up Baltimore’s existing Citiwatch program—a public-private partnership that allows residents to directly share information with the BPD to catch criminals—and will include 60 additional CCTV cameras, 25 additional license plate readers (LPRs), and gunshot detection software that will alert the BPD in real-time.

The additional CCTV cameras will be added to the already 750 cameras currently affixed to light poles around the city. They will be placed in targeted areas with a history of violent crimes and act as a deterrent for criminal activity.

“The expansion of the Citiwatch program is tremendously beneficial to the city of Baltimore,” said BPD spokesman TJ Smith in an email. “It will allow us to strategically deploy additional cameras to areas that currently have no coverage. Baltimore already has one of the largest networks in the country and this will only enhance it.”

The LPRs will be installed on patrol cars and will enable real-time notifications to officers to help identify stolen vehicles and other vehicles of interest. The gunshot detection coverage will be expanding upon an existing pilot program with the state to include 10 additional square miles to improves response times for shootings and making police aware even if 911 is not called.

“One of the most common requests I receive from my constituents is for more vigilance in our neighborhoods,” said City Council President Jack Young in a statement. “I’m extremely pleased to see the city directing resources to tools that have demonstrated success in keeping communities safe.” 

Michael Bloomberg has often made donations to Baltimore institutions—including more than $1.5 billion over the years to his alma mater, The Johns Hopkins University. Along with Goldman Sachs, he also gave a $10 million donation to fund a small-business initiative in Baltimore for the next five years. That came after a three-year, $1.5 million grant to City Hall to help reduce violence in Baltimore.

Vice chair of public safety councilman Brandon Scott is hopeful that this new technology will be a positive push towards safer neighborhoods in the city as long as it is implemented properly and “consistently monitored.” 

“These granted items can be a force multiplier for us,” he said. “This is $5 million that the city does not have to spend and should result in a matching investment from the city into public health approaches to reducing violence.”

The purchase of the new tech is underway and will be deployed to the BPD and rolled out in the beginning of 2018. Smith said he’s unsure of exactly which neighborhoods the new cameras will be located in, but says the increased numbers will benefit local residents.

“Citiwatch cameras are popular among the various communities,” he said. “We expect that they will be glad that additional technology has been allocated for the purposes of assisting in with public safety.”