{"id":7160,"date":"2025-07-09T06:42:59","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T06:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=7160"},"modified":"2025-07-09T06:44:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T06:44:46","slug":"black-mayors-in-baltimore-and-birmingham-drive-historic-drops-in-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=7160","title":{"rendered":"Black Mayors in Baltimore and Birmingham Drive Historic Drops in Crime"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>by\u00a0<span class=\"author vcard\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/author\/staceybrown\/\">Stacy M. Brown<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>While cable news pundits and national newspapers often fixate on urban dysfunction, two Black mayors are delivering measurable, record-breaking progress in public safety.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mayor.baltimorecity.gov\/\">Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott<\/a>\u00a0(D) and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghamal.gov\/government\/mayors-office\/about-mayor\">Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin<\/a>\u00a0(D) have overseen some of the steepest reductions in violent crime their cities have experienced in decades.<\/p>\n<p>Baltimore, long branded one of America\u2019s most dangerous cities, released midyear crime data showing a 22% drop in homicides compared to the same period last year. Nonfatal shootings are down 19%, and juvenile homicide victims have declined by an astonishing 71%. Police are solving more crimes, with a homicide clearance rate of 64% and a nonfatal shooting clearance rate 20 percentage points above the 10-year average.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1 \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-1 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-caf9af3267-0\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThese historic lows are the result of a comprehensive, evidence-based public safety strategy that we have implemented in partnership with residents,\u201d Mayor Scott said. \u201cBut our work is far from over \u2014 68 lives lost to violence is 68 too many.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The progress didn\u2019t happen by chance. Under Scott\u2019s leadership, the Baltimore Police Department has combined targeted enforcement with offers of help.<\/p>\n<p>Commissioner Richard Worley described how the Group Violence Reduction Strategy works.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe go out and give them a letter and basically say, \u2018Listen, we know you were doing the shooting,\u2019\u201d Worley stated. \u201cWe want you to put the guns down, or we will take you and your entire drug operation off the street. But here are the services\u2014job training, education, relocation.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, in Birmingham, Mayor Woodfin has led an aggressive, community-driven approach that\u2019s paid off. The city\u2019s homicide rate has fallen 52% compared to last year. Further, the clearance rate for homicides has surged to 79%, a level rarely seen in major cities.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2 \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-2 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-2bd992b9b0-0\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThe Birmingham Police Department is extremely aggressive in what they\u2019re doing and how they\u2019re taking a different approach in policing our community,\u201d Woodfin said.<\/p>\n<p>He credited a blend of new technology, such as the Real-Time Crime Center, and grassroots cooperation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you share information, it doesn\u2019t allow the criminal element to be emboldened and hide behind fear of people,\u201d Woodfin explained. \u201cThose who are killing people are not just walking our streets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Birmingham Police Chief Michael Pickett said the city\u2019s street outreach teams are also preventing retaliatory shootings before they happen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are really, really hammering at it,\u201d Pickett told the City Council. \u201cI am very appreciative of all the men and women in the Birmingham Police Department who are leading our fight.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3 \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-3 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-dc2e0e383b-0\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>While total violent crime in Birmingham has edged up slightly, the plunge in homicides shows that sustained focus and coordination can work\u2014even if major media don\u2019t bother to cover it.<\/p>\n<p>State and federal partners in Maryland are also acknowledging Baltimore\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBaltimore City released a midyear report showing the fewest homicides ever recorded at this point in a single year,\u201d Maryland Gov. Wes Moore\u2019s office said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>In both cities, the results are undeniable: fewer families burying loved ones, more cases solved, and more residents willing to engage with police. But to hear much of the national narrative, you\u2019d never know it.<\/p>\n<p>As several social media users noted, in Baltimore and Birmingham, Black leadership is not a box to check or a headline to boast about. It\u2019s what drives real, life-saving change\u2014whether the national media notices or not.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-4 \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-4 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-ca419f6974-0\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cWhile we acknowledge the historic lows we are experiencing, we must simultaneously acknowledge that there is much more work to do,\u201d Scott stated. \u201cAnd our success makes me commit even further to doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Source: Published without changes from<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/baltimore-birmingham-record-breaking-progress\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> Washington Informer Newspaper<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by\u00a0Stacy M. Brown While cable news pundits and national newspapers often fixate on urban dysfunction, two Black mayors<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7162,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regular-column"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7161,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7160\/revisions\/7161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}