Pugh Crime-Fighting Plan Includes Free Community College

By Staff Reporter
Posted on 08/09/17 | News Source: WBAL

Mayor Catherine Pugh unveiled her crime-fighting plan following the Board of Estimates meeting Wednesday and part of that plan includes free college for Baltimore's youth.

Pugh unveiled what she called a "violence-reduction plan," looking at the following key areas:

• Making Baltimore Safe: Improve effective policing, focus on repeat offenders and increase police clearance rates.
• Keeping Baltimore Healthy: resources for addiction recovery, a 24-hour city stabilization center that is strategically located, increasing Narcan availability, expanding the Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) to help those in need.
• Engaging Baltimore Youth: training and employing young people, including making Baltimore Community College for free for students starting in the 2018 school year.

Residents rallied in west Baltimore last week demanding action as the city's homicide rate continues to soar. Pugh responded with a memo outlining crime strategies already in place, some in the works some that would be announced later in August.

Pugh met with Gov. Larry Hogan in July to discuss reducing crime. Police Commissioner Kevin Davis responded to criticism last month that the city lacks a plan to reduce violence following a Baltimore City Council meeting that was ended abruptly by Councilman Brandon Scott, citing no coordinated crime-fighting plan.