Posted on 07/20/23
| News Source: FOX45
Baltimore city is set to receive more federal resources to help in the city's crime fight. The announcement was made after Mayor Brandon Scott's joint meeting with Maryland's congressional delegation in Washington D.C. Wednesday.
At that meeting, Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat, announced those federal resources include: adding five U-S attorneys, four new FBI agents, four new DEA agents and two additional ATF agents to Baltimore.
"We are immensely grateful to all the investments that this delegation has made and that work will be done to help us expand upon and grow the 21% reduction that we see in Baltimore in homicides today," said Scott.
Regarding helping with BPD's staffing shortage, the delegation said federal funds will help shore up staff.
"We've been moving that money in, the mayor has been moving it over to the (police) department," said Rep. Kweisi Mfume, the Democrat who represents Maryland's 7th District. "Some of (that money) has come through the $641 million ARPA grant, others have come in direct grants like $10 million that we gave to the previous commissioner a year or so back and there are support dollars from an array of federal programs," he added.
But some observers, including Yuripzy Morgan, spokesperson for P.E.A.C.E., a government accountability group, believe meetings like this one routinely yield few results.
"We've had the same people in office, some longer than I have been alive and that says a lot considering we're still dealing with some of the same problems. Especially crime issues, accountability issues and transparency issues in Baltimore city. What are they doing to do now to make things different, they're not," said Morgan.