DeVante Young
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Baltimore City is at a crucial juncture as a result of the 20% annual decline in homicides and shooting crimes at the end of 2023.
Following the death of Freddie Gray, this decline marks the least number of homicides since 2015, with less than 300 to close the year. However, the perception of this decline and its effects on Baltimore moving forward seem to be varied among long-time citizens.
Long-time Baltimore native Donnell Bartee, 57, is highly skeptical of the recent decline and simply believes there is much more work to be done.
“It’s not going to be perfect, and it won’t be significantly better any time soon,” Bartee said.
Bartee subscribes to the idea that Baltimore’s citizens and elected officials are trading one problem for another as other crimes have seemingly become more prevalent as homicide rates decline.
“When we focus on one thing, like homicides, things like theft get worse because you can only give all of the attention to one thing at a time,” Bartee said.
This mentality seems to be a popular one in regard to Baltimore going through the rest of this year and beyond. Yet, there are Baltimoreans who are committed to continuing Charm City’s departure from high violence.
Founder of Baltimore Cease Fire Erikka Bridgeford, 51, has consistently worked to make Baltimore a safer place through community engagement.
“Violence is an epidemic. It is a public health issue and should be treated as such,” Bridgeford said.
Bridgeford claims that there is no singular catalyst for the decline in shooting crimes and homicides. Therefore, citizens should recognize the historical significance of violence in Baltimore and the work being done to improve the city for the future.
“The people looking at numbers will only see the 20% drop but those who continue to do the work know that what we’re doing really works. I cannot take credit for what has happened. We have to say we are all standing on the shoulders of people that came before us and those people are just as important to the change as people who are still doing the work,” Bridgeford said.
The possibility of a safer Baltimore can only become a reality through people who refuse to give up on Charm City and believe that the city will keep improving.