Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake found $2.2 million in her budget for crime fighting initiatives and to pay for police overtime in an unusual place; the money police seized last year from illegal gambling operations and other crimes.
The mayor announced the programs Monday after the City Council gave final approval to using the money seized from suspects found guilty in various crimes.
Nearly half the money—more than $950,000--will go toward a number of anti-crime initiatives, including Operation Ceasefire, and opening year-round curfew centers called Youth Connection Centers. The centers are expected to be open in July.
Operation Ceasefire aims to use law enforcement and other government agencies to target violent repeat offenders. It involves community members and offers social programs to help criminals reform. The program has had some success in other cities, including New York and Boston.
Rawlings-Blake said officials already started the program in West Baltimore, where research showed that less than one percent of the residents were responsible for 60 percent of the homicides and 75 percent of non-fatal shootings.
“This data demonstrates that our crime strategy focused on the violent repeat offenders is the right strategy,” she said, “It confirms that a small number of people are causing the overwhelming majority of the destruction in our communities.”
Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said the program will be coming soon to East Baltimore, though he didn’t say how soon.
About $1.3 million will pay for police overtime through July. Mayoral spokesman Kevin Harris said the current police union contract does not allow for flexibility in scheduling officers. But a new contract ratified in the last month will allow Batts to deploy officers where they are needed without breaking the overtime budget.
Harris said early estimates show a $10 million savings in overtime costs by next year.
The mayor said the new contract also allows for more foot patrols that will “give officers more time to interact.”
“When people say they want foot patrols,” Rawlings-Blake said, “What they are saying is we want to be in relationship with the people who are patrolling our streets.”
The supplemental budget also includes an increase in the reward money for tips to Metro Crime Stoppers that lead to an arrest for a crime that involves an illegal gun.