Baltimore City Councilman Costello: Murder rate declining while violent crimes climbing
BALTIMORE -- Baltimore City Councilman Eric Costello is questioning the city's crime plan as a recent rash of thefts and assaults have turned dozens of its residents into victims of violent crimes.
Costello said in a letter to Anthony Barksdale, Baltimore's deputy mayor for public safety, that the "deeply disturbing assault" is among 49 similar crimes that have taken place across the city over the weekend.
Eight of those crimes happened in the Baltimore Peninsula and Midtown communities.
"This shakes our collective confidence in the Administration's crime plan," Costello said in the letter. "While the murder rate may be declining, the number matters little if Baltimoreans do not feel safe. The explosion in car thefts citywide along with carjackings and violent assaults impact all of us one way or another.
Costello is a member of the council's public safety and government operations committee. He represents parts of the city where residents have been assaulted or robbed, including one on South Sharp Street in the early hours of Tuesday.
"This specific crime occurred on one of the most well-lit streets in all of Baltimore and directly across from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond," he said in the letter. "It is clear to me that the perpetrators have little fear given the brazen nature of this crime."
Costello said his concerns were amplified by how officers did not contact the person who called 911 when the assault occurred around 2:40 a.m. on Tuesday. That person left their number with the 911 operator, Costello said.
Additionally, officers did not contact the Federal Reserve Bank to retrieve camera footage during the nine-hour period following the assault, Costello said.
The Baltimore Police Department said its officers responded to the site of the incident but were unable to find a victim.
The person who called said that four unidentified black males in a black car possibly robbed a male, according to a spokesperson for the police department.
Southern District detectives are reviewing the video of the incident in an effort to locate the suspects involved, the spokesperson said.
In his letter, Costello urged Barksdale to discuss the pattern of crimes during his Tuesday meeting with the Baltimore Police Department's command staff.
"These violent individuals need to be arrested and this pattern of crimes needs to be ended, immediately," Costello said.
The Baltimore Police Department is being led by newly minted Police Chief Richard Worley. Worley obtained the vote of the council to lead the city's officers earlier this month. He has worked for the police department for 25 years.