Gun violence data tracker launched to provide transparency for Baltimore communities

BALTIMORE -- Gun violence has plagued Baltimore City neighborhoods for decades and is often a topic discussed in the community, during elections, and even on WJZ newscasts.

Now, WJZ and the CBS News Data team are analyzing the public data from the city to give neighbors a better idea of what's happening on your corner.

As the police department tries to take back streets and corners with new initiatives, CBS News is tracking the numbers. This gun violence tracker will tell you what's happening in your neighborhood, giving you the most accurate and up-to-date reporting at your fingertips.

The gun violence tracker was designed by investigative data journalists from CBS News, who compiled publicly available information into easily digestible graphs and charts. CBS first launched this initiative in Baltimore.

"We want to tell everyone what is really going on with gun violence in our communities and our neighborhoods," said Rachel Gold, an investigative data journalist for CBS News and co-designer of the tracker.

The CBS News data team strives to paint the most accurate picture of what is happening in your backyard to keep you safe and informed. The tracker compiles data from 2015 to the present day and is updated daily. 

It keeps track of victims who were shot and killed, victims who were shot and survived, and people who were victims of another crime where they were not shot, but a firearm was reported.

It also records shootings by neighborhood, by the victims' ages, by time of year, and even gun crimes near schools.

"It's a one-stop shop," Gold. "You can look at your neighborhood. You can look at trends. You're not relying on one piece of information. You're relying on the breadth of information that the Baltimore Police Department and our analysts provide."

To look at our tracker and dive into the data, click here.  

Baltimore Police gun violence initiatives

The data trends show a decrease in homicides and non-fatal shooting victims. Baltimore Police says so far this year homicides are down 30 % while non-fatal shootings are down 40%. The goal is to continue this trend into next year through the Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS).

WJZ spoke with Commissioner Richard Worley about this new tactic, as well as the department's strategies moving forward. He emphasized the importance of transparency and sharing information with the public, while also policing in a new way to create safer streets.

The Group Violence Reduction Strategy is a collaboration effort between police, the Baltimore Mayor's Office, and the Baltimore City State's Attorney to eliminate violence on your corner.

"The Group Violence Reduction Strategy is designed to get the most violent offenders off the street either by having them take other services and take a way out of crime or if they don't put the guns down, we come with an investigation and try to dismantle their gun trafficking organization," Worley said.

Commissioner Worley said the department's transparency has increased greatly in recent years, in part due to new initiatives formed because of the Consent Decree between Baltimore City and the Department of Justice. These tactics changed the way officers patrol the streets. Part of this was sharing data and information with the public, which Worley feels regains trust between his department and city residents.  

"They can see where we're having shootings, where we're having homicides. They can see the crime is coming down and I think what it's doing is having them trust us more and giving us more assistance in closing these crimes because nobody wants shootings and homicides in their neighborhood," Worley said.

When asked what the tangible results from the strategy are, Worley said there has been a significant reduction in violence near Frederick and Collins avenues in the Irvington community in Southwest Baltimore. He said this area has seen a significant decrease in violence and an increase in quality of life.

Worleyadded that there is still room to improve, and he hopes to do so in West Baltimore in the Sandtown-Winchester community, as well as a decrease in other violent crimes, such as robberies.

Worley also hopes to make strides in decreasing the number of teens and young people who have guns illegally. He applauded the city's recent settlement with Polymer80, the leading manufacturer of untraceable ghost guns.

Gun violence as a "public health crisis"

Earlier this year, the U.S. Surgeon General declared gun violence a public health crisis. 

Daniel Webster, a professor and gun violence researcher at Johns Hopkins University and the Bloomberg School of Public Health, said the public health effects of gun violence go beyond a gunshot wound, and understanding the data can create new solutions.

"When you see the data about a whole city over a span of time and when and where you can better appreciate the scope of the problem. How do you create environments where that's going to be less likely to occur?" Webster said.

Webster says that gun violence in and around neighborhoods has a deep psychological effect not only on the people involved in the shooting but for others around it. He adds that the effects can be even more critical in young people.

Decreasing gun violence city long-term

Moving forward, Commissioner Worley hopes to have a similar homicide and non-fatal shooting decrease in 2025 by continuing to use the Group Violence Reduction Strategy. He also says he hopes to have fewer ghost guns on the streets and to hire more officers to patrol the neighborhoods.

Worley believes trust between neighbors and the department is growing by the day, as evidenced by the number of reports that are coming in from community members. He says more citizens are calling to report crimes, including illegal possession of a firearm, than ever before and he is making sure his officers respond to those calls.

"I can't make you feel safer by giving you better numbers. I can make you feel safer when you can walk out and you're able to go to the store," Worley said.

The goal of both the tracker and police department is to be transparent, keep people safe and provide context to a deeply complicated topic.

"When you combine data with on the ground reporting, you get a story that is accurate, up-to-date and tell a complete story of what's going on," Gold said. "At CBS, that's our main goal. Let's provide data to our reporters, to our community members to understand the full breadth of the issues or concerns that our communities have."