Baltimore mayor touts crime reduction during annual "State of the City" address

BALTIMORE - Mayor Brandon Scott touted the work and strategies being done to tackle crime in Baltimore during his annual "State of the City" address on Monday.

The mayor spoke at Baltimore Center Stage where he was joined by city leaders, partners and residents.

"The state of our city is stronger and more resilient than ever," Scott said. "There is still so much work to do but we must acknowledge how far we've come in just a few short years."

Scott's speech comes weeks before he will face the voters in Maryland's primary election on May 14. 

He mentioned Baltimore's reduction in homicides in 2023, down 20 percent from the previous year. It was also the first time in eight years that less than 300 murders were recorded.

"Tonight, it is easy to see the progress," Scott said. "When I took office, Baltimore was grappling with a spike in homicides since 2015 with the city regularly seeing more than 300 Baltimoreans killed every year."

In 2024, Scott said that homicides remain down by 21 percent and 12 percent in non-deadly shootings.

"That will never be enough until we do not lose a single one of our neighbors to violence," Scott said. 

The mayor credited the city's Violence Reduction Strategy, along with the efforts of MONSE (Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement) and Safe Streets from slowing major crime in Baltimore.

"This progress shows that our program is working," Scott said. "Now is the time to double down, not pull back, or return to the failed broken policies of the past. We know that most of the problem is due to the proliferation of guns on our streets. Small, everyday conflicts escalate into horrific violence in the presence of too many guns."

Scott said police are honing in on car thefts and carjackings which were down 15 percent in 2023, and now 5 percent from last year.

He said the police departments "quality of life service calls" are down 18% across the board from this time last year. 

Scott said the city's 911 diversion, with community-based responders, has resolved more than 600 conflicts.

Also, the mayor said the Baltimore Police Department is working to get illegal guns off the streets.

Nearly 2,900 guns, including hundreds of ghost guns, were confiscated in 2024. And, nearly 600, with 86 ghost guns, taken off the streets this year.

"Alongside all of our law enforcement partners, we are going after guns in our communities, focusing on everyone, those who pull the trigger to those who supply the weapon," Scott said.

In February, Baltimore reached a $1.2 million settlement in its lawsuit against the leading manufacturer of untraceable, unserialized "ghost guns" plaguing the city.

The city filed its lawsuit against Polymer80 Inc. in 2022, accusing the company of negligence, public nuisance, and violations of the Maryland Consumer Protection Act.

"That effectively ended their business with Maryland altogether," Scott said.

Last December, Baltimore City filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), alleging that the agency improperly denied critical gun crime data.

The lawsuit claims one key federal amendment is blocking cities like Baltimore from getting this information.

The ATF maintains a database of firearm trace data, which officials can use to track the flow of recovered guns from manufacturer to distributor.

But Scott says the bureau denied a Freedom of Information Act request for that data in September, which would have provided city leaders with the top ten sources of crime guns in Baltimore between 2018 and 2022.

Scott also spoke about getting Baltimore drug traffickers off the streets, like the group arrested in the Irvington neighborhood earlier this month.

"Our brave law enforcement officers have helped take down drug trafficking organizations, including in Irvington where they got violent offenders out of that community," Scott said.

The mayor mentioned new investments, developments and projects in the works, including a redeveloped Harborplace.

The city has also added new schools and recreation centers.

"i knew that Baltimore needed to do better and Baltimoreans deserved better," Scott said. "I've always said that I wanted to be a mayor who laid the foundation for a new golden age in Baltimore."  

Scott, who will be going up against the likes of former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon and attorney Thiru Vignarajah in May's primary, said the city is policing crimes "the right way."

"We are doing this the right way, not by pushing to meet quotas, not through illegal stop and frisks and not by simply policing people because they are Black," Scott said. "We are turning the (police) department into one that serves Baltimore's residents the way they should have been served all along."

Scott also addressed Baltimore's vacant homes issue. Currently, there are about 1,300 vacant buildings in the city.

The "State of the City" was briefly interrupted by a group of protestors in the balcony who were escorted out by security. Their chants were met by supporters cheering "four more years" in support of Scott.