Group of minors arrested for string of Baltimore carjackings, robberies

BALTIMORE -- A group of minors, between the ages of 12 and 16 years old, were arrested after several carjackings and robberies within a couple of hours of each other on Wednesday afternoon in Northeast Baltimore.

Surveillance video shows a white SUV crashing at an intersection of Belair and Erdman avenues before teens ran away and were ultimately taken into custody.

"During the investigation, BPD did deploy many officers, and with collaborative efforts, they were able to apprehend that group of juveniles," Baltimore Police Detective Freddie Talbert said.

Police said a Toyota RAV 4 was carjacking in the 500 block of West University Parkway near Johns Hopkins University. An hour and a half later, three people were assaulted and robbed at gunpoint on Beech Avenue and Chestnut Avenue, according to police.

"The juveniles, ages ranged from 12 to 16 years of age, all of them were charged with stolen auto, however, two did also get charged with robbery," Talbert said.

Police said a person was assaulted on The Alameda and Marble Avenue before the five minors were captured. Police said they all have prior auto theft charges.

Revamping juvenile justice system

Recently, the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) announced ways to rework how it handles juveniles who break the law with a new statewide Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform and Emerging Best Practices. 

Here are the new policies:

The following Maryland detention policies have been reformed for juvenile offenders along with the launch of supportive programming to keep at-risk juveniles out of the system altogether:

• All youth who are referred to the department after being accused of a violent felony and who are not detained will be placed on electronic monitoring before their initial court appearance.
• All youth who are already on electronic monitoring and are charged with a violent felony will be detained.
• "CARE"—or Community Assistance for the Release Eligible—is a new program that will work with system-involved youth who are neither detained nor placed on community detention to support them and their families and provide service referrals.
• The Detention Diversion Advocacy Program will support youth who are placed by the courts in the community while their cases are pending with intensive supervision support from credible messengers.

According to data from Baltimore City Police, carjackings are up 36% within the past 28 days, while numbers also show that as of Sept. 27, 240 juveniles have been charged with motor vehicle-related crimes.

"This can only be stopped if everyone is all hands on deck," Talbert said.