As city and state leaders focused on a night dedicated to strengthening community relations with police to help fight crime, a partnership focused on making Baltimore safer was also highlighted.
Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates was among those city and state leaders out in communities Tuesday for National Night Out. It’s an annual national event aimed at helping to reduce crime in communities.
But Bates is also a part of what some have called a “dynamic duo” in the city’s fight against crime. He’s partnered with Maryland’s U.S. Attorney Erek Barron.
“Gun prosecution really is the centerpiece of our violent crime strategy,” said Barron.
Bates and Barron, a two-office partnership aimed at repeat violent offenders, the criminals they say, that fuel the violence on Baltimore streets.
“We’re making sure that if we have now realized that you’re one of these violent trigger pullers in the city, we’re focused on you together as a team,” said Bates.
It’s a partnership committed he says to holding gun offenders accountable both in state and federal courts.
“It’s not just the state jury, it’s a federal jury as well that you can sometimes go. And now we’re not talking a couple years (if prosecuted), we’re talking about sometimes decades for your bad behavior,” said Bates. “Because at the end of the day, the citizens deserve to be safe.”
The two offices combing through cases daily and utilizing new prosecution policies that Barron says has netted a reduction in homicides and non-fatal shootings in the city.
“Homicides are down 25% and non-fatal shootings are down 6.5%. We think it’s clear, the data demonstrates that it’s because weâre working as a team, weâre working collaboratively,” said Barron.
Barron says the crime strategy also includes more focus on following the money with those who commit violent crimes many of the incidents, he says, including those involving illegal drugs, are driven by money.
“Together everybody works to ensure that the person that we’re focused on will be held accountable,” said Bates.
FOX45 News has learned that between the two offices just within the past few days, eight defendants pleaded guilty to or were sentenced for gun crimes. All of them, they say, are repeat violent offenders.
