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U.S. NEWS Wednesday 26 september 2018
FBI: Baltimore homicide rate topped

U.S. big cities in 2017

By DAVID McFADDEN been a worrying march of is that it’s been “unable to cit in city neighborhoods.
Associated Press killings since the 2015 death muster any kind of strate- Baltimore is also struggling
BALTIMORE (AP) — New of Freddie Gray, who suf- gic and lasting response” to implement a consent
crime statistics released by fered a fatal injury in police through the course of its decree mandating reforms
the FBI place Baltimore’s
homicide rate last year well
above that of any other
large American metropolis,
making it an anomaly in the
national crime landscape
for U.S. cities with popula-
tions over 500,000 people.
The 342 homicides notched
last year in Maryland’s big-
gest city yielded a punish-
ing homicide rate of 56 per
100,000 people, according
to the FBI’s annual Crime
in the United States report
released Monday. Earlier
this year, Baltimore had an-
nounced 343 slayings for
the year, but three deaths
were reclassified, eventual-
ly bringing the total to 342 in
the city of roughly 615,000
inhabitants. The per capita
rate was a record high for
the city. In this Dec. 16, 2015, file photo, deputies stand guard in front of the courthouse main entrance as
demonstrators protest outside of the building after a mistrial of Officer William Porter, one of six
Among major U.S. cities, Baltimore city police officers charged in connection to the death of Freddie Gray, in Baltimore.
Baltimore was followed Associated Press
in the FBI’s annual tally by
Detroit, which last year re- custody, that eventually violence epidemic. He after federal investigators
corded a homicide rate set a new per capita high contrasted it with Chicago, detailed longstanding pat-
of 40 per 100,000 people; in 2017. one of the deadliest cities terns of unconstitutional
Memphis, Tennessee, with Baltimore’s leaders are in the country but a place policing and excessive
a rate of 28 per 100,000; hopeful this year could where he believes leaders force in the eighth largest
and Chicago, with a rate mark somewhat of a turn- have a clear focus and a municipal police depart-
of 24 per 100,000. But some around. So far in 2018, crime plan. ment in the United States.
smaller cities reported a is declining, with homicides The main reasons for Balti- “The underlying conditions
higher homicide rate than down about 16 percent more’s violent crime prob- that produce violence al-
Baltimore’s. St. Louis, with compared to the same lems are the subject of ways matter. But on the
a population slightly over stretch of time last year. Kill- endless interpretation. other side, what matters
300,000, had a rate of 66 ings are down by over 30 Some attribute the in- is whether a city is able to
murders per 100,000 peo- percent in some troubled crease to the fallout of the frame up and implement
ple. neighborhoods where au- opioid epidemic and Balti- a response to the violence.
Overall, the FBI says the thorities are focusing atten- more’s longstanding status And one of the fundamen-
national violent crime rate tion, according to City Hall. as a heroin market, or to tal facts about Baltimore is
decreased by 0.2 percent “One murder in Baltimore systemic failures like segre- that it’s really never been
from 2016 to last year, is one murder too many. gated neighborhoods, un- able to do that,” Kennedy
making Baltimore’s record But I am convinced that by equal justice and a scarcity said in a Tuesday phone
tally stand out even more addressing the root causes of decent opportunities for interview. “There’s been
for large urban centers. In that give rise to hopeless- many citizens. Others have persistent political and law
comparison, Houston, with ness and eventually to pointed the finger at po- enforcement dysfunction
over 2 million residents, had criminal activity, we will lice, accusing them of tak- in Baltimore going back
a rate of 12 homicides per make Baltimore safer for ing a hands-off approach pretty much as far as any-
100,000 people. Boston, all residents,” said Mayor to fighting crime since six body can look.”q
with less than 700,000 resi- Catherine Pugh in an email officers were charged in
dents, had eight slayings Tuesday. She took office in connection with the 2015
per 100,000. December 2016. death of Gray, a black
Violent crime rates in Bal- But crime experts note that man whose mysterious fa-
timore have been notori- Baltimore’s leaders have tal spinal cord injury in po-
ously high for years. In re- been failing to get their act lice custody triggered the
cent decades, the city’s together for a long time. city’s worst riots in decades.
gritty realities helped make David Kennedy, a profes- In addition, there’s been
it the setting for hard-boiled sor at John Jay College serious instability at the
crime shows such as “The of Criminal Justice in New top of the police force
Wire,” ‘’The Corner,” and York City, said that what’s and scandals and missteps
“Homicide.” But there’s distinctive about Baltimore have worsened a trust defi-