Baltimore City Council Members Call For Comprehensive Crime Plan
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Accountability and a comprehensive crime plan is what Baltimore City Council President Brandon Scott says is necessary to stop the violence plaguing the city.
"We have many city agencies, and every single city agency must work toward reducing violence in Baltimore City," Scott said.
Inside City Hall Tuesday, city council members put pressure on the mayor's office to present a plan to reduce crime every two years.
They want the mayor to work with other city agencies -- like the Health Department and Housing Authority -- to expand crime fight beyond the police department.
Damon Walker says he's reminded of the problem every day.
"I have a bullet in my spine," he said. "Somebody shot at me for no apparent reason."
Scott says the gun violence in Baltimore is a public health crisis and called for the Health Department to step up in the fight.
"What we need right now is a sense of urgency from all agencies, police included," Scott said. "We need to focus on violent, repeat offenders and flow of guns."
This comes less than a week after Baltimore marked its 300th homicide and four months after Police Commissioner Michael Harrison and Mayor Jack Young unveiled a five-year crime plan.
"I was in direct contact with the mayor and with the mayor's staff in making sure everything that went into the crime plan was something we as a city wanted to do needed to do and could do," Harrison said.
"There is one crime plan in the city, that plan has been released and it's being carried out as we speak," Baltimore City Chief of Communications Lester Davis said.
But it's a plan the council says falls short of what they need.
City council says their next step is holding a session to work on legislation and make sure they are putting forth a bill that can move forward.
