FOP Calls Baltimore 'City In Crisis,' Says Top Cops Aren't Doing Enough
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- As Baltimore's homicide number continues to surpass the city's 2018 total and after several violent carjackings were reported over the weekend, the Fraternal Order of Police issued a statement urging city residents to take caution.
"Baltimore City FOP #3 continue to urge caution as you go about your daily lives in the City," the FOP said in a statement on Twitter. "The carjackings, robberies and shootings continue unabated."
The FOP criticized the city's top cops saying that the administration has not addressed the crime -- instead just renaming "hot spots" to " micro-zones" and "talking to people on your post" to "community engagement."
"We continue to lose more police than we hire, Patrol Officers in the neighborhoods are hundreds of men/women short and the overtime savings being touted by the [police commissioner] means even less officers on the street, less cases solved and more crimes committed," the FOP stated.
They ended their statement saying Baltimore is a "city in crisis."
In response, Police Commissioner Michael Harrison issued a statement saying:
"I remain laser focused on making the BPD a world class police department that our residents expect and deserve, and on making Baltimore a safer place to live, work and visit. I stand side by side with the brave men and women who go to work every day trying to make Baltimore the city we all want it to be. And I am seeing results -- like the arrests this weekend of three young people responsible for a string of robberies, the guns that are seized on a regular basis and the drug dealers who are put behind bars."
