Prof. Ross: Give the City's New Crime Plan at Least a Year to Show Results
January 9, 2020
Contact: Office of Government and Public Affairs
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Jeffrey Ian Ross, professor of criminal justice in the University of Baltimore's College of Public Affairs, tells WBFF-TV that the city's recently implemented crime reduction plan will need a year, or even 18 months, to produce measurable results.
Baltimore City Police Commissioner Michael Harrison says the plan, which leverages a number of "micro-zones" for special attention in high-crime neighborhoods, is having an impact. But Prof. Ross says there is a logic in being patient about an assessment, given the difficulties of untangling the city's issues with violent crime. A year to 18 months of waiting to examine any substantive changes makes sense, Ross says.
"Any solution is going to require cooperation amongst a variety of criminal justice agencies and also with City Hall and at the governor's level," Prof. Ross tells WBFF, the local Fox affiliate.
Given a long-standing shortage of officers in the city, coupled with a federal consent decree to address local law-enforcement procedures, Ross says it's understandable that any assessment will be delivered with caveats and cautions.
"So police are cautious, in some cases overly cautious about what they say, what they do in these kinds of situations," he notes.
See the WBFF-TV story.
Learn more about Prof Ross and UB's School of Criminal Justice.