By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
Baltimore City Mayor Brandon M. Scott (D) met with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) and several others at City Hall on Jan. 7. There, alongside many city officials and community partners, they outlined 2025 public safety priorities for the city and state.
“Every single Marylander has a right to feel safe in their own community, has a right to feel safe in their own neighborhood and has a right to feel safe in their own skin,” said Moore.
At the press conference, Moore announced that the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 “budget will propose an additional $122 million in local aid for police protection.”
“In this year’s budget, we will propose increased funding and coordination with the Department of Juvenile Services, including an additional $4.2 million to expand evidence-based community interventions,” continued Moore.
During the announcement, Moore revealed that the full FY26 budget proposal will be unveiled on Jan. 15th.
In 2025, Scott said his administration will “double and triple down on what we know works.”
“We will continue to push ourselves, to push others, to save more lives, get more guns off the streets, get more violent criminals off the streets and break the vicious cycle of violence,” said Scott. “We will continue to invest in a holistic evidence-based approach, support BPD (Baltimore Police Department) each and every day, strengthen collaborations with our partners, expand GVRS (Group Violence Reduction Strategy) to the southern and beyond and continue to invest in proven community violence intervention efforts.”
As well, leaders acknowledged historic accomplishments from previous years.
“I’m proud of the work that we’ve gotten done together so far, and I’m humbled by the work ahead,” said Moore. “Our commitment to the people to the state of Maryland is this…we will stay coordinated, we will stay vigilant, we will continue to make Maryland safer and we will continue to move in partnership.”
Scott pointed out that in 2023 Baltimore City saw a historic 20 percent decrease in homicides. In 2024, that decline grew even more.
“We collectively reduced homicides by another 23 percent,” said Scott. “Pushed non-fatal shootings down by an impressive 34 percent–that is something that has never been done before in the City of Baltimore.”
He also highlighted that in 2024, there were “74 percent fewer young people, who are the victims of gun violence in Baltimore.”
Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley stated that this percentage “equates to a number of 57 less young people, who were the victim of a homicide or a shooting, in just one year.”
Moore recalled the work he put forth in 2023, his first year in office, toward public safety initiatives.
“We rolled out an all the above approach when it came to public safety,” said Moore. “We would actively work with our partners and stakeholders to communicate and coordinate, to make sure we are addressing the crime rate. We funded community groups, and created a first-of-its-kind initiative to disrupt childhood poverty and uplift the communities where violence is both the cause and the consequence.”