Baltimore State's Attorney discounts connection between unrest and homicide surge
The Baltimore Sun
By Justin Fenton | September 5, 2015, 10:58AMBaltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby discounted a connection between this summer's surge in murders and the unrest following the death of Freddie Gray, saying she believes it is a "cyclical" uptick connected to the city's old zero-tolerance policies.
Mosby, appearing on WMAR-TV/ABC2's "Square Off" program, was responding to Maryland Shock Trauma Physician-in-Chief Dr. Thomas Scalea, who said the crime spike "seems temporally related to the riots." The discussion will air at 11 a.m. Sunday.
"I tend to disagree," Mosby interjected. "I think the violence was already going up. When you look at January, it was already like 28 murders. How many snow days did we have in January?"
Mosby said that so-called "zero tolerance" policies, implemented during the tenure of former Mayor Martin O'Malley, had eroded trust of law enforcement in many Baltimore neighborhoods and was fueling this year's spike by making resident less inclined to help police solve crimes.
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This year, Baltimore had recorded 65 homicides in 109 days as of April 25 — the first day of disturbances following Gray's death. By that same date, the city had seen 54 homicides in 2014, 66 in 2013, 59 in 2012, and 65 in 2011, data show.
The number of killings has exploded since then, with 158 people killed in 130 days from April 25 through the end of August, including 45 homicides in July alone.
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