U.S. Attorney’s Office Credits Multi-Jurisdictional Crime Reduction Collaborative for Sharp Decline in Violent Crime Across Maryland

Baltimore, Maryland – Today, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland announced that statewide violent crime continued to significantly decline in 2024. In Maryland, homicides and non-fatal shootings are down, and Baltimore City’s violent-crime rate dropped for the third year in a row.

Since 2021, statewide homicides have declined by 32 percent while Baltimore City, which saw 201 homicides in 2024, has recorded a 41-percent decrease during the same timeframe. The U.S. Attorney’s Office credits strategic collaboration between Federal, State, City law enforcement, and community partners for the positive direction.

“I’m very proud of the leadership that this office’s public servants have shown in coordinating law enforcement and community efforts throughout Maryland and beyond to protect our nation and promote safer communities,” said U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron. “We will continue to be a force-multiplier for the work of our various Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies, and community-based partners.”

These efforts are connected to the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). This program brings together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make neighborhoods safer for everyone. Recent results show how the power of strong collaborations correlate with major declines in violence, as Baltimore City recorded its lowest homicide total since 2011. For example, in Baltimore City, the multi-jurisdictional collaborative has:

• Assembled the largest-ever, State-funded team of special federal prosecutors, and legal and investigative professionals to indict firearm offenses. In 2023, this enabled the U.S. Attorney’s Office to adopt a record-high number of gun cases from the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office.  
   
• Strategically investigated and federally prosecuted repeat violent offenders, who drive the most violence in our communities, by any legal means necessary. This tactic has led to impactful prosecutions. For example, the collaborative shut down an international Chinese money laundering and drug trafficking organization after investigating one of its ringleaders who was shot at twice within a two-week span of violence in Baltimore City. 
   
• Leveraged the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s multi-agency taskforce to not only federally prosecute violent criminal organizations, but to also help local partners land impactful prosecutions. For example, through Operation Tornado Alley, the largest takedown in Baltimore in decades, the State’s Attorney’s Office charged 40 individuals with drug trafficking and firearm offenses.

Through these strategic, collaborative efforts, the office has reduced costly and unnecessary incarceration. The collaborative’s use of strategic law enforcement, along with various prevention and intervention methods, has resulted in a 40-percent decline in the federal pre-trial detention rate since 2018. For example, the U.S. Attorney’s Office actively supports reducing barriers to successful reentry and collaborative community-based outreach efforts aimed at youth and young adults, including by working with organizations such as ROCA Baltimore. 

For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit justice.gov/usao-md and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

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