Baltimore Mayor Bernard “Jack” Young has asserted that his administration is not to blame for the city’s persistent homicide rate. During a press conference in November 2019, Young addressed reporters, stating, “I’m not committing the murders.” This statement came in response to growing criticism regarding the city’s inability to curb violent crime.
Young, who assumed office in May 2019 following Catherine Pugh’s resignation due to a book-buying scandal, defended his leadership. He emphasized that neither he, the police commissioner, nor the city council were directly responsible for the acts of violence. “There’s not any lack of leadership of my part,” Young stated. “That’s what people need to understand. I’m not committing the murders. The police commissioner is not committing it. The council is not committing it. So how can you fault leadership?”
Baltimore has faced a troubling trend of high homicide numbers. According to The Baltimore Sun, the city was on track to exceed 300 homicides for the fifth consecutive year in 2019. With a population exceeding 600,000, the city’s violent crime statistics have drawn significant scrutiny.
Some observers have pointed to a potential correlation between reduced proactive enforcement by Baltimore police officers and the aftermath of Freddie Gray’s death in 2015. The highly publicized case and subsequent Baltimore riots, along with State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s unsuccessful attempts to prosecute the involved officers, may have created a chilling effect on the police department, leading to a decrease in reported criminal incidents.
Young’s comments followed an op-ed by John Hoey, president and CEO of the Y in Central Maryland, who criticized the city’s failure to reduce violent crime despite successes in other cities. Hoey highlighted the murder of a Y employee, Jordan Taylor, a youth sports coach, as a stark example of the crisis. Hoey wrote that the city of Baltimore has seen both a “crisis of confidence” and a “crisis of leadership.” He added that the people the Y serves “are doing their absolute best to live productive lives in neighborhoods that are incredibly violent and dangerous. They are being traumatized daily and are largely and disproportionately the victims of the violence.”
Hoey’s op-ed served as a plea to elected officials to prioritize addressing the city’s violent crime epidemic with urgency. “This is not a message about political preferences… Rather, this is a plea to those in elected office, and those who seek to be, to acknowledge the crisis we are in and to focus on it like your hair’s on fire, because our city is, essentially on fire.”
Despite the criticism, Mayor Young maintained that every agency in the city recognizes the urgency of reducing crime. He stated, “We’re going to get the bad guys. We’re going to get them,” as reported by Fox News.
State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby actions had a chilling effect on the police department.