Posted on 06/23/21
| News Source: The Hill
Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said Tuesday that he would like to see more “boots on the ground” and additional funding for his department amid a surge in violent crime in cities across the country.
During an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Harrison noted that Baltimore like other big cities is seeing a spike in violence, with the Maryland city recording 18 homicides in the past 10 days alone.
The police chief said this has resulted from a “number of issues,” like gang violence and “retaliation from previous bad acts,” but that the city has seen a particular increase in “close acquaintance shootings and domestic violence shootings.”
Harrison, who said his department is roughly 230 officers short of its current budget, argued that his department is in severe need of more officers for “not just law enforcement,” but also to “build those relationships because we need the community’s help in helping us solve these murders so we can hold these bad actors accountable for terrorizing our community.”
His remarks come ahead of President Biden’s planned Wednesday address to discuss rising crime in U.S. cities over the last 18 months. He is also expected to unveil a comprehensive crime reduction strategy.
Last year, homicide rates rose about 25 percent nationally, with the murder rate in Atlanta rising more than 50 percent year-on-year as of May.
When asked by Tapper what he would like to hear from the president on Wednesday, Harrison said that the response to a surge in crime should be multifaceted.