Once again, murders in our city continue to be committed with alarming, frightening and painful frequency. As you’ve undoubtedly heard, more than 300 people have been killed in Baltimore for the 8th consecutive year.

The horrible count stands at 308 as of this morning. That’s exactly the number of people killed up to this date last year. 652 people have been wounded by gunfire in 2022, three fewer than as of this date in 2021.

There are bright spots to point to. In the Western district, typically one of the city’s most violent, homicides are down 35%. That’s the district where a pilot program of the Group Violence Reduction Strategy has been in place for the past 11 months.

On Monday here on Midday, Tom spoke with Shantay Jackson, the director of the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement about her team’s work implementing the violence prevention plan that Mayor Brandon Scott rolled out in the summer of 2021.

Tomorrow on Midday, Tom will speak with Mayor Scott.

Tom's guest today is Baltimore City Police Commissioner Michael Harrison. He was appointed as our city’s top cop in 2019 after successfully overseeing a decrease in crime in his native New Orleans.

Commissioner Harrison, who is recovering from a bout of influenza, joins us on Zoom… 

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