Report: Violent crime down nationwide, Maryland saw ups and downs

Violent crime declined across the country's largest jurisdictions during the first six months of this year, but results were mixed in four of Maryland's largest jurisdictions, according to preliminary data.

Last week's report from the Major Cities Chiefs Association said that in 69 of the nation's 70 largest cities and jurisdictions, murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults fell 6% overall in the first half of the year compared to the first six months of 2023. The New York Police Department did not provide data for this year's report.

However, Maryland saw ups and downs year-over-year. Robberies increased in Baltimore, Baltimore County and Montgomery, while rapes increased in the city and Prince George's County, the report said. There was also a slight increase in aggravated assaults in Prince George's.

While the national numbers are encouraging, there is still room for improvement, said Laura Cooper, executive director of the association. She wrote in an email Tuesday that while the number of serious assaults has decreased compared to 2023, it is still 16% higher than “pre-pandemic.”

“While we are moving in the right direction, there is still work to be done to return to pre-pandemic levels,” she wrote. “Funding is important, as are partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders and the community. Accountability is also key, and leveraging relationships with state and federal partners is often the recipe for success in dealing with repeat offenders.”

Cooper said the association, which has been collecting crime data since 2014, has not conducted an analysis of why certain crimes have decreased or increased in certain jurisdictions, such as Maryland.

In Baltimore City, murders fell from 142 in the first half of last year to 90 this year, while aggravated assaults fell from 3,028 last year to 2,624 this year. Rapes, however, increased slightly, from 97 to 105, and robberies rose from 1,502 to 1,590.

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A Baltimore Police spokesman said an officer was unavailable for comment Tuesday, but noted that the department is a finalist for an international award for its more than two-year-old community policing program, Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS). The winner will be announced during the 32nd annual Problem-Oriented Policing Conference Sept. 12-14 in Baltimore.

“GVRS is a great example of how cities across the country can implement evidence-based, targeted deterrence strategies to reduce violence in our communities while moving beyond the history of mass incarceration and building public safety the right way,” Mayor Brandon Scott said in a statement last month.

In neighboring Baltimore County, the number of robberies rose from 374 last year to 405 this year. The number of murders fell from 16 to 11, the number of rapes fell from 83 to 47 and the number of aggravated assaults fell from 1,192 to 1,133.

A similar pattern was observed in Montgomery County, where robberies increased from 278 to 325, but murders decreased from 15 to 5. Rapes decreased from 227 to 176, and aggravated assaults decreased from 518 to 503.

The number of reported aggravated assaults increased slightly in Prince George's County, from 370 in the first half of last year to 372 this year, while the number of rapes rose from 60 to 67. The number of murders remained unchanged at 49 and the number of robberies decreased slightly, from 725 to 718.

Police officials in Montgomery, Prince George's and Baltimore counties were unavailable to comment on the numbers Tuesday.

Kurt Wolfgang, executive director of the Maryland Crime Victims' Resource Center Inc., said he believes the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting program can provide more reliable statistics, but the 2023 numbers won't be released until the fall. However, he said it's good to see current statistics from the police chiefs association.

Although the latest report is positive, he believes that “crime has increased dramatically in my lifetime,” which he attributes to “a certain disintegration of our society over time.” “We no longer have the close family ties that we used to have.”

Wolfgang, who earned his bachelor's degree in criminology from the University of Maryland College Park, said more attention needs to be given to victims and survivors of crime. He is a member of the Citizens Advisory Board at the Patuxent Institution, where he said incarcerated people with “good behavior records” can take free college courses at Georgetown University.

“I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I think that's a very good thing,” he said. “But what hurts me is that there doesn't seem to be any effort to help victims of crime in the same way.”