Gov. Wes Moore laid out the Moore-Miller administration’s vision to address public safety in Maryland. The strategy is focused on supporting law enforcement; building stronger, more vibrant communities; coordinating across all aspects of government; and investing in Maryland’s youth through the Safe Summer initiative.
Through the Maryland Department of State Police, the administration is bolstering coordination with local and federal law enforcement agencies through the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center. MCAC is the focal point between Maryland’s public safety agencies and provides critical data, analysis, and insight into criminal activity.
In his first budget, Governor Moore invested $11 million in MCAC to expand staffing and invest in technology infrastructure. Since the beginning of 2023, MCAC has worked with more than 275 federal, state and local agencies in Maryland and around the country on a wide range of issues, from homicides to robberies to fraud to retail theft. This year in Baltimore, MCAC investigative support for the Baltimore City Police Department has increased by 23%.
As a model for the governor’s all-of-the-above approach to public safety, the Department of Juvenile Services is launching its Safe Summer initiative, which prioritizes early intervention to build a more effective, less expensive and better long-term approach to improving public safety, as well as bolstering opportunity for youth involved in Maryland’s juvenile justice system.
To set the stage for Maryland’s Safe Summer initiative, the department defined three priorities:
● To direct more resources to Prince George’s, Montgomery, Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties; and Baltimore City — the five jurisdictions that account for 75% of youth violence referrals in Maryland;
● To launch an initiative focused on 25 youth under state supervision who are at the highest risk of shooting someone or being shot, based on the Group Violence Reduction Strategy in West Baltimore — where homicides and non-fatal shootings have fallen by 33% since 2022, and about 50% since 2017; and
● To create new partnerships across state government and in our communities that will build upon our young people’s strengths, rather than focusing on extinguishing their deficits.
“An all-of-the-above approach to improving public safety in Maryland requires preventing crime, holding criminals accountable and addressing the root causes of crime,” said Moore. “Good government is about making strong choices. And we are going to make the choice to act on public safety ― in a way that is robust, strategic, and moves with an urgency that the issue demands; in a way that doesn’t just react to crime, but actually prevents crime.”