In Baltimore's most stubbornly violent districts, police have taken a decidedly different approach this year: staying put.
As the city continues to march toward a historic year-to-year drop in homicides, two of the biggest success stories are coming from the Eastern and Western districts, which have long been among the city's bloodiest.
Police leaders say a major factor is the consistent presence of an enforcement team focused on developing intelligence on violent criminals who frequent those areas.
"History repeats itself," said Deputy Commissioner Anthony Barksdale. "Historically, there's going to be more violence and more trouble in these areas. It's a basic principle: cops at the right areas, at the right times. ... They're out there to do one thing: get bad guys with guns."
With less than three months to go in 2008, there have been 172 homicides this year compared with 238 at this point last year - good for a 28 percent drop.
If that pace holds, the city would record the largest single-year decrease - both as a percentage and in raw numbers - of any year since at least 1970.
Police said there are many possible explanations for the decline in homicides this year, including greater coordination between local, state and federal authorities.
But they believe the city's new approach to these perennially dangerous corners of the city has been a factor.
In the past, they said, there was a tendency to shift resources in response to developing crises, a temporary solution that sought to prevent incidents from spiraling out of control but which potentially left other areas vulnerable. And leaders say such rapid deployments are still a useful and necessary strategy as police evaluate crime trends on a day-to-day, sometimes hour-by-hour basis.
The geography factor
But members of the recently formed Violent Crime Impact Division's enforcement team remain rooted in the Eastern and Western districts, along with the Northwest District. Police declined to disclose the number of officers in those teams, which supplement beat officers and other units operating in the area.
"The thinking behind it is, if you map out violent crime and look at homicides and shootings in general, you'll see they occur in the same geographical areas," said Col. Dean Palmere, who heads the VCID unit. "Once you identify and learn those individuals in those geographical boundaries, and you work up historical information, it gives you a guide - it gives you what window you should be looking in."
