Still, in the past 40 years, only one Baltimore police commissioner has overseen a more substantial homicide drop, when there was a reduction of 59 homicides in 1976 under Donald C. Pomerleau.
Commissioner Edward T. Norris achieved a similar drop in killings in 2000, when homicides fell from 305 to 261. He said he and then-Mayor Martin O'Malley celebrated the milestone of falling below 300 by sharing a shot of Irish moonshine whiskey. But after clearing what he called "low-hanging fruit" and putting new initiatives in place, further gains proved difficult.
Norris, who now hosts a radio show and speaks often about crime, said the current administration's strategy is effective.
"I'm an advocate of keeping the pressure on every day - the crooks can feel it, when things are hot and when they're not," Norris said.
O'Malley, now governor, has rededicated the departments of Parole and Probation and Juvenile Services to work more closely with Baltimore, as well as Baltimore and Prince George's counties, on targeting those who are at risk for committing acts of violence or becoming victims.
The number of people on parole and probation charged with murder in Baltimore fell from 60 in 2006 to 19 in 2008. And homicides across the Baltimore region fell 20 percent in 2008, according to statistics provided by the state, with every county recording a decline.
"You've got to figure out who the most violent offenders are and try and predict who is the most likely to get back in the game," said Kristen Mahoney, director of the governor's Office of Crime Control & Prevention, who worked for the city from 1998 to 2007. "The [Baltimore] Police Department and Parole and Probation have done a tremendous job to reinvent themselves and walk lock-step in these cases."
As in years past, homicide suspects as well as victims were likely to have criminal records - 87 percent and 82 percent, respectively - and 34 percent of suspects and victims were on parole and probation at the time of the killing, statistics that officials say reinforce the need to serve warrants and watch closely for probation violations.
"I know the research says the ability of police to control or influence homicides is negligible," Bealefeld said. "But I've also been a cop here for 27 years, and I see dead guys that had open warrants on them. I see suspects that had open warrants on them at the time of their offenses. And that tells me, dig in on these warrants and maybe we can do something."
