There may be little Baltimore can do to escape these larger national trends, but that doesn't mean the city shouldn't redouble efforts to build on the gains that were made last year. The high-visibility police presence in the city's most crime-ridden neighborhoods undoubtedly helped bring down the homicide rate, as did the targeting of known violent offenders. The pressure on the latter should remain unrelenting.
The city also must bolster public health initiatives such as Operation Safe Streets, Operation Safe Kids and the Violence Intervention Project at Maryland Shock Trauma, which mobilize communities against gun crimes and offer intensive case management counseling to shooting victims and at-risk youths.
At the same time, officials need to recognize that this isn't simply a policing problem. Many young people in poor communities see themselves with few prospects for jobs or other opportunities to improve their lives. Expanding after-school programs, recreational activities and social programs for youngsters may seem like unaffordable frills at a time of shrinking municipal budgets, but they can pay off big in terms of saving young lives.
