BALTIMORE — The Baltimore office charged with implementing the city’s Group Violence Reduction Strategy defended itself in a letter delivered to the City Council on Friday, arguing the process of reversing violent trends in the city is not “overnight work.”
The Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement “has remained diligently focused on meeting the ambitious timelines and targets we established during our foundational year so that we are in a position to maintain course and ramp up our efforts moving forward,” said Shantay Jackson, MONSE’s director, in the letter made public Friday.
Nearly six months into the implementation of a pilot program in the city’s Western District, GVRS, a centerpiece of Mayor Brandon Scott’s crime fighting strategy, aims to intercept those most vulnerable to becoming shooters or victims and offer them services to avoid becoming involved in crime.
