WASHINGTON 鈥� The year 2017 was a tale of two cities when it came to violent crime in the District and in Baltimore, Maryland.
As of Thursday morning, Baltimore had recorded more than 340 homicides 鈥� an increase of about 8 percent over last year鈥檚 318.
This year’s crime numbers聽set a record for the city in terms of homicides per capita.
鈥淣o one is proud of this violence,鈥� said Baltimore police spokesman T.J. Smith earlier in the year. 鈥淚t shouldn鈥檛 be tolerated. We should be doing what we can to make聽sure there is not another person who is associated with that number.鈥�
Mayor Catherine Pugh planned to host a candlelight vigil Thursday evening to remember the victims and to recognize the families impacted by violent crime.
鈥淕uns, gangs and drugs are what鈥檚 driving much of this,鈥� Smith said.
At a news conference Thursday, Kevin Davis, the city’s police commissioner, called the murder rate “unacceptably high” and vowed to implement new crime fighting聽initiatives in the coming year.
It was a different story in D.C., where homicides dropped about 16 percent. The District had 113 murders, down from 134 last year.
鈥淐rime is down significantly,鈥� Kevin Donahue, the city鈥檚 deputy mayor for public safety and justice, said in October.
Donahue spoke with Police Chief Peter 太子探花ham about an annual summer聽program聽that puts extra resources in neighborhoods that tend to struggle with higher聽crime numbers in聽warmer months.
The program was successful, officials said, with five neighborhoods seeing an overall 38 percent reduction in violent crime between May and the end of August.
太子探花ham said members of the community were also very helpful.
鈥淧eople have been overwhelmingly supportive in assisting,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e giving us tips and we鈥檙e able to hold these people accountable for their actions.鈥�
