Marilyn Mosby’s experiment in ‘progressive prosecution’ calls for patience
Ask San Francisco or Chicago How's That working for Them

Something in short supply in crime-and-grime-weary Baltimore | COMMENTARY
Throughout the many years since it became a destination for revelers, Fells Point was known for barrooms and drinking (and heavy drinking and even heavier drinking) and sometimes a brawl. It was not known for gunfire. So when shots rang out last weekend and three people ended up wounded, business owners raised hell — 30 of them threatened to withhold taxes unless the city stops the midnight mayhem that led to gunfire — and three law enforcement agencies flooded the zone to restore order.

That’s the way things work in this town: Places that are stable and relatively affluent, the parts that attract tourists, the areas with engaged citizens and business owners who make campaign contributions — those places know how to make noise and get what amounts to an emergency response from City Hall.

This old-school strategy might make sense in the short term. But it doesn’t get to the underlying problems unless the law enforcement response is combined with, even surpassed by, social services.

That was tried once, in 2013, when the city under former Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake blocked off a street in the Oliver neighborhood for several days, sent in extra cops, removed trash, put up a tent and offered all kinds of on-the-spot help for low-income people who needed drug treatment, employment, child care, legal advice, medical attention and healthier food.

If Baltimore is ever going to come out of its tailspin, we have to see consistent efforts like that sustained over a long period of time. It calls for a holistic approach, a whole culture of recovery, something big and transformative.

Which gets me to Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby. In March, she declared the war on drugs over and told us that her staff would no longer prosecute drug possession cases and other minor offenses. She said she had formed a partnership with a nonprofit provider to get more people with addictions and mental disorders into treatment.

It’s too early in Mosby’s experiment in “progressive prosecution” to declare it a success or failure. It might seem intuitive to blame the recent mess in Fells Point on her messaging, but it’s too soon to tell if announcing fewer prosecutions will lead to more crime and mayhem. It’s also too soon to know if it will lead more people out of the cycle of crime, addiction and failure.

All that calls for patience, something in short supply in crime-and-grime-weary Baltimore.  baltimoresun.com

Editor's Note: The progressive movement is on the clock and seems like everyone is watching for some sort of resounding success or they're close to the point of throwing in the towel and getting back to normal law enforcement.