Progress is a choice, Baltimore.

Op-ed: Martin O'Malley lays out a blueprint to reduce violence and inequality in Baltimore.
June 10, 2016

'There are many things that led to the riot that followed the tragic custodial death of Mr. Freddie Gray a year ago this spring. Among the causes: lack of jobs, rising unemployment, declining wages, economic desperation, unresponsive government, unprofessional and poorly supervised policing, and videos of black citizens being killed in North Charleston, Ferguson, the Bronx.

But high arrest levels in Baltimore was not one of those causes.

In fact, arrest levels in Baltimore — after peaking in 2003 — had fallen to a 38-year low the year before Mr. Gray's tragic death. (It might have been longer than a 38 year low, but we only started keeping standard records 38 years ago.)

This year Baltimore is on track — once again — to have one of its highest numbers of homicides in over a decade. Shootings are up; confidence and trust are down.

In short, Americans are dying in record numbers on our city's streets. And if they were white rather than black, I doubt we'd accept inaction and excuses. If the perpetrators were from al Qaida rather than Aisquith Street, I am quite sure we would have a different response as a city.

The city deserves better. And for many years — almost every year — the city had been achieving better. With the combination of smarter law enforcement and more widely available drug treatment, we saved more and more lives every year. In fact, from 2000 to 2009, Baltimore achieved the greatest reduction in crime of any major city in America. In 2005, Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein brought the federal prosecutors office affirmatively into the mission of violent crime reduction. Then, with additional state cooperation and coordination beginning in 2007, the city achieved by 2011 its lowest homicide rate in decades.'>>>

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-omalley-maryland-20160611-story.html