В Фредерике снизилось преступление на 17% благодаря новым программам профилактики и развитию доступного жилья

Crime within the city of Frederick is down 17% in July when compared to the same time last year. That’s according to Mayor Michael O’Connor, who announced it during his state of the city address Wednesday evening. The mayor went on to explain larceny is down by 21%, burglary by 18% and robbery by 34%. He said when crime occurs, you have to make arrests, but the more important side is asking how to prevent it in the first place. That, he said, takes opportunity. “What we’re doing in housing and human services, what we’re doing in our law enforcement assisted diversion (LEAD) program, what we’re doing with our crisis response team, these are all efforts to rethink the traditional role of police as a law enforcement agency,” O’Connor said. The LEAD program, introduced in 2022, helps to prevent repeat offenses in the case of low-level, non-violent crimes. It redirects a person prior to being booked into the criminal justice system, instead sending them to harm-reduction services. These programs focus on addressing underlying substance abuse issues, homelessness, and mental health concerns. Further addressing mental health emergencies, the crisis response team, which began in 2021, provides an alternative to traditional law enforcement. Teams are staffed with an officer, a paramedic and a mental health professional. This enables them to make more dynamic decisions than simply arresting someone. For O’Connor, it is about building a community where residents want to help each other. One where people’s needs are met, without the temptations to turn towards crime. To that end, the Mayor wants to use new city data to find more ways to build different kinds of housing. The city’s own housing study revealed Frederick will need approximately 14,000 new housing units by 2035. Additionally, more than 45% of city residents live below the ALICE threshold, which stands for access limited, income constrained but employed. It represents those who cannot meet their needs, but do not fall beneath national poverty levels. O’Connor wants to see a greater level of diversity in the types of housing throughout the city. Currently, single family homes make up 63.9% of all city housing units. 24.2% are high density, with the remaining 11.9% being medium density. The city has courted the idea of single room occupancy, where residents rent a single room and share the cost burden of shared kitchen and hygiene spaces. Keeping different kinds of housing nearby each other, such as single family homes, apartments and even condominiums, he said is important. “We need to see more of that kind of opportunity spread through more of the city,” O’Connor explained. “Because that really creates neighborhoods that are diverse and inclusive.” The mayor wants to ensure that opportunity is shared equally among residents, including the city’s immigrant populations. This year saw the Maryland General Assembly ban local jurisdictions from entering into 287(g) immigration enforcement agreements with ICE. Only months later, ICE purchased an 800,000 square foot warehouse in Washington county. Plans are to renovate it into a 1,500 capacity detention center. In April, the city council unanimously voted to approve the City Values Act, which put clear guidelines on how city employees can interact with ICE agents and other immigration enforcement operations. City Council President César Díaz has said many residents are afraid to access services and aid due to the actions of ICE.