Police Boundaries Redistricting
Last week, the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) released its proposed map of the new police district boundaries. The boundaries have not changed in over 50 years, but the population shift has. BPD came up with these boundaries using data such as calls for service, population, vacant properties, and crime incidences. The map attempts to fix the issues like district size and geography. For instance, Northeastern District was the largest geographic district, making it difficult for the commander to cover the entire area.
To provide your input directly to the BPD, click on this link.
For District 14, the proposed map has the following features:
Neighborhoods west of Greenmount Avenue are proposed to remain in Northern District. This includes Hoe’s Heights, Hampden, Stone Hill, Rolden, Roland Park, Remington, Alonsoville, Tuscany Canterbury, Guilford, Oakenshawe, Charles Village, Abell, and JHU Homewood Campus.
Neighborhoods east of Greenmount Avenue are proposed to be moved into the Eastern District except for two. Neighborhoods proposed for the Eastern District are Waverly, Better Waverly, Ednor Gardens-Lakeside, Coldstream Homestead Montebello, Clifton Park, and Mayfield. Darley Park was always in the Eastern District and is proposed to stay there.
Two neighborhoods are proposed to remain in Northeastern District: Original Northwood, Hillen, and all of Lake Montebello.
My initial thoughts include the following items:
I am not happy about Greenmount Avenue being split between two police districts. The challenges along the corridor require a coordinated response. We cannot have two commanders with two different ideas of what to do. We also cannot have a coordinated response with two districts rather than one. It also reinforces our long-standing divisions that we are trying to rectify and remove through coordinated work with all of the neighborhoods in the area.
Moving most of the neighborhoods in my district into Eastern District is a dramatic change. Some neighbors have expressed reservations about it because of the perception that eastern district has been a very challenged district. I want to share that the current commander, Major Thacker, is an amazing leader. He is innovative about the approach to policing, which includes coordinating agencies for working on neighborhood challenges, youth engagement, and more. He inspires his officers to also be innovative and to be partners in their communities. Should our area remain in the Eastern district, he will be amazing to work with.
(Update 7.14.2022) I have heard from many residents since posting this initial blog. There is much concern over the move to Eastern District, because it seems like the more crime-ridden areas have also moved into this district or have been there already. While many of the more challenging areas have been moved out of the Eastern, it still will be a very challenging district. Residents are concerned about response times and resource allocation if the district includes a lot of challenging area. Moreover, there are questions about how the decision was made, when we have a heavy presence in Ednor Gardens and in CHM which makes our crime rates look good. If those let up, it will be a problem.
I would like Lake Montebello to be in the same district as the rest of the neighborhoods surrounding it. That is not the case in this map.
I want to hear from you. Please email me at odette.ramos@baltimorecity.gov to let me know your thoughts. Don’t forget to also send BPD your thoughts on this link as soon as possible.