By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Political Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com

Mayoral candidate Bob Wallace discussed his public safety plan for Baltimore at his campaign headquarters in Hampden on Nov. 30.

“Nothing is more important than public safety. That’s why we felt it was a good idea to get out to the public our framework that we would use to provide public safety in Baltimore,” said Wallace to the press. “Continuous improvement is what we’ll have under Mayor Wallace.”

Wallace said he would put together an aggressive education and awareness campaign, implemented by the Baltimore Police Department, to educate youth about the consequences of crime as a preventive measure. He plans to enact this initiative within his first 90 days in office if elected.

His public safety plan includes tailored initiatives for specific neighborhoods and permanently closing Safe Streets, one of the city’s gun violence reduction programs.

“Continuous improvement is what we’ll have under Mayor Wallace.”

“We’re going to organize the city into villages. The villages will be a function of the common needs, hopes, fears and concerns,” said Wallace. “One system for the whole city does not work. For example, what may work in Federal Hill may not work in Cherry Hill. We’ll provide the services on a village-by-village level.”

Wallace said these services would include housing, transportation, education and economic development.

“Every village will have what we’re calling the ‘mayor’s station’ or ‘mini city hall.’ The services you’d normally have to go downtown to get you could get in the villages at the mayor’s stations,” he continued.

Safe Streets has received a mixed reception from the community, especially at several mayor-led town halls in August, where residents pressed the mayor for more transparency concerning the program. The FBI raided the Belair-Edison Safe Streets location in October, adding to the concerns of Baltimore residents. Wallace said he’d shut down the Safe Streets program within his first 90 days if elected.

Increasing police access to evolving technology is another important aspect of Wallace’s plan.

“Our vision is to make the Baltimore Police Department the most technologically advanced police force in the nation,” said Wallace. “There are so many different technologies we can implement for our officers to protect them and make them more effective.”

Some Baltimoreans have significant concerns about using technology to advance public safety. Wallace responded to those apprehensions.

“The best way to enforce it is to have oversight of their interactions . Like when an officer needs to get a warrant to arrest somebody. Or when they have to go into someone’s home, they go to a judge first, and the judge has to approve it. I think the same thing has to be done here,” said Wallace. “There has to be an unbiased third party that can look at the situation and keep the public’s safety and civil rights at the top and decide what is appropriate and what is not appropriate.”

Yolanda Pulley (D), a mayoral candidate, commented on Wallace’s plan.

“Technically I don’t see a plan. I don’t see a vision. I just see a bunch of talking points. Everybody’s going to say something about public safety because they know that these are points that people want to hear, but when it comes down to a vision and a plan, does anybody actually have one?” said Pulley of Cherry Hill. “If I saw someone who had a vision and passion for people in this community, I would drop my campaign and back them because I don’t believe in vote splitting or choosing politics over people.”

Pulley said it’s important that the next mayor looks out for the taxpayers, the “people in the projects” and homeless citizens.

“Wallace’s public safety village concept is interesting. Although his strategy does bring a ‘back to basics’ approach, which is needed, I believe my upcoming strategy for public safety, health and crime will have systems with more of a focus on input from the best minds in Baltimore,” said Wendell Freeman, a mayoral candidate (D). “Together, we will collaborate to efficiently, effectively and strategically bring about profound reductions in homicide, assaults, shootings, robberies, car thefts and crime throughout the city.”

Tashi McQueen is a Report For America corps member.

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