Candidate for governor Kelly Schulz today made major announcements concerning her plans to tackle violent crime at a press conference in the Rosemont neighborhood of Baltimore City.
Rosemont is a neighborhood that has long been known for its blue-collar, hard-working people, but also a neighborhood that has also been the victim of out-of-control violent crime.
Issues of violent crime and public safety are top priorities across the state. Since she entered the race over a year ago, Kelly Schulz has been the only candidate who has focused on addressing this crisis, restoring law and order, and standing up for victims of violent crime. Marylanders deserve a governor who will be focused every single day on keeping communities safe.
Over the last six months, more than 180 murders have occurred Baltimore City. June was the deadliest month in seven years, and the first six months of this year were the most violent six-month stretch in the history of Baltimore. The city is on track to surpass 300 murders again this year and could reach 400.
Immediate action needs to be taken, and Kelly Schulz laid out a bold set of proposals which will help get crime under control.
Schulz’s crime plan includes:
1. Implementing a Baltimore Crime Commission, made up of top criminal justice and law enforcement experts from around the state and the country. If the City has an ineffective crime plan that is not working, then the Commission would be tasked with developing a plan.
2. Resources will be made available to hire hundreds of additional police officers for Baltimore City.
3. Emergency legislation will be submitted to ensure that repeat violent offenders are put behind bars and those who commit crimes with illegal guns receive stricter penalties.
4. Launching a two-year enforcement program which designates 25 elite prosecutors as special US Assistant Attorneys to build the strongest cases against Baltimore City’s most violent criminals.
5. Legislation will be submitted to establish a presumption at bail hearings that defendants are a public safety risk and therefore should be held until trial if they are charged with the use of a firearm in a crime of violence.
“I want to make it very clear that while we need new strategies to deal with crime, and we certainly need to put repeat violent offenders behind bars, we also need a renewed effort to bring hope and progress back to neighborhoods just like this,” said Kelly Schulz. “This is not a Republican issue, this is not a Democrat issue, it’s a human issue. And as a mother and a new grandmother, I am not going to watch young black boys either commit murder or be murdered themselves. We have to do something about it. It won’t be easy, I don’t have all of the answers, but I’m not afraid to have the tough conversations necessary to get these things done.”
Original source can be found here
