Posted on 05/19/25
| News Source: WBAL
Baltimore, MD - May 19, 2025 - On Monday, with C4 and Bryan Nehman, Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said historic reductions in violent crime across the city are the result of strategic partnerships, a shift in police culture, and strong leadership across multiple agencies.
Speaking in-studio, Worley highlighted the success of the Group Violence Reduction Strategy.
“I think it plays a huge part because it’s a partnership,” Worley said. “That’s the only way we’re gonna succeed in Baltimore. No one entity can do it themselves, so you’ve gotta have everyone working together. The group Violence Reduction Strategy has the mayor, police commissioner, and state’s attorney all working together, but under us three also falls. All our federal and state partners, all the different groups that have helped us to run this strategy.”
Worley also credited a major shift within the police department itself, saying, “We’ve changed our culture.”
“We’re not the same department we were,” Worley said. “Officers are showing more patience. Arrest is now the last resort, not the first.”
Worley spoke on the previous decline in 2011 and 2014, saying that since it’s been done, it can happen again.
“If everybody continues to work together and it becomes sustained, and then you see success,” he said.
Worley also praised the collaboration with Baltimore’s new State’s Attorney, the Mayor’s Office, and state and federal partners.