Four long years ago, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby halted prosecution of low-level quality-of-life crimes in hopes of containing the COVID-19 pandemic by diminishing the number of jailed inmates. After the COVID rationale disappeared with vaccines, she made permanent the non-prosecution of quality-of-life offenses, insisting such crimes are not a gateway to serious felonies.
Crime without punishment proved disastrous, however. Criminality flourished while the prosecutor fiddled. The ocular evidence was unmistakable: Illegal sales of bootleg alcohol outside the Fells Point businesses licensed to sell liquor; underaged public consumption; and ubiquitous drug distribution and possession of controlled substances.
Mosby’s de facto decriminalization of low-level offenses contributed to the election of Ivan J. Bates as Baltimore state’s attorney in 2022 on a platform to reverse gears on her non-prosecution policy. He honored the pledge on the day of his swearing-in.
But Bates refrained from acting like a bull in a china shop. He differentiated between incorrigible recidivists and youths eager for non-criminal intervention to set their lives on the straight and narrow through the Citation Docket. The latter are offered the option of community service and expungements of their arrest records if they meet certain criteria.
The Citation Docket contemplated a collaboration of the Baltimore Police Department with the State’s Attorney’s Office to restore accountability for crime. The latter began training every law enforcement agency across the city on writing and enforcing citations and collecting citation data to flag intentional or unintentional racial bias. The SAO further arranged for service providers to offer treatment and support for Citation Docket offenders at their respective court dates.
But City Hall slow-walked the SAO’s training of law enforcement agencies. It balked at signing a memorandum of understanding with the SAO to secure wrap-around services for offenders on the Citation Docket. And Baltimore is back to square one. Juveniles routinely ignore Mayor Brandon Scott’s curfew decree while selling and consuming bootleg alcoholic beverages outside Fells Point bars and thumbing their noses at law enforcement at midnight. Not a single citation has been forthcoming from Baltimore City police, ostensibly because they are prohibited for persons under age 18. A recent Baltimore Sun article quoted BPD consent decree monitor Kenneth Thompson saying nothing in the decree prevents the issuance of citations to juveniles.
Police commanders rejoin that internal BPD policy No. 1018 requires officers to give multiple warnings and offer resources to quality-of-life offenders “even if they are getting out of hand,” as a predicate for a citation. But are they purposely being obtuse? One warning only is required.
Why hasn’t policy 1018 been changed by the commissioner, who serves at the pleasure of the mayor, to harmonize with the Citation Docket process? Why haven’t the mayor and commissioner coordinated with the State’s Attorney’s Office? Are they silently sabotaging the Citation Docket initiative for ulterior motives?
Law enforcement is a collaborative endeavor. State’s Attorney Bates is honoring his part regarding quality-of-life crimes. But City Hall is not honoring its part. The ball now lies in the court of public opinion.
Armstrong Williams (awilliams@baltsun.com; @arightside) is a political analyst, syndicated columnist and owner of the broadcasting company, Howard Stirk Holdings. He is also part owner of The Baltimore Sun.