Baltimore Focused Deterrence Project

Grantees are funded under this initiative to develop program activities based on the core strategies of the Comprehensive Gang Model. Category 2, Suppression, supports focused deterrence and suppression strategies aimed at preventing and reducing youth gang violence. Organizations are encouraged to develop and implement a variety of suppression strategies aligned with the suppression core strategy described in the OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Model.

Baltimore Police Department's (BPD) Crime Reduction and Departmental Transformation Plan is a comprehensive violence reduction strategy based on five pillars: prevention, intervention, enforcement, rehabilitation, and reentry. It uses OJJDP’s comprehensive anti-gang strategy and is based on the recognition that law enforcement alone is a necessary, yet insufficient, response to youth violence. A central feature of the plan is the relaunch of a well-researched and resourced focused deterrence initiative (FDI) that brings together local and federal law enforcement partners, including the USAO, community members, and social service partners with the goal of reducing homicides and nonfatal shootings by at least 10 percent per year. FDI aims to improve life outcomes, suppress gangs, and reduce recidivism rates for youth at the highest risk of engaging in serious violence, and build better relationships between the community and police. The initiative will focus on communities in Baltimore’s historically impoverished and disinvested eastern, western, and southwestern police districts, which collectively account for about 50 percent of the city’s youth homicides. BPD and its partners will be adjusting for past FDI implementation challenges. This includes (1) investing in a robust service response for high-risk youth, (2) bringing on a highly qualified technical assistance team to support implementation with fidelity, and (3) providing appropriate analytical support. BPD will hire and retain a full-time, dedicated crime analyst to lead day-to-day data analysis on project activities and implementation. The analyst will be integral in delivering on the full promise of the FDI intervention by assessing progress toward violence reduction goals; better informing the deployment of law enforcement, community, and social service resources; and assessing the quality of implementation. CA/NCF