City leaders are establishing a new system to help tackle crime following another bloody weekend. A "War Room" is being set up to help with collaborative efforts between local and federal agencies. The around-the-clock system will help address the spike in violent crime in Baltimore since the death of Freddie Gray. Officials including Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Interim Police Commissioner Kevin Davis held a press conference Sunday to announce the effort.
“We need to just come together in a singular huddle and make sure that we don’t break that huddle until we start solving some of these violent crimes,” Davis said, adding that officials have identified four different groups that are responsible for a disproportionate amount of the crime.
The initiative was announced in a joint press conference with representatives from the partner agencies, which, in addition to the mayor’s office and police department, include the offices of Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby and Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein; the FBI; the DEA; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the U.S. Marshals Service.
“We are essentially declaring war on those individuals with no code of ethics killing women and killing children,” Mosby said.
Davis said the effort will go into effect immediately.
The announcement came during another bloody weekend in Baltimore. The Baltimore Sun reports seven people have been killed and more than a dozen were injured in shootings since Friday.
