2015–2021 Term Report

YEAR
THREE
Whether it was kicking off the third year
of the Junior State’s Attorney Program or
starting the new B’More PopUps on Friday
nights, the SAO continued to illustrate
ways to be “smart on crime” and address
crime holistically by tackling recidivism
and deterring youth violence through the
implementation of innovative criminal
justice initiatives.
Leadership in the city once again changed
when Mayor Catherine Pugh removed
Police Commissioner Kevin Davis and
replaced him with Commissioner Darryl
DeSouza, who then shortly thereafter
resigned after criminal charges were filed
against him.
This year also witnessed one of the largest
police corruption scandals in the history of
the country. Eight Baltimore police officers
who served in a high-profile gun unit, The
Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF), were indicted
on federal racketeering charges — the
officers abused their power by planting
guns and drugs on citizens and stole large
sums of cash between 2014 and 2016. The
indictments and convictions resulted in
numerous investigations and the SAO
reviewed more than 2,500 cases related
to GTTF.
Despite these challenges, the SAO
continued to hold violent offenders
accountable and saw major successes. This
included the doubling in size of the Victims
and Witnesses Services division, made
possible by a competitive $2.4M grant
awarded to the SAO from the Governor’s
Office of Crime Control and Prevention
through the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA).
CONVICTION RATES
93%
FELONY
87%
GUN VIOLENCE
ENFORCEMENT
DIVISION
95%
SPECIAL
VICTIMS UNIT
80%
HOMICIDE
97%
MAJOR
INVESTIGATIONS
UNIT
99%
NARCOTICS
Gun Violence Enforcement Division (GVED)
and Narcotics were established during the Mosby
administration in November of 2016.
15ANGLE-RI Sao at a glance 2017