Police call downtown Baltimore safe to visit

What if they lit Fourth of July fireworks in Baltimore – and nobody came?

That may be an improbable scenario as the annual Inner Harbor freedom fest approaches, yet the event has police and politicians pondering how to ease fears over public safety after months of high-profile attacks downtown.

“We are trying to reassure the public that downtown is safe – and right now, they do not believe that,” said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. “It is all about perception, and people have to feel safe. Perception is a very tough thing to deal with.”

Crime figures released by the city may show a 9 percent decrease over last year, but that has done little to calm the jitters downtown.

This spring, city crimes included:
● Five attacks reported in Federal Hill.
● A knife attack at the Inner Harbor in April.
● An assault on an off-duty police officer from New Jersey and his girlfriend.
● A nanny walking a child was attacked in mid-afternoon June 1; thugs rifled through the stroller, with the baby inside, to take an iPod.
● A venture capital firm, New Enterprises Associates, announced in early June that it’s moving its midtown headquarters to Timonium, mainly because of concerns about crime.

In a mid-May interview at police headquarters, Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III said the rise in gang involvement in the city has made law enforcement during the summer months, when young people are out of school and jobs are scarce, a challenge.

“One of the things that I bring to the table the best that no one else can is strict enforcement,” Bealefeld said. “No one else has the authority to go out and arrest these guys and confront them in the street the way we do, and it’s our responsibility.”

That stance was put to the test downtown this spring.

For weeks, police presence at the city’s main tourist attraction, Harbor Place, was intensified by 50 officers at Bealefeld’s order. The increased manpower seemed to quell incidents there, but downtown crime remains a topic of local blogs and radio talk shows. Guglielmi said that has rattled public perceptions.

And now comes Independence Day.

This Saturday, as in decades past, the Inner Harbor will be the city’s focal point for the annual celebration. Thousands are expected to descend on the waterfront for revelry and fireworks that begin after sundown, around 9:15 p.m.

“We will be out on horses, on foot and in the Command Center” at the Inner Harbor, Guglielmi said. “And Fox Trot [the department’s helicopter] will be in the air. You can expect to see a heavy presence of uniformed and undercover officers, including the commissioner himself.”

A couple of miles north, in the Mt. Vernon-Belvedere community, concerned residents and business owners say a recent spate of crime has been abated by increased patrols.

“I think things have calmed down,” said Jason Curtis, president of the Mt. Vernon-Belvedere Association, which sponsored a public meeting in mid-June after attacks near a night club at the historic Belvedere Hotel. “We have been concerned about the randomness of these violent attacks. Even though they haven’t happened in the last couple of weeks, it is still on our radar screen.”

The association has contributed $1,000 toward a reward for the arrest of assailants in attacks in the community, which have been occurring since October. In addition, the Charles Village Benefits District has donated Segways to transport a Citizens on Patrol group through the streets of midtown.

“Hopefully and collectively, we can all get together and find the best way to get this situation under control,” Curtis said. “Baltimore is not unlike any other big city in the U.S. You have to be vigilant, aware and alert.”

Representatives of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, a nonprofit corporation on Charles Street in center city devoted to promoting city life, formed a safety coalition 10 years ago. The coalition connects security officers from several downtown properties who meet to share information and discuss crime trends, said Kirby Fowler, president of the Downtown Partnership.

“Every day, there are on average 160,000 people downtown,” Fowler said. “And the normal experience is a safe experience downtown.”

Bealefeld said it’s all rooted in responsibility.

A bank of 480 surveillance cameras perched above streets in most of the city’s communities is helping. In addition, police officers are enforcing the weeknight street curfew for everyone under age 18. Young people found on the street after midnight are taken to a holding room at Baltimore City School headquarters on North Avenue for their parents to pick up. Many parents never show up, Guglielmi said; those youngsters are driven home by officers after 3 a.m.

“One of the key issues, and it’s in line with community policing and is not hugs and balloon animals, is really about accountability,” Bealefeld said. “This gang situation in Baltimore is very real and we stand on the cusp of going one way or the other. We have an opportunity in Baltimore that few other cities have. L.A. is now generations into their gang problem. You have grandparents [there] who were Bloods and Crips. And entire families whose lives are sewn into gangs and gang violence. We don’t have that in Baltimore, so we have to firewall off the next generation from this as creatively as we can.”

That’s the order this holiday weekend, Guglielmi said.

“People have to feel safe and we’re open to working with everybody to do this,” he said. “This is a community issue that Baltimore needs to rally around.”

Melody Simmons is a freelance writer based in Baltimore.