Many residents of Baltimore are blaming Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake for the historic wave of crime sweeping through the city since the protests surrounding the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody.
Over the last two months the city has suffered a stunning wave of violence, which has resulted in more than 60 murders, an 82 percent spike in shootings over the previous year, and a 50 percent increase in homicides over the previous year.
To explain the surge in crime, Mayor Rawlings-Blake—newly elected to the prestigious position of president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors—has repeatedly pointed to the Baltimore Police Department, suggesting that they are deliberately undermining her by refusing to do their jobs.
"We know there are some officers who we have some concerns about," said Rawlings-Blake in June. "As long as they plan to cash their paycheck, my expectation is that they work."
But as The Daily Beast found, many of the Baltimoreans are pointing in a different direction: to City Hall.
"The slowdown has nothing to do with what the mayor is saying," an unnamed 30-year veteran BPD lieutenant told The Daily Beast. "Whenever you have police officers get indicted the community always feels emboldened."
And the residents of Gray's neighborhood in West Baltimore seem to agree, with some going "so far as to echo the FOP in saying Mayor Rawlings-Blake was negligent in her handling of the riots":
While he waited to buy water ice from an elderly street vendor across from William Mcabee Park in Sandtown, Chris, a 37 year-old local, agreed that criminal elements in the community have become bolder since the April protests.
"People are getting killed here every week," he said, laying the blame squarely at City Hall. "It’s the mayor’s fault, she told the police to stand down. She could have stopped this if she wanted to."
As he talked, the vendor—who would not give his name—and another waiting customer both nodded in agreement. Chris said he expects expects the violence will continue into the summer months.
Asked why he thinks violent crime has spiked in the city since April, Corron—who is 14—said: "Because people know police aren’t gonna do anything."
Though Mayor Rawlings-Blake said she would use her new position as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors to Baltimore's benefit by pushing the "urban agenda," some question the wisdom of her taking the time-consuming position while her city faces crisis.
Though the presidency may be "a nice feather in her cap," Baltimore political science professor John Dedie said, "the people of Baltimore want her in Baltimore out doing things. ... She needs to be focused on bringing Baltimore back."
