Baltimore police report consent-decree milestones and continued declines in homicides
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Summary
Commissioner Worley told the Public Safety Committee that three consent-decree sections became fully compliant in January 2025 and additional areas entered sustainability periods; he highlighted 133 homicides last year and early 2026 metrics showing modest year-to-year improvement.
Commissioner Worley told the Baltimore City Public Safety Committee that the police department has reached several compliance milestones under its federal consent decree and is continuing to see overall crime improvements.
"We had 3 more sections of the consent decree that became full and effective compliant as of January 2025," Worley said, naming First Amendment-protected activity, the community oversight task force and coordination with Baltimore City Schools as the newly compliant sections, and reminding the committee that prisoner transport and officer assistance and wellness had earlier been returned to effective compliance.
Worley said two additional areas—recruitment/hiring/retention and technology—came into compliance on Jan. 29 and now must complete sustainability periods (technology: one year; recruitment: two years) before being considered fully closed. He told the committee the department will nevertheless continue internal monitoring of those topics after formal exit from consent-decree oversight.
On crime trends, Worley said Baltimore recorded 133 homicides last year, the lowest total the department has recorded since the 1970s. "As we start off 2026, we ended up with 10 homicides in January compared to 11 last year," he said, adding that robberies and many other categories were down year over year. He cautioned that nonfatal shootings were slightly up but said some of those cases may be reclassified as self-inflicted after investigation.
Worley also reviewed enforcement metrics tied to new units and local operations: gun-related arrests were down about 34 percent in the period shown and total arrests down roughly 19 percent, while a recently formed citywide traffic team produced early totals of 405 car stops, 363 moving violations and seven arrests in just over a week of activity.
The commissioner highlighted recruitment gains—229 trainees hired in 2025 versus 159 in 2024—and said the department is approaching 2,100 sworn officers but remains roughly 400 short of historical levels. He estimated a realistic net increase of roughly 150 officers this year after accounting for attrition and said the department plans to shift toward 12-hour patrol shifts to reduce forced overtime.
Council members asked for an updated graphic showing consent-decree progress and remaining items; staff said some slides could not be released until court filings cleared but committed to posting the graphic by the committee's next meeting.