Earmarks. You gotta love ’em. Well, the Baltimore police does, ’cause there’s $1.1 million headed their way as part of The Baltimore City Gun Violence Reduction Initiative. Which was an earmark on H.R. 2847, The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act. In case you’re wondering, “The Gun Violence Reduction Initiative aims to substantially reduce shootings and homicides in Baltimore City through a multi-faceted approach to reducing violent crime. This includes timely gathering and dissemination of gang and crime analysis, targeted enforcement and prosecution of violent offenders through Baltimore EXILE [download fact sheet pdf here], and suppression of gun trafficking under Baltimore’s multi-jurisdictional Gun Trace Task Force [download face sheet pdf here]. Funds will be used to hire dedicated crime analysts to research and track known violent offenders, hire support personnel to develop case files for EXILE prosecutions, implement technology enhancements to better track gun offenders and collect gun trace data, and support police resources dedicated to the Gun Trace Task Force and Baltimore EXILE. This will lead to a reduction in violent activity in the City of Baltimore.” Or not.
