Last week, Tara Huffman, director of OSI’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice program, co-wrote a Baltimore Sun op-ed with Shane Bryan of the Ednor Gardens-Lakeside Community Association, asking “Is community-driven policing the answer to Baltimore’s problems?“
As Huffman and Bryan describe in the op-ed, “Micro-community policing plans allow each community to partner with local law enforcement to develop a policing strategy that addresses the specific needs of an individual community.” First piloted in Seattle, WA, this policing strategy has become the standard in Seattle. The plans use a bottom up approach that marries police data with the knowledge and skills from those who live and work in the community. Each plan is evaluated and revised annually.
They went on to announce that, “On Jan. 15, the Ednor Gardens-Lakeside community entered into a partnership with Open Society Institute-Baltimore to lay the framework for what a community-driven micro-community policing strategy can look like in Baltimore.”
Also last week, Huffman spoke to a gathering of the 1st District’s Public Safety Task Force (pictured), convened by Councilman Zeke Cohen, about creating another micro-policing pilot in South Baltimore.
Huffman and Cohen also participated in a Public Safety Town Hall, convened by the DMVDaily Radio Show, along with Councilman Brandon Scott, Leslie Carter of the Southwest Roundtable, and others.