In 1999, faced with an overburdoned overtime budget, the commander of Baltimore's Northeastern Police District closed the station to the public between midnight and 7 a.m. People who called got this recording: "Everyone is on the street. If is an emergency, dial 911."

Maj. Arthur Smith said he had to make a choice with the money he had: "Would you rather have someone in your neighborhood or sitting at a desk waiting for a phone to ring at 4 a.m.?" he said back then.

All nine of the city's police districts remain open today, 24 hours. But we also learn today that the police and fire departments have spent $21 million in overtime, and the Police Department now faces $6.8 million in cuts. The housing unit's 32 oficers are being shifted to the Southern and Southeastern districts; the marine unit is going from four officers to three; officers assigned to work with Hispanic and Asian communities are going back to patrol and officers who compile crime stats are also back on the streets.

The major of the southern district told The Baltimore Sun that he plans to form a new squad to patrol around public housing in Cherry Hill and Brooklyn, and with the demise of the public housing high rises years ago, disbanding the housing unit seemed a foregone conclusion. There are still concentrations of public housing, but gradually they are being scattered and incorporated into the city, rather than being isolated pockets of poverty and crime. It seems that police plan to use this new influx of officers in a smart way.

Moving officers from community programs, a seeming luxury, might have worse repercussions. Tensions involving various groups that call Baltimore home can quickly get out of control, and it sometimes takes years to build the relationships necessary to ensure there's enough goodwill to ease people's fears.

Of course, patrol cars have to be filled. Nothing angers a resident more than calling 911 and waiting for help. Just a few weeks ago, the Police Department was excited to tell me that every one of its roughly 3,100 positions were filled. That of course does not mean that there are enough officers for every shift. Take away officers out on medical leave, a vacation day, suspended, on military duty or forced to work a desk for a variety of reasons, and district commanders across the city are scrambling to fill slots.

Homicides and shootings are not only down they could reach lows not seen in Baltimore since the 1980s. But other crime, such as burglaries and thefts from cars, is up, in some districts quite a lot. The tough part will be to maintain the gains made to combat violent crime, and bring down the the numbers in other categories, during what could be difficult economic times.

Last fiscal year, the police budgeted $5 million for overtime and needed $19 million more. The previous fiscal year, police spent $29 million in overtime.

It costs money to fight crime.