Baltimore police sent 30 cops walking foot up and down troubled Greenmount Avenue today -- a show of force designed to show shop owners that they haven't been forgotten. The cops are all in training, so they weren't pulled from other jobs.

The busy street that cuts through several North Baltimore neighborhoods, including Waverly, home to the farmers market, has several semi-upscale restaurants trying to make a go on a strip with shaky reputation and a hodgepodge of seedy-looking storefronts. The city's top cop walked through after recent violence.

Two recent shootings shook the neighborhood, including the April 8 slaying of Charles Bowman, a security guard at the Afro-American newspaper who had stopped in a carryout for dinner before starting his night shift and got shot in a robbery. (police have arrested two teens in the case). Two days later, on a sunny afternoon, a 22-year-old man was shot and killed after a fight at a restaurant at Greenmount and 33rd.

This morning, Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III addressed an unusal roll call -- one held outdoors in a supermarket parking lot. The photo above was taken by The Sun's Algerna Perna.

After, he said he wanted to reinforce to the officers "what they’re here for and let them know how visible and important this little stretch is in terms of this crime fight, and to reassure them to focus on the problem at hand. Some problems are  beyond they’re control. We’re not asking them to solve crime all over the city. I just want them to do something about this little stretch of Greenmount Avenue and to reaffirm to the people that we’ve got their back and we’re going to make them safe.”

The extra cops is a visible show of force amid threatened budget cuts that could result in laying off 250 or more cops, and trouble in the pension system that has the police union threatening a lawsuit against the city to avoid further trims. And all this is coming amid a surge in violence in which 10 people were killed over four days starting Saturday.

Bealefeld said his officers will remain focused:

“It’s like lamenting the officiating of a game. Athletes play the damn game. Stop complaining about the officiating. I can’t control the officiating, and I’m going to work my ass off to make sure these cops get their money and make sure they get the proper due for their retirements, and I’m going to lobby the people I need to lobby to make sure that it’s done. But at the end of the day, we need to be focused on public safety, and this other stuff, whether they feel good or I feel good — who cares if I feel good? Nobody cares if our morale is up or down. They just want to be safe. They understand that. They’re athletes. They’re professionals at what they do. And they’re going to go out and they’re going to work and they’re going to do their jobs. I’m confident that’s going to happen.”