Pugh urges police audit, youth programs in safety plan
Mayoral candidate state Sen. Catherine E. Pugh said Thursday she would audit police statistics, implement a program to seize guns from young people and create a watch list of children most likely to become involved in violence.
“If we're going to solve crime in our community, we need to focus on young people,” Pugh said at a morning news conference at her East Baltimore campaign headquarters.
Pugh said she would create a program that would allow police to confiscate guns from juveniles without levying criminal charges. Under “Operation Disarm Our Youth,” parents, teachers and social workers worried that a young person may have a gun could arrange for police to search the youth's home — with parents' permission — and seize weapons.
Campaign staffers for Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who is running to keep her post against a crowded Democratic field in the Sept. 13 primary, issued a news release saying that Pugh presented a “stolen public safety plan” calling for tougher gun laws as the mayor had done. Rawlings-Blake campaign spokeswoman Keiana Page said the news release referred to a point on Pugh's website that urges stricter gun laws.
Pugh's campaign fired back, saying that the mayor's news release represented “a desperate attempt ... to distract citizens from the fact that she has been absent from the conversation with the community and doesn't really have a comprehensive plan for reducing the growing violence in our city.”
The seven-page crime prevention plan that Pugh unveiled Thursday does not mention tougher gun laws. While Pugh’s campaign said she supports the idea, that’s not a centerpiece of her proposal.
Pugh also would target 300 children most likely to perpetrate or be victims of gun crimes and provide mentoring and monitoring to prevent them from being involved in violence. She would establish a “youth crime” section in each police district that would focus on kids teetering on falling into crime and expand the police cadet program in high schools.
Pugh said she would seek help from philanthropists, businesses and nonprofits to expand job programs for young people and recreation centers to provide constructive opportunities for youth.
Pugh questioned the accuracy of police statistics and said she would immediately call for an audit of the department if she were elected mayor.
She rejected Rawlings-Blake's plan to hire 300 police officers to fill vacant positions and said she would raise standards to join the force. Pugh also said she would reinstate a tuition reimbursement program for officers that Rawlings-Blake eliminated as part of last year's budget cuts.
Pugh repeatedly vowed that her plan would not cost the city additional money. She has said she could eliminate $12 million from the police budget through greater efficiency. And many of her youth programs would rely on private funding, she said.
Comments
While the idea behing having parents give police permission to search home for weapons and confiscate them is a good one and smart when the person is not old enough to posess a firearm, I cannot help but worry that this could be a slipper slope. What stops this from extending at a future date to apply to anyone who is anti-gun to allow police to search their home to remove weapons of persons who are of legal age and practicing their 2nd amendment right to possess firearms? Knowing the liberal anti-gun sentiment in Maryland government, I do not think this fear is unfounded.
Posted by: 2nd amendment | August 11, 2011 3:57 PM
According to the Sun, there have been 8 individuals under 18 killed in Baltimore this year and 51 in the 18 to 25 years of age range. So presumably the "youth" Ms. Pugh alludes to are adults. No parental consent needed to sieze their weapons. Likewise we need no "watch list" for under 18 as there were only 8 homicides.
Not seeing the great need for youth programs (if murder prevention is the impetus).
Posted by: Anonymous | August 11, 2011 4:34 PM
How about encouraging parents in the inner city to actually be there for their kids?
Without 2 active parents in a child's life nothing will change in Baltimore.
Posted by: john | August 11, 2011 5:14 PM
So since there were only 8 kids killed we have no need for youth programs... where is the logic in that? You are talking about two different things here, you are looking at the victims and she is looking at the person of the other side of the gun.
One thing that people may not know is that the majority of our criminal element are youths, or they begin their life of crime as a youth, so a plan that transitions focus to that portion of the population is not a bad idea. It may work, it may not, we will never know until we actually try something different.
As for the person concerned about the 2nd amendment, I certainly understand, however, if the homeowner does not want a gun in their own home, they have a right to ensure that no one else brings that gun into their home. Just because you have a license to carry does not mean that I have no right as the owner of the home to keep that firearm in my house.
Posted by: Deb G | August 11, 2011 7:04 PM
2nd Amendment, I believe Pugh's plan is a novel approach that focuses on preventing future youth crimes. I also don't agree to your theory of a "slippery slope." The legal person in your example should move out and find their own place to stay if he or she wants to prevent the police from searching their possessions. Also, your example can legally occur today.
Posted by: 1st Amendment | August 12, 2011 10:07 AM
Catherine Pugh's Plan is well thought out and was the work prduct of comprehensive community involvement NOT focus groups and high paid consultants. the current Mayors plan is "BOILER PLATE" the Major difference is that Catherine Pughs plan shows a true concern for the The citizens of Baltimore not just a desire to lock our youth away but to make the city TRULY safer by engaging them, educating and training them.
Posted by: Sonnie Jones Jr. | August 13, 2011 5:01 AM