As the President of the United States deploys troops to “fight crime“ in Washington, D.C. with the full support of the political party that he leads, now is a good time for all of us to think for ourselves about the nature of crime itself, government’s role in preventing it, and how politicians use it to win elections.
When I ran for this office in 2018, the mailboxes of county residents were flooded with warnings from my opponent’s campaign that if I were elected, MS-13 gang members would be released from prison and turned loose in our neighborhoods. In fact, MS-13 activity in our county declined drastically during my first term, and since.
During the 2022 campaign, those same residents received literature from my next opponent claiming that crime had risen during my time in office and that it would only get worse if I weren’t removed. Data from our police department and from the U.S. Department of Justice showed the opposite.
There is an us-against-them strain of politics that uses fear of “them” to mobilize voters. It’s particularly attractive to politicians who take pleasure in the use of force against their perceived enemies. The deployment of armies and police against “them” offers these “leaders” a sense of great power.
Last week, we reported year-to-date crime statistics for Anne Arundel County. Carjackings are down 57%, commercial robberies down 50%, citizen robberies down 46%, non-contact shootings down 42%, stolen autos down 28%, and homicides down 14%.
These numbers go well beyond national trends. They are driven by our dedicated police officers who are trained in 21st century constitutional and community policing, our new Real Time Information Center, our high levels of community engagement, and the opportunities that we offer our residents through re-entry programs, education, recreation, and employment. They are not a result of fear tactics or political grandstanding.
Last week at the Maryland Association of Counties (MACO) Conference, I asked my peers in the seven largest Maryland counties (including Baltimore City) how their law enforcement leaders were feeling about threats by the federal government to send troops into “democratic-controlled” jurisdictions across the country to fight crime. Turns out I’m not alone in feeling that it’s an insult to our police departments, our community leaders, and our public servants who work so hard every day to actually make communities safer. All of us have experience in the past working cooperatively with federal agencies on law enforcement, and we are saddened by the way that’s been soured. Heavily armed, masked officers in unmarked vehicles descend on our communities with no notice to local law enforcement. That never happened before, and it’s dangerous.
We shouldn’t have to say these things publicly. Cops just want to do their jobs, and cooperation between local, state, and federal law enforcement worked fine without political interference. But if the federal government insists on doing their business in front of news cameras, as though governing is a reality show, we just might have to show up on that show and tell the story of the work that we do. Maybe that’s why today our Governor invited the President to join him for a public safety walk in Baltimore City.
The threat of federal intervention is most real in Baltimore City, a place that racist politicians love to smear. So I sat down at MACO for a thirty-minute conversation with Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott for the first episode of the second season of Pittman and Friends Podcast, to air on August 26, 2025.
Mayor Scott’s approach to crime prevention is hands-on for all departments, and he is directly involved. It’s why he is in public service. He discussed how his strategies clashed with those of Governor Hogan and align with those of Governor Moore. He talked policing, violence interruption, and recreation.
You may have noticed that he’s been all over national news lately because the progress in reducing homicides has been so extraordinary. Listen in yourself, and compare his strategies and tone to what you hear elsewhere. It’s inspiring.
The final session at MACO was an address from Governor Moore. He had met the day before with the county leaders from red and blue counties who make up the MACO Board, and the audience for his speech was public servants who just want to govern effectively. He acknowledged the federal assault on local governments, but his theme was what it means to be a public servant. He noted that we don’t choose the crises or the external forces that challenge our work, but that as public servants, we simply work harder and work faster when our people need us to. That is our calling.
The politicians who drive wedges to motivate voters will continue their grandstanding as long as it works, but when public servants bring people together to solve real problems like crime, everyone notices.
Until next week…