Baltimore police reform remains essential to any hope of crime reduction

Last week, U.S. District Court Judge James K. Bredar made an observation that deserves to be repeated — and perhaps engraved and framed. While acknowledging that Baltimore faces significant law enforcement challenges right now including a serious shortage of officers and an uptick in gun violence, he rejected any suggestion that the consent decree bears blame for this. The five-year-old decree, an agreement to implement police reforms entered into by Baltimore’s elected officials, its police department and the U.S.