Saving Baltimore From Itself

It’s 8:45 a.m. on an already steamy July Monday. Kevin Davis, Baltimore’s interim police commissioner, is sitting alone at his desk, studying the daily crime report. The numbers are grim: In the less than two weeks since he took over as the city’s top cop, 15 people have been killed. By the end of July, the total would be 45—tying the city’s record for a single month. That follows 41 homicides in May and 29 in June, a murder rate that rivals that of the bloody 1990s. His job right now is to reverse the trend. The trick will be to aggressively crack down on crime while repairing the broken relationship between his force and the community it’s supposed to protect. “This is like building an airplane in midflight,” Davis says, placing the packet of crime statistics back on his desk, rubbing his ruddy cheeks, and staring out his fifth-floor window.

In late April the city erupted after the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African American who suffered severe spinal injuries while in police custody. More than 280 businesses were destroyed or damaged in a week of rioting, according to federal estimates. Baltimore is preparing for another possible round of unrest this fall, when the six police officers charged in connection with Gray’s death are scheduled to go on trial. “The city is at a critical point,” says City Council President Bernard “Jack” Young. “If we don’t do this thing just right, we can have mayhem in this city.”