BALTIMORE (WBFF) — As Fells Point braces for holiday crowds this Independence Day weekend, Baltimore police and city leaders say they have a public safety plan aimed at preventing the kind of violence and disorder seen in recent weeks.
At Thames and Broadway, the area was quiet at the time of this report, and police said they are hopeful their weekend public safety plan will help keep it that way. Residents said they were counting on an uneventful, protected place to celebrate.
“So I mean we’re down here, we’re about to go have dinner. So I guess I’m trusting them at their word,” said Eric Loeffert, a Baltimore resident.
Asia Dabner, also a Baltimore resident, said she was not worried. “I’m not concerned at all. I think our mayor has done a great job by the stats showing us the decrease in crime and all of that. I feel like he has a plan. We can follow it. We feel safe,” Dabner said.
Officials have said this weekend in Fells Point will look different after two recent straight weekends of shootings, large crowds and disorder in the area. With holiday crowds expected, leaders say a safety plan is in place, but exactly what that plan includes remains unclear.
Fox45 News reached out to the Baltimore Police Department on Friday to request details about the plan but had not received a response by late Friday. In the past, strategies have included a large, multi-agency law enforcement presence during peak weekend hours.
When asked last week, June 25, about the weekend safety plan, Police Commissioner Richard Worley pointed to recent behavior in the neighborhood and warned it would not be tolerated elsewhere.
“We work with every community, but the behavior that the young people displayed last weekend and the weekend before in Fells Point will not be tolerated anywhere else. It won’t be tolerating Federal Hill, it won’t be tolerated at Penn North. We will address it,” Worley said.
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Mayor Brandon Scott also said that day that the city would not publicly discuss operational specifics. “We would never share operational plans out loud for the people that we don’t want them to see,” Scott said.
For business owners, confidence that a plan exists is critical heading into one of the busiest weekends of the year. Kenneth Melvin, a cookie shop owner in Fells Point, said safety planning has long been part of the neighborhood’s reality.
“Fells Point has always had dangers and there’s always been plans,” Melvin said.
But Melvin said those plans do not always account for the impact on businesses.
“I love the fact they have plans, it’s just I don’t think that the plans always include the business,” he said.
Melvin said street closures can reduce problems but also make it harder for customers and deliveries to reach shops.
“A lot of times what they do, that does cut down on a lot of things is they shut down the roads, right, so that people can’t travel in and out. But then it hurts my business because then I don’t have people coming in because they can’t get to the area. My delivery drivers, they had a hard time because they blocked off the roads,” he said.
While officials have not released details of the public safety plan, the holiday weekend is expected to test whether the strategy works in Fells Point.
Follow FOX45 reporter Keith Daniels on X and Facebook. Send tips to Kdaniels@sbgtv.com.
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