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WEBVTT MILLER.REPORTER: VERNETTA JONESMARSHALL, BETTER KNOWN ASNEECEY, HAS LIVED ALL OF HER 62YEARS IN EAST BALTIMORE'S OLIVERCOMMUNITY.SHE REMEMBERS WELL WHEN IT WASONE OF BALTIMORE'S MOSTDANGEROUS AREAS.VERNETTA JONES MARSHALL: IREMEMBER WHEN IT USED TO BE OKCORRAL.REPORTER: DRUG TRAFFICKING ANDVIOLENCE USED TO PREVAIL.MORE THAN A THOUSAND PROPERTIESWERE VACANT.2002 BROUGHT THE NOTORIOUSKILLING OF THE DAWSON FAMILY,FIREBOMBED AFTER REPORTING DRUGDEALING.>> BUT TODAY, OLIVER IS A VERYDIFFERENT PLACE.VERNETTA JONES MARSHALL: YOU CANHEAR PINS DROP IN MY BLOCK.WE ARE OK COMING OUT NOW.THE FOR YOU ARE VERY -- I WASVERY AFRAID TO COME OUT.REPORTER: WHAT'S HAPPENED INOLIVER IS A REMARKABLE EXCEPTIONTO AN OTHERWISE GRIM PICTURE INBALTIMORE, WHERE THE ANNUALCOUNT OF HOMICIDES HAS DIPPEDBELOW 200 JUST THREE TIMES SINCE1970.WE MAPPED THE 318 HOMICIDES IN2016.AND THE 1998 HOMICIDES, 313 THATYEAR.LOOK SIMILAR?THEY ARE.MERGE THEM, AND YOU SEE VIOLENCECONCENTRATED IN MOSTLY THE SAMENEIGHBORHOODS MOST PLAGUED BYBLIGHT, POVERTY, AND LACK OFECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.13 HOMICIDES IN EACH OF THOSETWO YEARS WERE IN THE VERY SAMEBLOCK.BRANDON SCOTT: YOU ALSO LOOK ATTHOSE SAME STOPS, YOU WILL FINDYOUR LIGHT OUTAGES, YOUR ILLEGALDUMPING, YOUR 311 REQUESTS, YOURHOUSING CODE REQUEST, YOURHEALTH CODE VIOLATIONS.EVERYTHING THAT'S BAD HAPPENS INTHOSE SAME AREAS.REPORTER: THOSE INVOLVED INCHANGING OLIVER CREDIT NOT ONEEFFORT, BUT SEVERAL, STRONGCOMMUNITY ORGANIZING, LED BY THEGROUP BUILD, PUBLIC AND PRIVATEINVESTMENT -- >> POLICE, SEARCH WARRANT.REPORTER: POLICING THAT TARGETEDVIOLENT OFFENDERS.HOMES HAVE BEEN REHABBED,ATTRACTING NEW RESIDENTS,WITHOUT DISPLACING EXISTINGONES.A BIG HELP, THE EXPANSION OFJOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL, SERVINGAS AN ECONOMIC ENGINE.BRANDON SCOTT: YOU ARE TALKINGABOUT AN AREA LIKE BOND STREETWHERE THEY FILMED THE WIRE.THEY NOW SELL HOUSES FOR$220,000.REPORTER: IN 1998, THERE WERENINE HOMICIDES WITHIN THEBOUNDARY OF OLIVER.IN 2016, THERE WERE THREE.TIM AKERS: WE NEED TO PULLEVERYBODY TOGETHER ANDBRAINSTORM.REPORTER: TIM AKERS CHALLENGESTHE WAY WE DEAL WITH CRIME.FAR TOO NARROWLY HE SAYS IF THEMAIN FOCUS IS ON POLICING.AKERS IS A VICE PRESIDENT FORRESEARCH AT MORGAN STATEUNIVERSITY.TIM AKERS: IF WE KEEP LOOKING ATTHINGS AS ONE DISCIPLINE, WE AREGOING TO KEEP GETTING THESE ONEBAND AID SOLUTIONS.YOU NEED TO HAVE BUSINESSPEOPLE, EVERYBODY TALKING ABOUTHOW CAN WE ALTER AND CHANGE ACOMMUNITY TO MAKE IT VIABLE, TOMAKE IT SAFE.REPORTER: SINCE 1998, BALTIMOREHAS SPENT $6.8 BILLION ONPOLICING, FAR MORE THAN ANYOTHER TAXPAYER FUNDED SERVICE.BRANDON SCOTT: YOU CANNOT SAY WEHAVE GOTTEN THE RETURN ON OURINVESTMENT.I DON'T THINK ANYONE CAN SAY TOYOU WITH A STRAIGHT FACE.AND THAT BEGS THE QUESTIONMOVING FORWARD, HOW CAN WE STARTTO LOOK AT THINGS DIFFERENTLY?REPORTER: ONE SUGGESTION FROMTIM AKERS, BLEND THE BUDGETS OF THE CITYPOLICE DEPARTMENT AND THE HEALTHDEPARTMENT.TIM AKERS: IN OTHER WORDS, THEPOLICE COMMISSIONER AND THEHEALTH COMMISSIONER SIT DOWN ANDPLAN THE BUDGET TOGETHER?>> EXACTLY.REPORTER: NOTHING LIKE THAT INBALTIMORE IS DONE NOW.WORK REMAINS IN OLIVER, BUT ITIS AN EXAMPLE OF NOT ALL ITTAKES TO MAKE A COMMUNITY SAFER.POLICING ONE PART, BUT JUST ONEOF INTENSE COLLABORATION BETWEENAGENCIES, INVESTORS AND

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Baltimore is off to a torrid pace of violence in 2017. The 11 News I-Team takes on the vexing question of how does a community become safer? Answers have eluded Baltimore for decades. So why not think outside the box? Vernetta Jones Marshall, better known as Neecey, has lived all of her 62 years in east Baltimore's Oliver community. She remembers well when it was one of Baltimore's most dangerous areas. "I remember when it used to be OK Corral," Jones Marshall said. Drug trafficking and violence used to prevail. More than 1,000 properties were vacant, and, 2002 brought the notorious killing of the Dawson family, firebombed after reporting drug dealing. But today, the Oliver community is a very different place. "You can hear pins drop in my block," Jones Marshall said. "We are OK coming out now. Before, I was very afraid to come out." What has happened in Oliver is a remarkable exception to an otherwise grim picture in Baltimore, where the annual count of homicides has dipped below 200 just three times since 1970. The 11 News I-Team mapped the 318 homicides in 2016 and the 313 homicides in 1998. The maps look similar. Merge the maps, and one can see violence concentrated in mostly the same areas of the city in neighborhoods most plagued by blight, poverty and lack of economic development. There were 13 homicides in each of those two years located in the very same block. "You also look at those same stops, you will find your light outages, your illegal dumping, your 311 requests, your housing code violations. Everything that's bad happens in those same areas," Baltimore City Councilman Brandon Scott said. Those involved in changing Oliver credit not one effort but several, including: Strong community organizing led by the group Baltimoreans United in Leadership DevelopmentPublic and private investmentPolicing that targeted violent offendersHomes have been rehabbed, attracting new residents without displacing existing ones A big help has been the expansion of Johns Hopkins Hospital, serving as an economic engine. "You are talking about an area like Bond Street, where they filmed 'The Wire,' and they now sell houses for $220,000," Scott said. In 1998, there were nine homicides within the boundary of Oliver. In 2016, there were three. Tim Akers, vice president for research at Morgan State University, challenged the way the city deals with crime. "We need to pull everybody together and brainstorm," Akers said. Akers said the main focus is far too narrowly on policing. "If we keep looking at things as one discipline, we are going to keep getting these one Band-Aid solutions," Akers said. "You need to have business people, everybody talking about how can we alter and change a community to make it viable, to make it safe." Since 1998, Baltimore has spent $6.8 billion on policing, far more than any other taxpayer-funded service. "You cannot say we have gotten the return on our investment. I don't think anyone can say to you with a straight face, and that begs the question moving forward, how can we start to look at things differently?" Scott said. Akers suggested that the city blend the budgets of the Police and the Health departments and have the commissioners of each agency plan budgets together. Nothing like that is currently done in Baltimore. In Oliver, work still remains, but it is an example of all that it may take to make a community safer. Policing is one part, but just one of intense collaboration between agencies, investors and community. Link: Annie E. Casey Foundation report on the Oliver community