The amount of funding and assistance awarded to each HotSpot Community will vary according to the need and the strength of each community's plan of action. Priority consideration will be given to neighborhoods within designated areas under the Governor's Smart Growth and Neighborhood Revitalization initiatives. Each of Maryland's 24 local jurisdictions is eligible for the selection of one HotSpot, with the remaining 12 of the 36 total divided according to a jurisdiction's share of the state's reported serious crime totals. Governor Townsend, chair of the Cabinet Council and master of ceremonies at today's conference. Research shows that more than 50 percent of violent crime occurs at about three percent of addresses.
Crime is a neighborhood problem that needs a neighborhood solution.
Governor Townsend helped to develop the CCP when she served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General under Reno at the Department of Justice. Over a two-year period, Baltimore's CCP program produced a 56 percent drop in violent crime in the targeted southwest Baltimore community of Boyd Booth, and a 25 percent reduction in surrounding neighborhoods. With full implementation of the HotSpots strategy, designated HotSpots Communities are projected to achieve similar results.