Lynne Battaglia letter to Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., July 14, 2000

U.S. Department of Justice United States Attorney District of Maryland Lynne A. Battaglia United Stales Attorney Northern Division 6625 United States Courthouse 101 West Lombard Street Baltimore, MD 21201-2692 TTY/TDD:4 / 0-962-4462 410-209-4836 FAX 4 1 0-962-0693 410-209-4800 Southern Division 400 United States Courthouse 6500 Cherrywood Lane Creenbelt, MD 20770-1249 301-344-4422 FAX 301-344-4518 Please respond to: Northern Division July 14, 2000 The Honorable Robert Ehrlich, Jr. U.S. House of Representatives 315 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Re: DISARM: Mid-Year Report Dear Congressman Ehrlich: In February, Lt . Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley convened a meeting of state, federal and local members of the Baltimore law enforcement community for the purpose of addressing, in a coordinated and comprehensive way, the persistent problem of firearm violence in Baltimore. The United States Attorney's Office (USAO) at that time committed to an unprecedented expansion of federal prosecutions, through Project DISARM, of firearm offenders arrested by the Baltimore Police. By lowering the criteria for federal prosecution of convicted felons with firearms to include offenders with just one prior conviction for a felony crime of violence or drug trafficking crime, and by expanding application of these criteria from selected high crime "hot spots" to every post in all nine police districts in Baltimore, it was predicted that the number of federal firearm prosecutions in the Northern (Baltimore) Division alone would increase by as much as 100% this year. Federal Firearm Indictments Up 100% A mid-year summary of federal firearm prosecutions under Project DISARM is enclosed. The report speaks for itself. After almost doubling the number of federal felon- in-possession indictments in 1999, during the first six months of 2000, the Baltimore Office of the United States Attorney's Office has obtained the indictment of or has pending for indictment more felon- in-possession cases than were indicted in all of 1999. In 1999, one- third of all Northern Division indictments were of firearm cases. So far in 2000, over one-half (53%) of all