BALTIMORE — When Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates took office in 2023, he told the city’s most hardened criminals to keep a toothbrush on them so they’ll be move-in ready for their future jail stint. Two years later, he’s making good on that promise.

The top prosecutor’s focus on putting the city’s gun-toting repeat offenders behind bars has broken the cycle of simmering beefs turning into deadly shootings.

It has complemented a stronger patrol network among law enforcement in the community. The sheriff’s office is giving a boost to the Baltimore Police Department by sending deputies into neighborhoods in need of more manpower.

The two-pronged strategy has helped put Baltimore in the midst of a generational decline in violent crime that is reversing its reputation as one of the nation’s most crime-ridden cities. And for Mr. Bates, there are plenty of new toothbrushes being brought into lockup.

“On the adult side, we knew that about 5,000 violent individuals were pulling the trigger in Baltimore City — maybe 5,000 to 6,000 — and we need to take as many of those individuals off the streets as quickly as possible,” Mr. Bates told The Washington Times. “We’ve taken about 2,500 of them off the streets.”

The public safety revival can be detected in a subtle sense of safety that has permeated Charm City.

Last week, bus passengers waiting on the corner of North Paca and West Saratoga streets were focused on their phones, unconcerned about vagrants across the street wandering over to ask them for money.

Farther west in the Lexington neighborhood, a man worked on his car in a light but steady rain, paying no mind to people walking by him with his head under the hood.

It’s a stark turnaround for a city that, just 10 years ago, was enveloped in chaos following the police custody death of Freddie Gray. The 25-year-old’s death in 2015 discouraged officers on patrol and emboldened former State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby to treat defendants with leniency.

Crime exploded, and throughout the eight-year tenure of Mosby — a beneficiary of liberal billionaire George Soros’ campaign finance operation — Baltimore never dipped below 300 killings per year. (Mosby is under supervised release after being convicted of perjury and mortgage fraud last year.)

Mr. Bates said that “rock bottom” moment is what motivated the public to support his ascent into office. He wasted no time in going after the criminals he campaigned against.

Baltimore’s sharp drop in killings coincides with Mr. Bates’ time as state’s attorney: By the end of his first year in charge, police data showed homicides fell to 261. As 2024 came to a close, there were just 201 slayings citywide. The 56 killings Baltimore has recorded this year have the city on track to see its fewest homicides since at least 2011.

Police statistics show violent crime is down 18% so far this year, with sizable drops in nonfatal shootings (25%), rapes (33%), assaults (14%) and robberies and carjackings (16%).

But the top prosecutor isn’t the only law enforcement official who brought a new playbook with them to office.

Baltimore City Sheriff Sam Cogen ordered his deputies to leave their desks and hit the streets after he took over in late 2022.

The sheriff said he wants deputies to make their presence felt in neighborhoods throughout Baltimore, particularly on weekend nights when criminal activity is more likely to spike up.

“By activating the sheriff’s office, we added a medium-sized law enforcement agency that’s helping in the crime fight in the city like from a policing function, which you haven’t seen before,” Sheriff Cogen told The Times.

These improvements have caught national attention. U.S. News & World Report did not include Baltimore in its annual rankings of the top 25 “Most Dangerous Places in the U.S.” Mayor Brandon Scott, a Democrat, shared that tidbit to raucous applause at his annual State of the City address this spring.

But as major crimes take a controlled nosedive, police and prosecutors have turned their attention to the juvenile offenders who continue to unnerve Baltimore residents.

Just last month, police said two teenage boys attacked an 82-year-old woman at a community garden in the Mid-Govans neighborhood before they carried out a strong-arm robbery of another woman for her car keys. Authorities said they nabbed a 16- and 17-year-old boy in connection to the incident.

The state’s attorney’s office said a group of teens left a woman with a fractured jaw after they jumped the victim and while trying to carjack her near the Inner Harbor.

One of the suspects, a 17-year-old girl, was charged as an adult with attempted carjacking and assault after she was originally released on an ankle monitor. The other juveniles detained in the attack were later let go after the victim could not identify them.

And police said they arrested a 15-year-old boy after linking him to the shooting of another teen boy in Greektown late last month. The 15-year-old suspect also shot himself when he was handling the gun, police said.

Mr. Bates, the city’s top prosecutor, railed against the state’s Department of Juvenile Services for handing out lackluster punishments for the young defendants.

When a juvenile is arrested for a crime, the state’s attorney said they go from the police station right to DJS, circumventing his office and the judge’s chambers in the process.

Mr. Bates said DJS claims to pursue what’s in the “best interest of the child,” although that is often interpreted as advocating for placing the “least restrictive means possible” on the underage suspects. It’s a system that he said creates a “revolving door” effect on the minors who wind up in handcuffs.

“The first few months of this year, we had 131 young people, juveniles, who were arrested for what we call the felony types of crimes,” Mr. Bates said. “However, 100 were released, and so they may be released on an ankle bracelet or they may be released in some other form. That’s like 23% [kept behind bars]. It’s very low. So these young people are then going right back into the community, and some of them are doing that same behavior.”

Mr. Bates said he has been pushing for the state to allow prosecutors and judges to do their jobs, and not for DJS to serve as the sole gatekeepers for juvenile suspects.

Back on the streets, Sheriff Cogen said the nagging quality of life crimes keep people from feeling completely at ease in Baltimore.

Porch pirates who swipe packages sitting in front of homes, busted car windows from thieves looking for easy loot and panhandlers who menacingly ask for donations were all examples of nuisance crimes that the sheriff said keep residents on edge.

“We really have to focus on the livability of the city,” Sheriff Cogen said. “Do people feel safe moving from point A to point B, and safe in public spaces where no one’s going to come up and accost them and they feel like they’re comfortable? We’re still working on that.”

Mr. Bates’ office has made prosecutions for those quality of life offenses a focal part of their mission going forward, but the city is also launching new initiatives to scare away the petty criminals where they can.

For instance, local leaders announced last week a crackdown on unlicensed liquor sales in Baltimore’s nightlife spots.

State Senate President Bill Ferguson, Baltimore Democrat, said the dealers sell booze out of their cars. The illicit vendors introduce another layer of mayhem into the already beer-soaked weekend nights in neighborhoods such as Fells Point and Federal Hill.

Sheriff Cogen’s office has been tasked with leading the enforcement effort against the illegal alcohol sales.

Despite the city’s law enforcement partners homing in on where they can improve, residents are already noticing Baltimore change for the better.

Tako Adufe, a lifelong city resident who owns the Pyre fast-casual restaurant downtown, said he’s feeling that sense of safety that Baltimore’s leaders have been striving for over the past three years.

“I do think that it’s gotten a lot better, at least since last summer,” Mr. Adufe, 36, told The Times. “You’d have random situations where you just run into a friend and you hear a crazy story about something that happened that night, and it’s so sad to hear, but those have gone down a lot less. People feel more comfortable, especially at night.”

• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.