BALTIMORE, Md. (July 10, 2013)—Today, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake joined State’s Attorney Gregg Bernstein and U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein to announce new city funding to hire two assistant state’s attorneys who will be detailed to the United States Attorney’s Office as special assistant United States attorneys for investigation and federal prosecution of violent criminals in designated neighborhoods.

By focusing resources on specific, selected areas and individuals, officials expect a more direct positive impact on those neighborhoods that have seen the greatest incidence of violent criminal activity. In addition, federal prosecution provides greater opportunity to obtain significant sentences that will keep these individuals off the street for longer. Finally, defendants will be incarcerated in distant federal prison facilities, separated from their affiliates, and unable to continue their criminal actions from behind bars.

“This administration’s top priority is to reduce crime and violence in Baltimore,” Mayor Rawlings-Blake said. “These new prosecutors will target the worst of the worst violent offenders in neighborhoods that have struggled most with crime for far too long. The two special assistant United States attorneys will enhance our ability to identify the most dangerous offenders and prosecute them in the federal system, where the severity of the punishments are often greater than those in the state system. To prosecute violent repeat offenders to the fullest extent of the law, we must utilize all available resources—local, state, and federal.”

“Detailing prosecutors from the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office to the U.S. Attorney’s Office continues a longstanding arrangement between our two agencies,” said State’s Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein. “Cross-designated assistant state’s attorneys are able to use the resources of our federal law enforcement partners, including the ATF, DEA, and FBI, to investigate, prosecute, and incarcerate violent repeat offenders.”

“Moreover, federal law renders certain violent repeat offenders eligible for enhanced and mandatory minimum sentences, both of which can insure that dangerous persons are taken off our streets, and incarcerated in locations far away, for a long period of time. I thank the mayor not only for recognizing that this program can and does make a meaningful difference in the safety of our city, but also for investing to double the size of the initiative,” State’s Attorney Bernstein concluded.

“Prosecuting armed criminals and sending them to federal prison is a critical part of our coordinated local, state, and federal strategy to reduce violent crime in Baltimore,” said United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “We will not relent until every neighborhood is a safe neighborhood.”