We’re glad Gov. Larry Hogan saw reason and requested the release of funds critical to the crime fight in Baltimore City, announcing plans Thursday to spend $6.5 million to bolster Baltimore’s Warrant Apprehension Task Force and to have Maryland State Police take over traffic patrols on Interstate-83, among other initiatives.

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott met with the governor last month and specifically asked for help with warrants, facing a backlog of thousands. And city officials for years have been asking for assistance on I-83, where frequent crashes on the poorly designed road regularly tie up a couple of patrol cars for hours at a time. We hope the governor doesn’t stop there. The February discussion the mayor had with him also touched on the need for:

Cooperation from state agencies to immediately notify authorities when someone under their supervision goes missing in the community (instead of letting them roam free for 24 hours first) and to help hold the offender accountable;

License plate readers to be installed in patrol cars to aid investigation on the road;

And the expansion of Baltimore City Intelligence Centers to the five districts still without them to gather information for regional detectives and action teams.

What we could do without, however, is the bluster. The Republican governor shrouded the state aid in talking points meant to minimize Maryland’s role in perpetuating violent crime in the city, and to place the blame on its Democratic leaders for not, as he said, arresting more, prosecuting more and giving tougher sentences to the most violent criminals.

Forget that the city says it is, in fact, doing many of those things when it comes to violent crime. Already this year, law enforcement has seized more than 150 guns involved in violent crimes and nearly 600 guns overall. More than 100 people also were arrested in a single 12-day period this winter, through an operation that involved the coordination of state, local and federal officials. (Governor Hogan said Thursday he’s also allocating $3.5 million to the U.S. attorneys offices for resources in Baltimore and Greenbelt.)

The U.S. Department of Justice’s National Justice Institute has determined that tougher penalties, like those the governor wants regarding gun offenses, do little to deter crime, however. And while consistently catching criminals does have some deterrent effect, it’s only a piece of the puzzle. It may stop that individual from committing a repeat offense, but it didn’t prevent their initial crime, and it doesn’t address the root causes that lead to crime — are often a combination of adverse economic, social, familial and developmental conditions.

While individuals are responsible for their actions, communities have a responsibility to help their residents succeed by addressing conditions that foster crime. That’s why the mayor’s holistic approach, which seeks to disrupt the culture of violence through multiple components — including policing and prosecution — is the right way to go. It involves counseling for violence victims, alternatives to youth incarceration, expansion of conflict mediation efforts, targeting for intervention those likely to be involved in violence, and connecting people with needed services, among other things.

The mayor’s plan is not short on ideas, many of which have been floated for years and are proven to work. What it is short on is resources. And that makes the governor’s repeated downplaying of it so disappointing. Especially when he doesn’t even seem to believe what hes saying — at least according to his actions.

As part of Thursday’s announcement, Governor Hogan also announced plans to allocate $35 million to fully fund the Victims of Crime Act and support victim services providers — among them the Center for Hope, which works directly with the city to disrupt violence and “foster positivity, safety and success for children, youth and adults.”

The state investment there, at more than five times the amount set aside for policing, certainly seems to show Mr. Hogan indeed does value a holistic approach; he’s just unwilling to say so, perhaps concerned that law-and-order conservatives might be turned off. We think he’s underestimating his base, however. Instead of misleading them to reinforce outdates beliefs about tough-on-crime efforts, he should be championing the holistic approach and pulling more people on board. We all want the same thing, Democrats and Republicans: a safe neighborhood, quality education and employment opportunities, and a chance to achieve our dreams.