As of Thursday, I’ve had the honor of serving as Baltimore City state’s attorney for 100 days. While there was a definite learning curve and a few bumps in the road, the office made significant progress, and I have a clearer vision of the path forward. At this milestone, I want to provide a status update on my office’s priorities, and share my vision for how together we can bring about a new era of accountability and confidence in our city.

In my first 100 days, we examined the State’s Attorney Office to determine how we could improve operations, better support staff and increase the effectiveness of our prosecutions. The attorneys and staff here represent some of our city’s finest public servants. But the work can wear down even the most devoted and determined individuals over time, and we found an office depleted of human capital and resources.

I’ve often said that we will rebuild the Oriole way, so we have reinforced the bullpen and started building our farm system. We’ve hired 51 new employees, including six division chiefs and 34 assistant state’s attorneys. Sixteen of those hires are returning employees.We’ve also submitted requests to our local, state and federal partners to provide our office with the needed resources to fulfill our mission and mandate.

Additionally, we’ve begun working with the Baltimore Police Department to institute a new training program for young prosecutors. This will go a long way toward creating essential collaboration with those sworn to protect and defend our residents, and improving the prospects for achieving true justice.

We dropped all charges against Keith Davis Jr., ending the unjust prosecution he faced through repeated, unsuccessful trials on the same charges; secured a life sentence against the man who fatally stabbed Evelyn Player at her East Baltimore church; secured a life sentence against Jeremiah Tehohney who murdered a man and shot three others in a single incident in 2020; indicted two officers for alleged offenses that occurred on and off duty; and secured a conviction on all charges for an officer who assaulted a teenager, demonstrating our commitment to accountability for all, regardless of rank or status.

I’ve decided to personally prosecute the case of Gordon Staron, who’s accused of fatally stabbing his deaf cellmate in Baltimore jail while awaiting trial on separate murder charges. There is no better way to understand the challenges that face our assistant state’s attorneys than to be in the trenches fighting for justice alongside them.

I’ve also resumed holding people accountable for quality-of-life crimes in the city. Let me be clear, under my administration, we will never go back to mass incarceration. But we must return to a culture of accountability. This doesn’t always mean jail time; it could mean low-level offenders receive a citation and community service — as well as the resources and support they need to pursue a better path. It’s not about locking away Black youth arbitrarily for petty crimes, but fundamentally changing attitudes and creating personal responsibility, so minor offenses don’t lead to more severe crimes.

To further that individual accountability, I worked relentlessly to garner broad support for our legislation that would increase the maximum penalty for illegal possession of a firearm from three to five years for individuals ages 21 and up. Passing House Bill 824 brings about uniformity in the law and levels the playing field. It also makes it clear that in Maryland, we take the illegal wear, carry, and transport of a firearm seriously, regardless of age.

My highest priority as state’s attorney is to restore trust in our criminal justice system and in the office I have been entrusted to lead. Over the past decade, Baltimore has been plagued by high-profile scandals that have eroded public confidence in our city officials and the criminal justice system’s ability to investigate and prosecute crime effectively. As a result, too many victims and witnesses have been reluctant to come forward, and too many defendants have languished in a broken system that fails to deliver justice.

Victims and witnesses are critically important to the effective prosecution of a case and the overall public safety of the community, something Baltimore — home of “Stop Snitchin” — should understand better than most. This is why one of my first hires was a trauma-informed professional whom I’ve charged with revamping the Victim-Witness Division. Recognizing that the senior members of our community are most vulnerable to crime, while a disproportionate number of our young people are lured into a life of crime and are also its tragic victims, I’m implementing a Youth Engagement Division and an Older Adult Division to serve these unique Baltimore populations better. We aim to meet each group where they are and bring needed resources to help them thrive in Baltimore.

I’m committed to building on these early successes and working collaboratively with community partners to achieve our shared vision for a safer, more just Baltimore. That commitment means prioritizing fairness, accountability, collaboration and technology, and setting the highest standard in everything we do, while ensuring that our office remains responsive to the needs and concerns of our communities. Essential to everything we’re doing is the continual work to forge stronger partnerships with our residents, community leaders, local business owners and other Baltimore stakeholders. By engaging directly with the people we serve, we can better understand their needs and concerns, and develop more effective strategies to address crime and promote public safety. Simultaneously, we are working to rebuild relationships with all our law enforcement partners operating in Baltimore to ensure collaboration in this new era of public safety.

I’m deeply grateful for the trust that the people of Baltimore have placed in me. I’m dedicated to doing everything in my power to honor that trust by working tirelessly to promote justice, equity and public safety for all. Residents often ask what they can do to help us. Honestly? Give us your patience and participation: patience as we continue to put the pieces in place to ensure we fulfill the mission, and participation so we can work together to create actual public safety in Baltimore. Combined, we can create a better, more accountable city for all residents and one worthy of future generations.

Ivan J. Bates (SA@stattorney.org) is state’s attorney for Baltimore City.