A 17-year-old boy was killed and a man was injured in two separate downtown Towson shootings in the space of eight days, sparking fears that big-city crime was taking root in the rapidly growing heart of the suburb north of Baltimore.
However, new data from the Baltimore County Police Department shows crime in downtown Towson only rebounded last year to 2019 levels after a dip during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic, when many businesses and retailers initially shut down.
The numbers come from a new effort by the county police to track crime in the downtown district, following public outcry after the string of violent crimes in February. Police defined the borders of central Towson for the first time to track the success of new strategies. The Baltimore Sun analyzed the data, which offers the first downtown-specific crime numbers, going back to 2019.
Overall crime in central Towson rose in 2022 to just above 2019 levels, and was up 29% over 2021.
Read full article: Crime in downtown Towson rebounded last year after pandemic decline, police data shows – Baltimore Sun
