Associated Press
BALTIMORE — A day after 11 people were shot in Baltimore, the police department said it’s shutting down its administrative functions so that more officers can hit the streets.
The Baltimore Sun reports Interim Commissioner Gary Tuggle announced Wednesday that 230 officers assigned to administrative duties will go on patrol, putting a total of 650 officers on the streets in a department struggling to fill 500 vacancies.
Tuggle says they’ll keep desk officers on patrol until they’re no longer needed or the department can no longer function with administrative duties going undone.
Both Mayor Catherine Pugh and Tuggle blame the violence on the illegal drug trade.
Baltimore has recorded 250 homicides so far this year, 44 of them in the last 30 days.