Feds, Prince George's County law enforcement teaming up to take guns off streets

BALTIMORE, Md. (7News) — 7News has been asking questions on how to reduce crime in the D.C. area for months. We are now getting some answers from the leaders in Maryland and on the federal level who met on Thursday in Baltimore. It’s all about getting guns off the street.

An ongoing partnership between the feds and law enforcement in Baltimore and Prince George's County.

Teaming up to lock up more criminals using federal resources. They call it Project Safe Neighborhoods.

RELATED | DC man dead, woman injured after shooting in Oxon Hill, Prince George's Co. police say

7News still hasn't seen the Prince George's County numbers but it appears to be making a difference in Baltimore.

There were fewer than 300 homicides in Baltimore in 2023 for the first time in nine years.

Non-fatal shootings were also down.

Here's how it works:

Federal investigators screen every firearm arrest in Baltimore and Prince George's County. If it meets certain criteria, the feds take the case over and have a lot more resources to lock up suspects

"All those thousands and thousands of leads we generate are not for us, we send them to all the different law enforcement agencies that are investigating these cases. Our whole system is set up to send leads out to local law enforcement. We’ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the process sending leads within 48 hours to homicide detectives in Baltimore and Prince George’s County," said Steve Dettelbach, Director of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).

Baltimore City and Prince George's County have established agreements that every case will be screened by ATF. This does not exclude other jurisdictions from having cases prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office, nor from contacting ATF for assistance with their investigations. In 2023, more than 160 cases worked by ATF involving more than 200 defendants were prosecuted throughout Maryland by the U.S. Attorney's Office, the Maryland Attorney General's Office, and State's Attorney's Offices.

7News has also learned a new report just out Thursday is revealing that Maryland is one of the top states that is most at risk for cyberattacks. NetworkBuildz is reporting there have been more than 58,000 cyberattacks in Maryland in the past five years.

That lands Maryland in the top four with the most cyber-attacks in the nation per 100,000 people. Washington D.C. is higher at number two and Virginia came in at number thirteen.