State's Attorney Ivan Bates unveils plan to improve Baltimore's quality of life, judicial system

BALTIMORE -- Baltimore City State's Attorney Ivan Bates released a new strategic plan to improve the quality of life and workflow for residents and the city's judicial system. 

"We've made a lot of changes, and the office is definitely in a better position now than when we took over, but what can we do to get it to the level where the citizens are proud of the state's attorney office?," Bates said. 

Bates' plan has five pillars, which he calls "the facts": fairness, accountability, collaboration, technology-driven, and setting the standard.  His goal is to modernize his office and its effectiveness for the citizens it serves. 

"With fairness, we're just talking about the criminal justice system being fair, but also how do we treat victims and witnesses? We are only going to be as good as the victims and witnesses when they feel safe to come and tell their stories to the jury," Baltimore's city state's attorney explained. 

That accountability starts with the creation of a citation docket system that will streamline and efficiently document incidents from law enforcement, including quality-of-life crimes that he believes need to be handled with common sense through diversion programs. 

These things can only work through Bates' next pillar, collaboration. One that looks to work more closely with community partners and law enforcement to capitalize on effective crime reduction strategies. His fourth pillar is being technology driven and getting his office up to speed with the rest of the country.  

That includes the implementation of MDEC, which is an electronic case management system. 

"We're the last jurisdiction in the state to implement it, but this will allow our pros to file documents a little more quickly. It will also allow us to do the things and do the work that we need to in a way that, with the technology, we are a paperless organization," Bates said. 

Bates plans to move his office forward in a way that prosecutes cases efficiently and effectively, while also welcoming the creation of a community advisory panel to welcome residents into the process of improving the quality of life for people like his young daughter and all residents of our city. 

That speaks to his last pillar of setting the standard. 

"What did I do to make sure that she had a future? What did I do to make sure that the other children in the city had a future, but also wasn't just the children?" Bates said. 

This will be Bates' first ever strategic plan as Baltimore's top prosecutor.