Introduction

This report provides a descriptive analysis of arrest data from the Baltimore Police Department covering the period from 2010 to 2026. The data set includes individual-level arrest records with information on the date of the arrest, age and race of the individual arrested, the police district where the arrest was made, and much more. By examining trends over time, demographic composition, and geographic distribution, this analysis seeks to identify patterns in arrest activity across a little over a sixteen-year period in Baltimore.

Tab 1

The following histogram of total arrests by year illustrates a clear decline in arrests activity from 2010 through the early 2020s. Arrests were highest at the beginning of the period, peaking in 2010 at approximately 44,800 arrests. From that point forward, the data shows a steady downward trajectory, with particular sharp declines occurring around 2015 - 2016 and 2020 - 2021.

By 2022, the total annual arrests had fallen to about 9,253, representing a substantial decrease of roughly 79.35% from the 2010 level. While the years following this low point show a rebound in arrest volume, totals remain significantly below early-decade levels. It is also important to note that the most recent year reflects partial data, and therefore its lower total should not be interpreted as a full-year comparison.

Tab 2

This heatmap provides a detailed breakdown of the annual count of arrests by district from 2010 though early 2026, which offers a more granular look at where law enforcement activity has been concentrated over time.

In 2010, the Central (7,881), Eastern (5,839), and Western (5,506) districts had the highest reported arrest counts among the districts. The Northern district consistently shows the lightest shading across the entire timeline, indicating it maintains the lowest arrest volume compared to other districts. Much like the histogram above, this heatmap shows a visible “cooling” across all districts starting around 2015. Lastly, the Central district shows a particularly notable increase, jumping from 771 arrests in 2023 back up to 1,013 in 2025.

## [1]     0  2500  5000  7500 10000 12500 15000

Tab 3

Next, is a horizontal stacked bar chart providing a clear overview of arrest count by race. This data demonstrated a story of significant fluctuation in law enforcement activity, categorized into four groups: Black, White, Other, and Unknown. The “Other” category includes data that was under “H”, “I”, and/or “A”. Since these letters represent additional racial groups aside from “Black” or “White”, I decided to group them into one.

Throughout the entire timeline, the “Black” category (light blue) consistently represents the largest share of total arrests, followed by “White” (dark green). This trend could be due to Baltimore’s demographic make-up.

## 
##   Black   Other Unknown   White 
##  324644    2202    9453   56750

Tab 4

Following, is a trellis bar chart that provides a breakdown of total arrests by age. Across almost every year in the dataset, individuals aged 25-34 represents the highest number of arrests. in the earliest years (2010-2012), the 18-24 age group was nearly equal to or occasionally higher than the 25-34 group, but the 25-34 demographic became the clear leader from 2013 onward. Arrests for the 0-17 and 65+ age groups are consistently the lowest across all sixteen years, remaining a tiny fraction of the total compared to those in their 20s, 30s, and 40s.

Tab 5

Finally, this pie chart provides a clear high-level summary of the gender distribution for arrests over a 16-year span from 2010 to early 2026. The majority of arrests, 81.6%, involved male individuals. While the previous visualizations showed trends over time, this pie chart provides the cumulative “big picture” numbers. The pie chart effectively highlights that, regardless of the annual fluctuations or district-specific trends seen in the other graphs, the ratio of arrests made by gender has remained heavily weighted toward males as a long-term average.

##   Gender      n
## 1            34
## 2      F  72480
## 3      M 320533
## 4      Y      1
## 5      Z      1
##   Gender      n
## 1      F  72480
## 2      M 320533

Conclusion

When viewed together, these visualizations reveal a comprehensive portrait of law enforcement activity from 2010 through early 2026, defined by a long-term decline in volume followed by a notable recent resurgence. While total arrests plummeted to historical lows between 2020 and 2023, the data from 2024 and 2025 indicated a significant rebound across nearly all demographics and districts, particularly within the Central district and the 25-34 age bracket. Despite these dramatic shifts in total volume, the core demographics of the arrest population are Black men ages 18-44. Interestingly enough, Baltimore’s Mayor, Brandon Scott, has been increasingly implementing youth programs particularly focusing on Black men. All of the initiatives that have been put in place are part of a broader violence reduction strategy. It is clear that Mayor Scott’s advocacy efforts have been efficient and influential to the Baltimore communities.