Tonight, people in neighborhoods throughout Baltimore will be marching against crime.

Citizens on Patrol walks have become a staple of the city Police Department's community outreach, but the idea tonight is to have a simultaneous showing from Brooklyn to Homeland.

It's part of a weeklong nationwide mayors' initiative called Volunteers in Action, and Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III has made his signature COP walks his contribution to the effort.

At least two dozen community groups around the city are asking for people to come out about 6:30 p.m. Mayor Sheila Dixon plans to walk in her neighborhood, Hunting Ridge. The incoming mayor, Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake, plans to walk in Bel-Air Edison.

Just how many people come out for these walks depends on how active people are in a neighborhood, whether they're upset by some heinous crime and who tags along.

The Southwest Police Community Relations Council already had a walk scheduled tonight, in Carrollton Ridge, where 5-year-old Raven Wyatt was shot and wounded last summer on Pulaski Street. More than 100 people joined the mayor, police commissioner and other officials in a walk shortly after the shooting, but only two dozen came for another walk a month later, that one without City Hall celebrities.

Tonight's walks could draw more attention to the initiative and build momentum for the coming year that contains all the usual challenges of crime, but with the added pressure of a transition to a new mayor and the uncertainty that typically follows.

A recurring complaint from many residents remains obtaining crime statistics.

A representative of a North Baltimore public safety blog complained in an online posting that while his group is happy to join in the walk, he is angry that city police aren't more open about crime happening in his neighborhood.

The complaint reflects feelings from many residents who feel they're left in the dark about crime and feel powerless when asked to help by marching or identifying suspicious activity.

The Baltimore police crime map, which allows people to search in two-week increments, has not been updated since Nov. 28. Bealefeld had this to say:

"I go around and talk to neighborhood people who really are involved. I don't know if there's ever going to be a better assemblage of district commanders around the city. They do handsprings to make themselves accessible and available. Whether it's posting no-parking signs for community events or taking care of barking dogs, they're on it, and they're doing a damn fine job."

Most, if not all, police majors who command districts give out their cell phone numbers and field calls from community leaders day and night. And their aides come to monthly meetings armed with reams of information.

Still, residents want to go to the Internet and see what crime looks like where they live. They hear a neighbor's house was burglarized, and then they check the police crime map and don't see it listed and think something funny is going on. Better online updates would go a long way toward easing fears that the city hides crime. Bealefeld said he's trying to do more outreach despite budget cuts.

"I'm in a pitched battle, along with every other department head in the city, to maintain every nickel we have in our budget," the commissioner said. "I'd like to have a hot line to tell people about crime, and text messages. I don't have staffing for that."

Bealefeld said he has ordered his homicide commander to have detectives call victims' families on the anniversaries of the killings to update them on the status of unsolved cases. "It's small stuff like that," he said. "D.C. has a family-crime unit, a victim support unit inside the Police Department that can do all sorts of stuff. I don't have the resources to do that.

"Yes, there are a ton of things we'd love to do better," the commissioner continued. "We're very public about our efforts to be open and to provide information, and then I get pinched in the rear end that we didn't take a report here or we didn't take a phone call there. This is a city with 1 million calls for service, a city with a lot going on, and I would challenge anyone to find a more committed team than those in the districts."