I'm not sure that the Baltimore Police Department’s releasing a bunch of statistics on Baltimore's recent shooters and victims is all that harmful ("Don't blame victims,” Jan. 6). Even if just raw statistics, the more we know about the victims and perpetrators, the more insight we gain on how to reduce the violence.
Statistics I would like to see collected relate to the shooters’ and victims’ school history. I'm assuming most of them attended Baltimore's public schools. If I'm correct (no reflection on the schools, themselves), it would be useful to know if certain schools more than others matriculated the perpetrators and victims. If that turned out to be the case, then the city would be able to focus strong, early intervention programs on those schools as an additional effort to reduce our city's epidemic of violence.
Herman M. Heyn, Baltimore