It's such a deeper conversation that has to happen in America about what your police department is supposed to do and what they're responsible for.
And changing that culture is going to be a long road.
But I'm just lucky that Baltimore is ahead of the game.
There can be few more challenging jobs in American city level politics than being the mayor of Baltimore.
It is not entirely Baltimore, Baltimore's fault that it has become synonymous with gun crime and urban blight.
The success of the tremendous television series the Wire did little good for the image of the city in which it was set.
But it is also true that the Wire was set in Baltimore for a reason.
As recently as 2019, there were more murders in Baltimore population just half a million or so than in New York City.
That is changing on the watch of Baltimore's current mayor, Brandon Scott, elected in 2020, re elected in 2024 and still only 40, Scott has presided over a decline in gun crime.
In particular, a new documentary, the Body Politic, looks at how he is doing it and the challenges of persuading voters to stay the course.
I'm Andrew Muller and I spoke to Mayor Brandon Scott for the big interview.
Mayor Scott of Baltimore, welcome to the big interview.
Thank you, thank you for having me.
Thank you very much.
I want to start by going back to a moment earlier this year when obviously Baltimore made global news for reasons you would have preferred not to.
I'm interested in those first moments when a crisis strikes.
And I'm talking of course, about the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge back in March.
How are you told about that as mayor?
How does that call come and what do you do in the minutes and hours afterwards?
Well, unfortunately, it's, it's.