Betsy Fox Tolentino, the acting secretary of Maryland's Department of Juvenile Services (DJS), says juvenile crime is down despite residents saying they still feel unsafe and more needs to be done to address the violence.

Fox Tolentino, who sat down exclusively with WJZ's Tara Lynch, said she's working to create lasting change in just her first six months in a system that's come under fire for years.

She says juvenile crime is trending down, which means some of the immediate changes the agency has made are working.

"We're seeing that when we hold people accountable, and we have the right level of community support, we can really see a drop in violent crime," Fox Tolentino said.

Adjusting policies for repeat offenders and juveniles committing crimes on ankle monitors was top of the list

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