Solving homicides in a city with one of the higher murder rates in the nation is tough, but city detectives may receive a new assignment to add to their regular duties of tracking down murders: walking the beat.

A new policy announced during roll call last week could put detectives in uniform and on patrol as soon as next week, according to several sources inside the department. The sources said they were told to “get their uniforms,” in preparation for “walking the beat.”

Police spokesman Matt Jablow said assigning homicide detectives to patrol will beef up the number of officers on the street.

“We’re tying to get as many people on the streets as possible. It’s not definite, but it is one of the things on the table.” he said.

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Commissioner Leonard Hamm said raising the number of patrol officers is a departmentwide goal.

“We have 52 percent of our officers in patrol now — we’d like to get it to 60 percent,” he said at a press conference last Tuesday to announce Mayor Sheila Dixon’s new crime fighting strategy. The plan emphasized increased foot patrol as one of the keys to fighting the city’s continuing high violent crime rate.

The policy would put homicide detectives on patrol for their “flex” week — one week out of the month during which detectives are not assigned new cases. Generally during flex week, detectives are expected to work older cases or cold cases.

A recent investigative report by The Examiner highlighted the fact that roughly 1,065 murder cases since 1998 remain unsolved. Many of the victims' relatives said they were frustrated with the lack of progress in their relatives’ cases.

The homicide unit currently has 42 detectives.

sjanis@baltimoreexaminer.com