Baltimore City Council advances plan for new Department of Neighborhood Safety

The Baltimore City Council voted to advance a proposal to establish a new Department of Neighborhood Safety (DNS), a public agency designed to respond to nonviolent crises across the city.

The measure now heads toward a final vote on Nov. 9.

The proposed department would employ mental health clinicians and peer responders trained to handle nonviolent emergencies. It would also formally incorporate the work of the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE), the city's violence-prevention program.

The department would have equal standing with the city's police and fire departments, but questions remain about how it would be funded and how it would work with existing emergency response systems.

"No one should lose their life to a mental health crisis," Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen said. "The Department of Neighborhood Safety will exist to ensure Baltimoreans get the right response at the right time when they call for help. Too often, we have asked police to do the jobs of clinicians and peers when responding to non-violent calls. When fully implemented, this department will allow our officers to focus on reducing violent crime, while mental health professionals urgently respond to residents in distress."

The Baltimore City Firefighters Union supports the concept but has raised concerns about potential costs and the impact on already limited fire and emergency medical services resources.

"Diverting certain calls does not automatically reduce the cost of maintaining an emergency response system that must remain operational 24 hours a day, 365 days a year," the union said in a statement.

The union is also seeking more details about how the proposed department would integrate with the city's existing 911 system.

How would the department be funded?

Some initial funding would come from Baltimore's opioid settlement, but the department's long-term costs remain unclear.

Last month, Mayor Brandon Scott acknowledged that establishing the agency would require city funding.

"Obviously it's going to involve city funds. We're going to have to stand up a completely new agency, but that's why we're going to do this the right way and not rush it," Scott said.

Scott declined to provide specific long-term cost estimates, saying the proposal must first pass the legislative process.

"First, we have to get a bill passed before we can talk about any of that stuff," he said.

According to a news release from the mayor's office, $3.4 million in opioid restitution funds would support the initial planning phase, along with $1 million in federal funding to expand alternative response team capabilities.

Which calls would the department handle?

The mayor's office estimates that about 22,000 calls to 911 each year could be handled more appropriately by alternative responders rather than police.

Those calls include reports of loitering, welfare checks and requests for help involving people experiencing homelessness. The city estimates that homeless services account for roughly one-third of those calls.

Scott said the goal is to ensure police officers can focus on situations involving violent crime and firearms, while trained alternative responders handle crises that do not require a law enforcement response.

"This is about making sure that we are not sending folks with lights and sirens and guns and badges to something they don't need to," Scott said.

"What our residents want the police to be doing is what they should be focused on—people with guns, gun traffickers, groups of violent people," he added. "Our residents do not want the police out there dealing with something they're not the most equipped to do. This is what this is about for us. Nothing else."

The proposal would also formally establish the work of MONSE within the new department. City leaders have credited the office's violence-prevention efforts as one factor contributing to a historic decline in homicides.