New Baltimore agency would divert more 911 calls away from police

Baltimore lawmakers are considering a new Department of Neighborhood Safety that would incorporate the city’s existing crime diversion office and bolster 911 responses that don’t include traditional law enforcement, according to a city official.

The department, proposed by City Council President Zeke Cohen in cooperation with Mayor Brandon Scott, would absorb the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, which manages the city’s hallmark crime diversion effort: the Group Violence Reduction Strategy. It would aim to respond to non-life-threatening 911 calls, such as welfare checks and nuisance reports, without the assistance of police, said Letitia Dzirasa, Baltimore’s deputy mayor for equity, health and human services.

Calls that do not involve weapons and are deemed to be in a safe environment would be managed by a social worker and a peer specialist, an unlicensed person with relevant life experience. Teams would eventually work at all hours, Dzirasa said.

The administration imagines the department to be a third branch of the city’s public safety apparatus, in addition to the police and fire departments, Dzirasa said. City officials expect to conduct a national search for leaders of the department.

The proposal requires approval from the City Council, and Cohen plans to introduce legislation to create the department Monday. Dzirasa revealed the proposed department in a media briefing ahead of the announcement.

Baltimore residents have pleaded for more alternatives to law enforcement, particularly in the wake of deaths last year.

Pytorcarcha Brooks, 70, was killed after police shot her in the midst of a mental health crisis in June 2025. Police had kicked in Brooks’ door and allegedly found her wielding a knife. That same day, 31-year-old Dontae Melton Jr. died after being shackled in Baltimore Police custody following his own mental health crisis.

City officials estimate Baltimore 911 operators receive 22,000 calls annually that could be handled without law enforcement. About one-third of those calls involve the city’s homeless population.

The program would be modeled after a similar effort in Durham, North Carolina. Cohen and staff from the mayor’s office visited the city recently to learn about the program, which diverts 5% of 911 calls from police. Baltimore diverts about 1.5%.

The council president aims to pass the legislation by late October, said Alana Calhoun, a staffer for Cohen, in a media briefing ahead of the announcement,

Baltimore’s federal consent decree, created in response to the 2015 death of Freddie Gray from injuries sustained in police custody, requires the city to operate a 24-hour alternative response system — one that dispatches trained civilians rather than law enforcement to handle nonviolent, low-level or mental health crisis calls.

Nearly a decade ago, Baltimore Police stood up a Crisis Response Team, which includes officers, medics and trained mental health counselors. Despite the consent decree requirements, the specialty team works limited hours and has been hobbled by staffing shortages. In March, the team consisted of three officers, one sergeant and one lieutenant who worked a single, midday shift.

City officials said they plan to expand the Crisis Response Team and to add teams of responders outside the law enforcement apparatus.

City officials did not provide a firm estimate for the program’s total cost but said the department would be launched with $15 million in restitution funds from settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors. State and federal grants would support other elements of the plan, including an overhaul of the city’s computer-aided dispatch system.

Staffing for the department is to be determined.

Dzirasa said employees of the new department would be trained in trauma-informed care, crisis deescalation and behavioral health. It would take about a year to make the program operational, she said, based on Durham’s experience.

Stefanie Mavronis, director of MONSE, would continue in her current position and report to the new executive director, officials said.

The move for MONSE comes amid heightened scrutiny of the office.

Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming released an investigation in March that found evidence MONSE paid two contractors for fraudulent invoices as part of a defunct youth crime diversion pilot program. A former MONSE employee also shared a list of participants in several youth programs, a violation of state law that bars dissemination of juvenile records.

Cumming has sought further records related to the program, requests that are part of a legal dispute between her and Scott. Cumming sued Scott’s administration this year after he severed her direct access to city records.