A new government agency to serve as a “third branch of public safety and emergency services” alongside Baltimore Police and Baltimore Fire was announced today by Mayor Brandon Scott and City Council President Zeke Cohen.

Legislation will be submitted tonight to the Council to establish a Department of Neighborhood Safety to absorb the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE) and expand the administration’s “alternative response ecosystem” to handle nonviolent emergencies as public health, not police, issues.

The agency will continue MONSE’s structure, staff and mission as part of a broader approach to neighborhood safety that “ensures that when residents call 911, they receive a response that meets their needs” with alternative approaches to traditional law enforcement, according to a press release.

Noting that homicides and nonfatal shooting in Baltimore have declined by 60% since 2021, Mayor Scott attributed those achievements to his Group Violence Reduction Strategy and the partnership he has forged between police, prosecutors, community violence intervenors and MONSE.

The press release avoided mention of fraudulent invoices and data breach found in MONSE’s SideStep youth diversion program by Baltimore Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming – an investigation that is at the center of the IG’s legal dispute with the administration to regain access to city records.

“Police officers should be primarily focused on reducing violent crime, not solving mental health crises,” Council President Cohen is quoted as saying in the press release.

The new agency will send out mental health professionals to answer nonviolent 911 calls that police officers “were never equipped to handle alone.”

“The Department of Neighborhood Safety will take this work to the next level by sending trained mental health professionals to answer calls our officers were never equipped to handle alone. I am grateful for Mayor Scott’s partnership in our shared effort to build this agency and make Baltimore a safer and healthier city for all,” Cohen said.

The mayor’s 2027 budget allocated more than $16 million to support the new department, including $12.4 million to replace the 20-year-old Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) system that frequently crashes and delays emergency responses, and millions more from the Opioid Restitution Fund

About 22,000 calls are made each year to 911 that could be better served by mental health counselors and social workers, according to the mayor.

The calls include public nuisance offenses, welfare checks and loitering. About one-third involve people who are homelessness.

Under the 2017 federal consent decree with Baltimore Police following the death of Freddie Gray, the city is required to establish a 911 behavioral health crisis division.

The Department of Neighborhood Safety, “once fully implemented, will bring Baltimore closer than ever to finally meet that responsibility,” the mayor’s office said.