Baltimore Council Advances $16.8M Civilian Response Agency to Nov. 9 Vote

Baltimore City Hall, Oct. 27: Baltimore City Council members split Monday over a bill that would stand up a $16.8 million civilian response system, advancing the measure to a final vote scheduled for Nov. 9. The legislation would create the Department of Neighborhood Safety as a permanent city agency with a proposed effective date of Jan. 1, 2027.

Councilman Mark Conway voted against the bill and said the timeline left too little room for review. "In two weeks, we'll vote this out of the council," Conway said. "I don't think we have done our due diligence in foreseeing all of the concerns .. I fear we are going to trip and fall." Council President Zeke Cohen countered that planning has been underway for years, including discussions with community leaders and preparation for a gradual rollout modeled in part on the city's Group Violence Reduction Strategy. "Folks have been talking about this for years," Cohen said.

The proposal would dispatch mental health professionals and other civilian responders to certain nonviolent 911 calls and absorb the city's existing violence prevention programs. City estimates put the number of annual calls involving nonviolent situations, including behavioral health checks and certain disturbances, at about 22,000. Council Vice President Sharon Green Middleton said the council would examine the department's finances during budget hearings next spring.

Funding drew the sharpest questions. Of the estimated $16.8 million startup cost, $12.4 million would go toward upgrading emergency dispatch infrastructure. In an Oct. 8 report, Deputy Finance Director Bob Cenname projected the Opioid Restitution Fund would be exhausted by fiscal 2032 under projections that incorporate existing commitments and the phased introduction of the new department. The fund held an estimated $239.1 million at the end of fiscal 2026. Cenname wrote that exhaustion of the fund could force programs supported by it to shut down or find replacement funding.

The mayor's office has said opioid settlement funding would support the department for its first four to five years while officials develop a longer-term plan, and that no general fund money has been reallocated from existing public safety agencies. Finance officials have suggested that moving eligible calls away from police and firefighters could eventually produce savings, but those savings have not been calculated.

Homeless advocate Christina Flowers questioned the scale of the request and the city's focus on response after harm. "All of those initiatives love to show up when the body is there," Flowers said. She added: "At the end of the day, to be asking for $16M is a slap in the face to people like myself." Erricka Bridgeford, founder of the Baltimore Peace Movement, told the council the alternative carries costs too. "While there is a cost to this, I think that it is important to pay more attention to the cost of not doing it," Bridgeford testified.

If approved, the bill would require an agreement with the Police and Fire departments setting out how eligible 911 calls are screened and routed, when traditional responders are dispatched and how agencies share information. The department's executive director would have up to one year after enactment to submit an implementation report covering staffing, training, organizational structure, budget recommendations and performance measures. Administration officials do not expect alternative response teams on the streets until fall 2027, starting at a smaller scale before expanding to full 24-hour coverage.