Baltimore City Council Moves Ahead With $16.8 Million 911 Response Overhaul Despite Funding Doubts

Baltimore’s emergency response system faces a major structural change as the city prepares to separate civilian responders from traditional police and fire units.

The Baltimore City Council advanced a bill on Monday to create the Department of Neighborhood Safety, an agency designed to dispatch mental health professionals and other civilian staff to specific nonviolent 911 calls. The proposal also consolidates existing city violence prevention programs under this new umbrella.

The legislation, which carries an estimated startup cost of $16.8 million, moved forward with opposition from Councilman Mark Conway. Conway argued that the bill is being rushed through the legislative process and that lawmakers have not fully addressed operational concerns.

“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 rejected the notion that the process was hasty. He stated that the proposal follows years of discussions with community leaders and mirrors the city’s existing Group Violence Reduction Strategy. Cohen emphasized that the plan involves a gradual rollout rather than an immediate shift in resources.

“It is simply not the case that some folks woke up a couple weeks ago and decided, ‘Let’s do legislation related to this department’,” Cohen said. “Folks have been talking about this for years.”

Vice President Sharon Green Middleton noted that the city budget hearings next spring will provide another chance to scrutinize the department's finances. She expressed confidence that the remaining details will be resolved after the council passes the bill.

“That’s why we have budget session,” Middleton said. “There’s pieces that come after we do our part today and I’m sure those pieces will fall into place.”

Community advocates have raised questions about both the spending and the scope of the new department. Christina Flowers, a homeless advocate, argued that the city focuses too much on post-tragedy intervention rather than prevention. She criticized the $16.8 million price tag and called for partnerships with organizations outside the mayor's immediate circle.

“At the end of the day, to be asking for $16M is a slap in the face to people like myself,” Flowers said. “Bring some partnerships to the table that are not politically favored, that are not best friends with the mayor.”

Erricka Bridgeford, founder of the Baltimore Peace Movement, offered a counterpoint. She testified that the cost of inaction is higher than the cost of the new program. Bridgeford argued that alternative responders can prevent violence from escalating when they are the correct first response to a call.

“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 said. “To the cost of violence escalating unnecessarily when there could have been the correct responders showing up.”