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Baltimore City Council to vote on mental health-focused 911 response
The 13-1 vote creates a new agency to send trained responders to an estimated 22,000 nonviolent calls a year, officials said.
- On Monday, the Baltimore City Council passed legislation 13-1 to create a Department of Neighborhood Safety, a new agency designed to dispatch clinicians and social workers to nonviolent emergency calls.
- Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen sponsored the bill, citing that police currently spend up to 50 percent of their time handling mental health crises and homelessness rather than violent crime.
- The department expects to handle approximately 22,000 nonviolent calls annually, with a $16.8 million initial budget that includes $12.4 million to replace the city's aging computer-aided dispatch system.
- Mayor Brandon Scott plans to sign the bill, though officials estimate the department will take about a year to become fully operational as the city searches for executive leadership.
- Councilman Mark Conway cast the lone 'no' vote, citing concerns over long-term financial sustainability after a finance report warned the Opioid Restitution Fund could be fully exhausted by Fiscal 2032.
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Baltimore approves a new public safety department that could send clinicians and social workers—not police—to some 911 calls
Baltimore's City Council approved a Department of Neighborhood Safety to divert some nonviolent 911 calls to clinicians and social workers, though funding and safety concerns remain.
The Baltimore Council approved the creation of a department to respond to non-violent 911 calls, including mental health crises.
Baltimore approves mental crisis response agency after mother's call for change
The Baltimore City Council has approved a measure establishing a new Department of Neighborhood Safety (DNS), a public agency designed to respond to mental health crises and and other nonviolent emergencies across the city.
·New York, United States
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Total News Sources10
Leaning Left0Leaning Right1Center6Last UpdatedBias Distribution86% Center
Bias Distribution
- 86% of the sources are Center
86% Center
C 86%
14%
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