Department of Neighborhood Safety (26-0221)

At a glance

What: Council Bill 26-0221 would create a Department of Neighborhood Safety as a third branch of public safety alongside police and fire. It would codify the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (violence prevention, group violence reduction, Safe Streets, hospital-based intervention, returning citizens) and add a new alternative response division that sends social worker and peer teams to eligible 911 calls.
Where it stands: third Committee of the Whole hearing held Oct 14, 2026 (the first two were earlier hearings that the chair mentioned). Informational only, no vote. Law Department found the bill legally sufficient with minor amendments, which are in the bill packet. Police, Fire, Neighborhood Safety, Homeless Services and Finance reported; the administration and a long panel supported it.
Next: another Committee of the Whole hearing is on the agenda for Oct 26, 2026 (1:00 PM); the chair said it would take amendments and a vote. Conway asked for a ten-year cost and staffing projection, which the chair set at 45 days.

Alternative response teams (social worker plus peer) dispatched through the 911 computer-aided dispatch system, with the same response speed expected as police, fire and EMS; 911 itself stays in the Fire Department.
A resource hub (physical place for respite and support) and separate care continuity teams for case management.
A 2025 data analysis found about 22,000 911 calls a year (roughly a quarter of calls) could be handled without law enforcement, such as public nuisance, welfare checks and public intoxication; about a third involve people experiencing homelessness. Call types are not final.
Rollout is expected to start small, by area and call type, as with the group violence reduction strategy; not 24/7 at first.
Existing 988 and mobile crisis teams, police co-response teams and the embedded 911 clinicians continue.

Start-up money named: a 15 million dollar opioid restitution earmark for 24/7 outreach, a 1.1 million dollar federal earmark, and state budget support for the new dispatch system. The Board of Estimates created an executive director and an alternative response deputy director position.
Finance Department: the bill itself creates no new spending, appropriations must go through the budget; opioid funds are time limited and a sustainable model is still to be worked out; savings in police and fire could be redirected.
Administration said funding is in place for 3 to 5 years and committed that no layoffs are foreseen in public safety agencies.

Conway: long-term cost, duplication with the existing city crisis response (BCRI), and whether the function belongs in the Health Department (a point he credited to Porter).
Middleton: performance measures and accountability; the administration plans an outside evaluation partner and internal stat reporting.
Parker: staffing size and time on scene; answer depends on call types.
Glover: vetting partners with community input, a pilot approach and trust.
Blanchard: place-based safety work and how information shared with responders is protected from police involvement.
Jones: difference from existing diversion, public education, and no layoffs.

Support from social work, hospital, harm reduction, behavioral health, community safety and gun violence survivor speakers, often asking for continued community involvement and implementation detail.
One resident opposed the bill, citing city debt and concern about police policy; others raised victim and witness services and training for missing-person alerts.

The final Oct 14 Committee of the Whole minutes list the item and state "The Committee did not vote on this matter." They record no attendance or testimony.

About 145 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting	Minutes
2026-10-14 - Committee of the Whole	145

2026-10-14 - 2026-10-14 - Committee of the Whole: final minutes confirm no vote was taken.
2026-10-14 - 2026-10-14 - Committee of the Whole: hearing on the bill; presentation by the Deputy Mayor, panel in support, agency reports, council questions on cost, accountability, rollout and trust, public testimony; no vote.
2026-09-22 - 2026-09-22 - Public Safety Committee: before the bill's later hearings, the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement gave a performance update (767 group violence notifications, five of ten Safe Streets sites at 365 days without a homicide, 798 victims served) and took questions on school-based intervention and the Lexington Market Collaborative; no vote.

Committee of the Whole hearing at 1:00 PM; final minutes are posted but were not read, so votes and amendments are not recorded here.

2026-11-09 - 2026-11-09 - Baltimore City Council: bill listed for third reader on the final agenda; minutes still draft, vote not yet recorded.