From Silos to Solutions: Interagency Partnerships for Real Public Safety in Baltimore
Community-Based Strategies for Building Trust
One of the most practical paths forward for Baltimore’s public safety landscape involves expanding community-based strategies that prioritize relationship-building over enforcement. Programs such as Safe Streets, led by community members with lived experience, have shown promise in reducing shootings by stopping violence before it escalates. These efforts differ from traditional policing by focusing on mediation, mentorship, and being present in the community, instead of using punishment. The Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions found that between 2015 and 2020, areas served by Safe Streets saw meaningful drops in gun violence, even when accounting for wider crime trends1.
For city leaders, funding these programs isn't enough. They also need long-term support, integration into city planning, and a clear commitment to keeping them going. Community violence intervention workers often face the same dangers as police officers but without the same pay, benefits, or protections. Cities can fix this by creating stable career paths, offering mental health support, and involving these workers in long-term planning across departments. These practical steps help show that public safety is everyone's job, built on strong communities rather than just law enforcement.
Expanding Civilian Crisis Response Models
Baltimore’s police often handle situations that go beyond crime, such as mental health crises, substance use, and homelessness. Officers are not always trained to handle these issues, which can lead to unnecessary arrests or worsening the situation. To address this gap, cities including Baltimore are trying out programs where trained civilians respond to certain emergency calls instead of police.
In 2022, Baltimore launched a pilot program pairing mental health professionals with EMTs to respond to non-violent crisis calls. This approach kept police out of situations they weren’t equipped to handle, and early reviews by the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement showed fewer unnecessary arrests and better outcomes for people in crisis2. To scale this model citywide, officials need to establish clear dispatch protocols, ensure 24/7 availability of crisis teams, and rigorously track program outcomes. These efforts not only reduce pressure on law enforcement but also align with public calls for more compassionate and effective emergency responses.
Reforming Police Union Contracts for Accountability
One major challenge to police reform in Baltimore is the structure of union contracts, which often make it difficult to discipline officers or ensure transparency. Some contracts delay internal investigations, erase disciplinary records, or allow fired officers to return through arbitration. These provisions obstruct civilian oversight and slow the pace of reform. A 2021 review by Campaign Zero found that Baltimore’s police contract included several of these structural barriers3.
Changing these contracts is politically tricky but necessary. City leaders must approach negotiations with a clear commitment: police contracts should support fair and accountable policing. This means involving the public in the process, making contract terms transparent, and aligning them with the city’s broader reform goals. Other cities, such as Austin and Seattle, have made incremental progress by linking officer raises to cooperation with oversight bodies4. Baltimore can adopt similar strategies to ensure police contracts reflect community expectations and facilitate meaningful reform.
Improving Data Integrity and Public Transparency
Accurate crime data is essential to rebuilding public trust and making informed policy decisions. When arrest records and crime statistics are manipulated, as uncovered in a 2023 Real News Network investigation, it undermines the city’s credibility and hampers effective governance5. Agencies must prioritize data integrity by upgrading reporting systems to include audit trails, tracking changes, and engaging independent experts to oversee data management.
To further transparency, the city should establish a public data accountability board composed of technology experts, legal professionals, and community representatives. This board would monitor data practices, recommend improvements, and help prevent misuse of information for political purposes. Public data portals should provide plain-language explanations, document data collection methods, and log all updates. Cross-departmental collaboration among IT, public safety, and legal offices is vital to ensure these reforms are both technically robust and accessible to the public.
Redefining Performance Metrics for Public Safety
Traditional metrics such as arrest numbers and response times offer a limited view of public safety. These measures can incentivize departments to prioritize quantity over quality, often at the expense of community trust. Baltimore has an opportunity to redefine success by emphasizing metrics like resolving community complaints, reducing use-of-force incidents, and measuring public satisfaction through surveys.
The Office of the Inspector General could play a key role by publishing quarterly reports on these new performance indicators, disaggregated by race, location, and incident type. These reports should inform City Council discussions and be used to evaluate department leadership. Rewarding practices like peaceful conflict resolution, strong community relationships, and collaborations with social service providers can gradually shift departmental culture. Moving away from enforcement-driven benchmarks allows Baltimore to build a public safety system rooted in fairness, trust, and real-world outcomes.
Building Interagency Partnerships for Holistic Safety
Effective public safety extends beyond policing and requires coordinated efforts across housing, transportation, public health, and youth services. In Baltimore, agencies often operate in silos, making it difficult to tackle problems that span multiple sectors. A more integrated approach is needed, one that promotes shared goals and mutual accountability. For example, aligning eviction prevention programs with violence reduction zones can reduce the instability that often contributes to crime6.
The Mayor’s Office should establish a Public Safety Coordination Council composed of agency heads, community leaders, and researchers. This body would align strategies, pool resources, and monitor progress toward shared objectives. Cities like Los Angeles and Minneapolis have demonstrated that such models can lead to tangible improvements, including reductions in youth violence and lower recidivism rates7. Baltimore can adapt these examples to shift from reactive responses to proactive, neighborhood-based strategies with lasting impact.
Practical Steps Toward Structural Change
Baltimore’s path forward requires more than promises. City leaders must take concrete steps to reform police union contracts, fund non-police crisis teams, improve crime data practices, and include community voices in safety planning. These solutions are not theoretical - they are already showing results in other cities and can be adapted to Baltimore’s specific needs.
Public safety should not be defined solely by arrests. It hinges on long-term investments in community services, transparent leadership, and building trust between residents and the institutions that serve them. By treating safety as a shared responsibility across sectors, Baltimore can create a system that is fair, effective, and resilient - breaking free from cycles of reform followed by regression.
Bibliography
Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. “Safe Streets: A Public Health Approach to Violence Prevention.” 2021. https://publichealth.jhu.edu/gun-violence-solutions
Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement. “Crisis Response Pilot Evaluation Report.” 2022. https://monse.baltimorecity.gov
Campaign Zero. “Police Union Contract Project: Baltimore, MD.” 2021. https://www.checkthepolice.org/contracts/baltimore
Police Executive Research Forum. “Civilian Oversight and Police Accountability.” 2023. https://www.policeforum.org/oversight2023
The Real News Network. “Dirty Cops, Dirty Data: A Look Inside Baltimore’s Police Database.” 2023. https://therealnews.com/dirty-cops-dirty-data
Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance. “Housing Instability and Crime Correlation.” 2022. https://bniajfi.org/reports
National League of Cities. “Collaborative Governance in Public Safety.” 2023. https://www.nlc.org/resource/public-safety-collaboration
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