Baltimore City Council to Vote Nov. 9 on 'Department of Neighborhood Safety' Sending Clinicians to Mental-Health Calls
BALTIMORE, Md. — The Baltimore City Council is set to vote on November 9, 2026, on a bill to create a new Department of Neighborhood Safety that would train 911 dispatchers to send clinical workers, rather than police, to mental-health and other nonviolent emergency calls.
Council President Zeke Cohen, the bill's lead sponsor, said treating mental health as seriously as physical health is a matter of life and death, and that the new department would free overstretched officers to focus on violent crime. Under the bill, the department would become the third branch of Baltimore's public safety system, dedicated to nonviolent emergency response. If the council passes the bill on November 9, it will go to the mayor for signature.
Supporters say the reform would reduce unnecessary police-civilian confrontations, match each call with the most appropriate responders, and let officers concentrate on violent crime and other police work.
Source: Baltimore Focal
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 巴尔的摩市政厅夜景。（Marylandstater 摄，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons）
