Mayor Brandon M. Scott Releases Draft Comprehensive Public Safety Strategy

Crest of the City of Baltimore

Brandon M. Scott
Mayor,
Baltimore City
250 City Hall - Baltimore Maryland 21202
(410) 396-3835 - Fax: (410) 576-9425

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

BALTIMORE, MD (Monday, March 15, 2021) — Today, Mayor Brandon M. Scott released a draft of his comprehensive public safety plan alongside the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE) Director Shantay Jackson and Baltimore City Health Commissioner Letitia Dzirasa.

The Draft Violence Reduction Framework and Plan is available for review at monse.baltimorecity.gov. Residents are encouraged to provide their feedback on the plan on the MONSE webpage or during upcoming feedback sessions on Facebook, which will be scheduled in the near future.

“Baltimore has already lost 54 residents to violence this year. These are more than just statistics and figures, these are 54 of our friends and neighbors who won’t have an opportunity to discover their potential in life,” said Mayor Brandon M. Scott. “I have long advocated for a comprehensive and coordinated approach to addressing violence in Baltimore. The release of this draft plan today represents the first step in working together to build public safety in Baltimore.”

In one of his first actions after taking office, Mayor Scott established the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement and charged the office with leading citywide efforts in addressing crisis levels of gun violence today, while also tackling broader social determinants of health for a safer and more equitable Baltimore. This plan reflects the agency’s lead role in fulfilling the framework.

“Past public safety practices have failed to yield long-term results for Baltimore. This Draft Violence Prevention Framework and Plan is based in equity, healing, and trauma-informed practices,” said Shantay Jackson, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement. “My team will work closely with the Mayor to implement this plan, which operationalizes a public health approach to violence, centers on community engagement and collaboration across agencies, and focuses on data-driven practice and accountability.”

The Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement is responsible for coordinating an all-hands-on-deck approach to building a safer Baltimore and working to ensure accountability across our holistic violence reduction strategy. In the coming weeks, MONSE will present the plan to partner agencies, neighborhood associations, businesses and other stakeholders to workshop the plan.

“Deep challenges require innovative solutions. Violent crime is a major issue in Baltimore, and our residents deserve to know how their leaders will address it in the most effective and urgent way possible,” continued Mayor Scott. “Baltimore can embody what it means to treat violence as a public health epidemic, but it requires real collaboration. While MONSE will work to hold our law enforcement agencies accountable, we also expect every agency and institution to have a role in preventing violence in our community.”

Last May, then-Council President Scott sponsored and passed the Biennial Comprehensive Violence Prevention Plan Ordinance. The Ordinance mandated the Baltimore City Health Department to develop a comprehensive violence prevention plan rooted in public health and inclusive of strategies that are trauma-informed, reduce harm, and heal individuals and communities.

In September 2020, Health Commissioner Letitia Dzirasa convened the Citywide Violence Prevention Taskforce, which included City and State agencies, organizations, and technical assistance partners. This group met over eight sessions to develop a Violence Prevention Framework using a results-based accountability approach. MONSE worked with the Health Department to operationalize that framework to develop the plan released today.

The plan will be presented to the City Council’s Public Safety and Government Operations Committee in the month of April.

Cover image showing outline of Baltimore map with text "Violence Prevention Framework and Plan", "February 2021" overlaid with city seal and "Draft Plan, Pending Public Feedback" text 

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