BALTIMORE, MD (Monday, January 8, 2024) – Today, the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE) and the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) announced the selection of a third Neighborhood Policing Plan pilot community: the North Avenue & Hilton Street Baltimore & Community Task Force, Inc., which includes the Walbrook, Rosemont and Coppin Heights neighborhoods with a focus on the West North Avenue corridor. Their selection comes with a $250,000 grant award to support the development and implementation of this plan.
Neighborhood Policing Plans (NPP) are tailored public safety strategies that use a problem-oriented policing model and elements of crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) to resolve challenges in the community that lead to crime and disorder. These policing plans are directly connected to the BPD’s Community Policing Plan and Baltimore’s Comprehensive Violence Prevention Plan. In alignment with the requirements of the consent decree, MONSE and BPD will work with neighborhoods to create Neighborhood Policing Plans (NPP) that address the challenges identified by residents in their community and coordinate City agency resources accordingly.
“After a competitive application and review process, we are pleased to welcome the North Avenue & Hilton Street Baltimore & Community Task Force, Inc. as our next Neighborhood Policing Plan pilot partner,” said MONSE Interim Executive Director Stefanie Mavronis. “Activating strategic partnerships between City government and our neighborhoods is imperative as we work to address both immediate violence in neighborhoods and quality of life issues. What we learn through this pilot will help inform future community-government collaborations and lay a foundation for more resident-driven public safety work in the future.”
“Neighborhood Policing Plans are a cornerstone of our Community Policing Plan. The safety of our neighborhoods relies on community partnerships. We must work together to create public safety strategies that build trust and develop problem-oriented solutions to address underlying conditions for the root causes of crime,” said Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley. “BPD is proud to expand these efforts and work alongside these communities to co-produce holistic approaches to public safety, improve life outcomes and rebuild relationships.”
Neighborhood Policing Plans are currently being piloted in two police districts: in the Western District – in partnership with Fayette Street Outreach (FSO) – and the Southern District – in partnership with the Greater Baybrook Alliance (GBA). These plans were designed as a direct response to calls by Baltimore residents to have more input over decision-making impacting public safety in their neighborhoods. Included in the fifth round of MONSE’s ARPA award allocations announced earlier this year, GBA and FSO were awarded a combined $700,000 as part of the initial pilot. Funds for all three Neighborhood Policing Plan grants are a part of MONSE's American Rescue Plan Act Allocation from the Mayor's Office of Recovery Programs.
The Scott Administration’s commitment, through MONSE and the BPD, to implementing Neighborhood Policing Plans is part of ongoing efforts to bridge distrust between BPD and the community as outlined under Pillar 2 Goal 4.2 of Mayor Scott’s Comprehensive Violence Prevention Plan (CVPP) and BPD’s Community Policing Plan designed to institutionalize community-centered policing practices.
About the Mayor’s Office of Recovery Programs
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) provided $641 million to the City of Baltimore in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency and its negative economic impacts. Mayor Brandon M. Scott has established the Mayor’s Office of Recovery Programs to transparently and effectively administer this funding on behalf of the City. For additional information, visit the Mayor’s Office of Recovery Programs website at arp.baltimorecity.gov.
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