Public Safety and Justice
Zeke came to the city council having been a teacher in schools that looked and felt like jails. After a school shooting, he championed The Healing City Act which made Baltimore the first city in the country to legislate trauma-informed care. As Council President, Zeke will accelerate the implementation of that law, understanding that we must address Baltimore’s mental health crisis – an epidemic which drives violence and addiction in our communities.
Zeke understands that ‘public safety’ does not simply mean law enforcement for violent crimes, it also means increased housing inspectors to ensure seniors are living in well-maintained buildings and ensuring that young adults have summer job opportunities. ‘Public safety’ means enforcement and accountability, and it also means enrichment and access.
- The Healing City Act became the first law in the country to legislate around trauma-responsiveness. It has won the prestigious international Robert Wood Johnson Cultural Health prize and is being modeled by multiple cities right now.
- When Baltimore’s iconic Fell’s Point struggled with an increase in violent crime, Zeke brought agencies and local partners together to collaborate with police. He asked the sheriff’s office to partner in new and innovative ways to add a presence on the streets.
- The drug epidemic is one of the largest challenges we face as a city. Knowing that credible messengers are key to this fight, Zeke has helped champion and grow the ‘peer navigators’ program in the Enoch Pratt Libraries, growing these state-certified substance abuse counselors to have a seat in every library in the city, with the model being replicated across the state.
- As car thefts in our city rose an unprecedented 220% over the prior year, Zeke called a hearing to bring together city and state agencies to sound the alarm and find constructive solutions, including critical improved collaboration between BPD, MONSE and the state’s DJS. He also introduced a resolution calling on the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) to issue a nationwide recall on Kia and Hyundai model cars, the overwhelming percentage of cars stolen in Baltimore.
- Public safety starts with a community approach to policing. This means getting officers out of their patrol cars and engaging with neighbors. By both implementing trauma-informed training at the officer level and through regular oversight hearings, Zeke will hold BPD accountable to positively engage with residents.
- Understanding that much of the chokepoint in public safety stems from a lack of coordination between relevant agencies, Zeke will ensure that the right people are meeting regularly to constantly reflect and adjust strategies when it comes to public safety.
- Zeke knows that the experts are almost always those most proximal to the issue: He’ll work to formalize a more robust public testimony process for investigative hearings and put neighborhood liaisons to work effectively to create constant and seamless communication with local neighborhood leadership.
- Zeke will drive toward the goal of trained recovery specialists in every library branch of the city to ensure a healing-centered and strategic approach to our drug epidemic.