Baltimore residents now have a sharper view of what crime looks like on their own blocks, after the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE) on Wednesday, June 17 rolled out an updated online dashboard that breaks out homicides, carjackings, robberies, arsons and other offenses by neighborhood.
The interactive site lets users compare crime trends month to month and year to year and see MONSE’s Safe Streets coverage zones laid over a city map. City officials say the goal is to make public safety data easier to explore and to increase accountability for the agencies involved.
As reported by WBAL NewsRadio, MONSE Director Stefanie Mavronis said users can track arsons, burglaries, robberies, carjackings, and homicides on the map. “It’s called an accountability dashboard for a reason,” Mavronis told WBAL, adding that the site allows comparisons from year to year and month to month so the public can evaluate local trends and program performance. The WBAL report also links directly to the dashboard on the city’s site and recaps MONSE’s rollout.
What the dashboard shows
The refreshed portal aggregates incident-level counts, interactive maps, and neighborhood statistics so people can see where incidents have been reported and how trends change over time. The city’s earlier Public Safety Accountability Dashboard laid the groundwork by collecting crime summaries, a crime map, arrest and conviction data, and a map of community violence-intervention sites, according to a City of Baltimore press release. MONSE says the updated view puts a clearer spotlight on Safe Streets zone overlays and neighborhood-to-neighborhood comparisons.
A backdrop of scrutiny
The launch comes as MONSE is under heightened scrutiny over its contracts and data practices. An inspector general review in March flagged possible fraudulent invoices and a 2023-era data exposure tied to MONSE’s SideStep pilot, and local reporting has detailed the Office of Inspector General’s findings along with the agency’s response. Reporting by Baltimore Brew notes that the OIG referred its findings to law enforcement and that MONSE has pledged audits and tighter oversight.
How residents can use it
Officials say the dashboard is meant to help neighbors quickly check recent incidents near their homes, compare different neighborhoods and track Safe Streets activity without having to dig through raw police files. Local coverage of every block’s trouble spots has warned that quick, map-based snapshots are useful for checking what is happening on a given block but should not replace long-run context from homicide trackers and official reports. MONSE also points to dashboard metrics when reporting key performance indicators for its Group Violence Reduction Strategy.
Legal and accountability questions
Transparency advocates say a public dashboard can be a useful tool, but independent oversight and audits remain critical after the issues raised by the inspector general. The OIG review and subsequent coverage underscore why watchdogs and prosecutors may still push for broader document access even as more data appear online.
To explore the dashboard and MONSE’s rollout notes, residents can look to the WBAL summary and the city’s public safety materials. WBAL NewsRadio has the latest reporting and links to the tool.
