Baltimore Upgrades Emergency Dispatch System Following Tragic In-Custody Death

Officials in Baltimore announced plans to upgrade the city’s emergency dispatch system, a long-awaited project that has gained urgency in light of a recent tragedy. The announcement comes months after the in-custody death of Dontae Melton Jr. during a system outage.

During an oversight hearing of the City Council held on Thursday, it was noted that Mayor Brandon Scott has appointed a new Chief Information Officer, T.J. Mayotte, to lead this critical upgrade. The city has successfully secured nearly $12 million in funding from state and federal sources to support this overhaul.

Although Council President Zeke Cohen indicated that discussions regarding prior outages would be limited due to “legal considerations,” the hearing was underscored by the memory of a significant outage last June. This incident involved Baltimore Police officers who waited approximately 40 minutes for medics while attending to an unresponsive Melton, 31, who later died in the hospital.

Eleshiea Goode, the mother of Melton, spoke at the hearing, expressing her pain and urging the city to take corrective action. “My son asked for help, and instead of receiving it, he died amidst a preventable system failure,” she said. She highlighted that her son was restrained and on the streets for nearly 50 minutes on one of the hottest days of the year, with temperatures hitting 105 degrees in downtown Baltimore, as reported by the National Weather Service. Melton’s death was officially classified as a homicide.

“I’m asking you to fix what broke my son’s life,” Goode implored to the council members.

Following the hearing, Larry Greenberg, representing Goode and other family members, confirmed that they are preparing to file a lawsuit “to pursue claims against all those responsible for this horrible and needless loss of life.”

The city’s computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system is a crucial component of emergency response communications, directing around 2.1 million calls annually to police and fire services. Unfortunately, the system relies on outdated software that has been scheduled for replacement for several years.

City officials have now obtained $11.7 million in funding designated for the system’s replacement in the fiscal year 2027. Mayotte indicated that they will begin the procurement and vendor selection process this summer and fall. However, he noted the timeline for implementation will depend largely on the vendors selected.

While he expressed optimism that the funding is sufficient to complete the project, Mayotte refrained from making absolute commitments, acknowledging the lengthy and complex nature of working with vendors.

Additionally, he reported that continuous improvements in the city’s public safety technology are beginning to yield positive results. Notably, there have been no significant CAD failures recorded in 2026, compared to twelve such incidents in 2025 and 2024.

Cohen also highlighted the potential for an upgraded CAD system to include enhanced resources for managing crises, noting that Melton’s case was part of a disturbing trend where individuals in mental health crises faced dire outcomes in police interactions. In June 2025 alone, Melton’s death coincided with two other police-related fatalities, all three victims reportedly experiencing mental health issues.

On June 24, 2025, Melton approached a police vehicle seeking assistance, only to be handcuffed and restrained after he persisted in running into the street, according to a report from Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown’s office. The officers had called for medics five times, but due to the malfunction of the CAD system, help never arrived. After Melton became unresponsive, he was finally transported to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.