Politics
Baltimore watchdog says it has secured records in inquiry into neighborhood safety office spending
Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming says her office has obtained subpoenaed records tied to an investigation of financial transactions at the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement. The records came about a year after her office sought them and after a court fight with Mayor Brandon Scott’s administration.
Baltimore’s independent inspector general says her office has obtained subpoenaed records it sought as part of an investigation into financial transactions by the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, ending a dispute over access that had escalated into litigation.
Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming announced the records’ arrival Oct. 22, 2026. Her office first requested the materials in October 2025. In January, the neighborhood safety office provided more than 200 pages, most of them redacted, according to the account of the dispute.
Cumming sued Mayor Brandon Scott in February, arguing that the city had improperly withheld records her office needed to examine the transactions. The precise contents of the newly obtained records and what they may show have not been disclosed.
Scott’s team said the administration was protecting privileged information and complying with Maryland’s Public Information Act, which exempts certain sensitive records, including medical and financial information, from public disclosure. Cumming argued that the law’s public-disclosure limits did not govern access by her independent oversight office, which investigates potential fraud, waste and abuse involving government.
Cumming said the city had provided access to similar information requests dating to 2018, and described the change in cooperation as a departure from past practice. “My goal in this lawsuit is to merely require the City to do what it has done since I took office – provide the OIG with the information it needs to ensure taxpayer dollars aren’t being wasted by government officials,” she said in February.
The records could help the watchdog assess how public funds were handled by the city office, but their contents and the status of the court case were not detailed in the announcement. The dispute has also raised a broader question for Baltimore residents: how effectively can an independent watchdog scrutinize public spending when city agencies and the inspector general disagree over access to records?