Baltimore Inspector General details fraud risks and data-control failures in SideStep youth diversion pilot program

Audit findings outline oversight gaps in diversion effort for first-time juvenile cases

Baltimore’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has detailed a series of control failures and fraud-risk conditions in the City’s former SideStep youth diversion pilot, a program designed to steer eligible first-time juvenile cases away from deeper involvement in the justice system.

The pilot, administered through the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE) and coordinated with the Baltimore Police Department and state juvenile justice partners, ended in 2024. The OIG report notes that MONSE recommended expanding SideStep citywide after the pilot concluded, even as investigators documented weaknesses in case management, data practices, and documentation used to validate spending and program performance.

What the SideStep model was intended to do

SideStep was structured around early outreach following certain arrests or charges involving youth 17 and younger. The model relied on a Youth Opportunity Coordinator to contact families, conduct standardized screenings and assessments, and connect participants to community-based services intended to support diversion plans and reduce the likelihood of reoffending.

The report describes a process dependent on consistent referrals, documented intakes, and reliable tracking of whether young people completed diversion plans successfully, partially, or unsuccessfully. The OIG found that core components of that tracking and documentation were not reliably in place.

Data gaps and access limitations hindered evaluation

Investigators highlighted that the City paid $24,999 for an external evaluation of the program’s implementation. The evaluator completed its work on Dec. 30, 2023, but identified major obstacles to assessing effectiveness—especially incomplete or unavailable data on diversion options, completed cases, and follow-up activities.

The evaluator also reported it was not given access to participating youth and their parents or guardians, limiting the ability to evaluate outcomes and participant experience. The OIG noted that, because the evaluator could not access a complete dataset, it concluded it lacked sufficient grounds to issue recommendations on program improvement based on the information available.

Fraud risk and privacy exposure tied to weak controls

While the report focuses heavily on documentation and management failures, the underlying concern is broader: when case files, referral logs, and service documentation are incomplete or inconsistently maintained, the City’s ability to verify who received services—and whether billed work occurred as represented—can be significantly weakened. The OIG framed these conditions as elevating the risk of improper payments and making it difficult to validate performance claims used to justify continuation or expansion.

The report also raises concerns about data handling practices, including the City’s ability to account for and safeguard sensitive information connected to youth services and diversion workflows.

Key issues identified

• Incomplete or inconsistent data on diversion activities and follow-up.
• Limits on evaluator access to participants and complete program records.
• Weak case-management documentation relative to the program’s own stated procedures.
• Governance gaps that complicate verification of results and the integrity of spending.

SideStep is not currently operating as the pilot ended in 2024, but the report states MONSE recommended a citywide expansion after the pilot’s conclusion.

City leaders have been presented with the investigative findings as Baltimore continues debating how to scale youth diversion strategies while ensuring financial controls, data security, and measurable outcomes are in place before expansion.