Overview
- City council members questioned the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement about an inspector general report on SideStep, a now-ended youth diversion pilot.
- Investigators said the city paid nearly $700,000 on invoices they believe were fraudulent and found youth names were sent to a personal email account.
- MONSE officials said they launched an internal review of every SideStep expense and put in leadership changes, tighter money controls, and stronger data safeguards.
- The agency said it is designing a new diversion program for first-time offenders that would take referrals from the state Department of Juvenile Services, with a memorandum of understanding still in progress and no launch date set.
- Separately, the city inspector general has gone to court to obtain more records from the mayor’s office, and the broader probe of SideStep’s spending and data handling is ongoing.