Agency heads across Mayor Catherine Pugh’s administration have joined forces to flood four small “transformation zones” in Baltimore with resources as part of a coordinated, citywide effort to reduce violent crime.

The zones — one each in East, West and Northwest Baltimore, and one in the Tri-District area where the Southern, Southwestern and Western police districts meet — all represent high-crime areas where homicides, nonfatal shootings, burglaries, car thefts, and reports of gunfire and armed people are common, said Police Commissioner Kevin Davis.

Their selection does not mean that other parts of the city will be neglected, Davis said, but the zones will receive attention like nowhere else.

“We know that if we collectively commit to provide better government — and policing is part of better government — to those small geographies, then we can really turn the tide for the entire city,” Davis told the City Council’s public safety committee this week. “It’s not just about the cops. It’s about the cops, it’s about housing, it’s about education, it’s about public works, it’s about health, it’s about everybody coming together and working within a defined geography to bring better government to historically underserved families and individuals.”

The Police Department is training 16 “neighborhood coordination officers” — four for each zone — who will help coordinate the initiative along with administrative working groups that have been created with representatives from other city agencies.

The initiative is modeled after similar programs elsewhere, including in New York City and Prince George’s County, where it is known as the Transforming Neighborhoods Initiative, Davis said.

While the Police Department has had targeted neighborhood initiatives in the past, Davis said they too often lacked a long-term commitment from other city agencies to follow up on the Police Department’s work once crime decreased. He said he wants this program to be different.

The heads of various city agencies also spoke to the council about the efforts and resources they will bring to the table under the new model.

Dr. Leana Wen, the city’s health commissioner, said her agency will focus on community mediation and work to address substance abuse and mental illness needs in the transformation zones. It also will focus on early-childhood interventions, she said.

Concerns such as lead-paint poisoning, and even the lack of eyeglasses for children who have impaired vision, can lead to problems in school and violence down the line, Wen said.

Michael Braverman, the city’s acting housing commissioner, said his agency would work on vacant-property remediation, blight elimination and illegal dumping. He said it would assist police in targeting home and business owners who are contributing to crime in the transformation zones and also may be breaking housing and business codes.

Officials from the city’s public works, transportation, planning and small-business development agencies also affirmed their commitment to the initiative. Johns Hopkins University researchers would help track the impact of the effort, and community input also would be collected, officials said.

City Councilman Kristerfer Burnett said officials should consider more community engagement, because if community members aren’t involved in maintaining progress, “we’re going to be here again” discussing the same problems.

The East Baltimore zone is just northeast of Johns Hopkins Hospital. The West Baltimore zone is focused on the Penn North neighborhood. The Northwest Baltimore zone is in the Park Heights area, near Pimlico Race Course. The Tri-District zone stretches across the city’s Boyd-Booth and Carrollton Ridge neighborhoods.

Councilman Leon Pinkett III asked officials if there would eventually be similar opportunities for other neighborhoods.

“The answer to that,” said Tisha Edwards, Pugh’s chief of staff, “is absolutely.”

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