First director of St. Paul’s Office of Neighborhood Safety stepping down

Brooke Blakey, the first director of St. Paul’s Office of Neighborhood Safety, is stepping down this month.

She said Tuesday that it’s time to pass the baton because the work “is not a sprint, but a marathon.”

And she’s looking for better work-life balance. In supporting gunshot victims and their families, Blakey’s work brought her to hospitals and crime scenes in the middle of the night.

After Mayor Melvin Carter appointed Blakey, she took on the job in the newly-formed Office of Neighborhood Safety in February 2022. It’s centered on what Carter calls “community-first safety,” which he’s said means “preventing crime before it happens — by investing in strong neighborhoods.”

Blakey and her office have been leading Project PEACE, “a methodical, individualized gun violence intervention t