Denver has set up a mental health team to handle 911 calls that appear to be people in trouble in a non-criminal way, and the end result has been dozens of calls responded to with 0 shootings and 0 arrests, which has probably saved the city tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars:
In June of last year -- as protests over police brutality occurred all over the nation -- Denver, Colorado rolled out a program that combined common sense with a slight "defunding" of its police department. It decided calls that might be better handled by social workers and mental health professionals should be handled by… social workers and mental health professionals.
………
The zero arrests streak continues. STAR has released its six-month report [PDF] and the calls it has handled have yet to result in an arrest, strongly suggesting police officers aren't the best personnel to handle crises like these -- unless the desired result is more people in holding cells.
………
Not only did none of the 748 calls result in an arrest, but STAR got things under control faster than law enforcement officers.
When people talk about "Defunding the Police", this is what they mean.
It is a win for everyone except for the cops who get overtime when they fill out their arrest reports, and the jailers who are paid to warehouse these people.
0 comments :
Post a Comment