What To Read This Week
1. Momentum Continues To Grow For Crisis Stabilization Centers.
Atlanta. This month, Fulton County announced the development of a new stabilization center for “people experiencing homelessness, mental health, substance abuse and poverty … that will serve as Atlanta’s first, all-hours alternative to jail,” Chamian Cruz reported for WABE, the local public radio station:
“Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens [called the center] a ‘game-changer’ for public safety… This facility will be a safe and welcoming place where the person’s immediate needs, such as food, a shower, clothing, can be connected to their long-term care… Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said that in 2021, the police department responded to over 9,000 calls of a person in a mental health crisis. ‘That is not the role of the court… and when you look at the limited resources that an Atlanta police officer carries, you see our frustration.’ Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert C. McBurney said… ‘[W]e are going to create opportunities that we haven’t had before so that [people in a mental health crisis have] an option other than going to our jail and dealing with me… I am not the counselor that these folks need to see… I can be nice, but I’m not equipped with the tools that we’ll have in the diversion center…”
Des Moines. The editorial board of the local CBS affiliate, KCCI, came out in support of the Polk County Board of Supervisors’ approval of a new stabilization center for people struggling with substance use disorder, the first of its kind in the city:
“Addiction can wreak havoc. And people in crisis today tend to end up in an emergency room or jail. When they need mental health support the most, many times, it’s not there for them. And as a result, the cycle continues. Left unchecked, it can grow more and more self-destructive…. [The] center will not only help these individuals sober up, but it will plug them into support and counseling resources to help them with the underlying emotional issues.”
Albuquerque. Writing for the local CBS affiliate, KQRE, Curtis Segarra detailed a new stabilization center coming to Albuquerque “to help alleviate pressure on emergency rooms [and] keep people out of jail…” Gilbert Ramirez, Albuquerque’s deputy director of Behavioral Health told the news station: “We’re a safe place for sobering, hopefully, do medical oversight, reduce the impact of potential overdose [with] capacity to serve just under 18,000 individuals yearly."
Washington, D.C. For WAMU, the local public radio station, Colleen Grablick covered the city’s effort to combat the opioid overdose crisis through opening a 24-hour stabilization center “where residents can get a bed and other wrap-around services like a mental health counselor and a peer support specialist. The center will also have medically-assisted treatment with buprenorphine, a drug used to treat opioid dependence [and] will use peer support specialists to keep in contact with people after they leave…”
2. Mobile Crisis Responder Updates:
“Daniel's Law Would Shift NY Response To Mental Crises Away From Police.” Writing for the Times-Union, Raga Justin reported on a new bill working its way through the state legislature that “would empower mental health responders, rather than police officers, to respond to distress calls and approach people experiencing a mental health or substance abuse crisis. The law aims to reshape New York’s reliance on policing during emergency calls…” The measure takes its name from Daniel Prude who “was suffering a mental health crisis when he died during an encounter with the police in Rochester three years ago, spurring waves of protests in the upstate city and calls for statewide changes to law enforcement’s approach in similar situations.”
“New program in Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Los Altos send vans with clinicians, first-aid specialists … to respond to mental health crises.” What most sets this new unarmed, crisis response team apart from the other recently formed responder teams in the region, is who the team doesn’t include: police officers, Gennady Sheyner reported for the Palo Alto Weekly. “County Supervisor Joe Simitian lauded the program for helping to “ensure the right response in a moment of crisis… obviously, when the police are needed, we want them there. But we've got to be smarter and more adept about getting the right kind of help to the right place in the right set of circumstances.”
“Not every emergency requires the lights and sirens of a police car…” Reporting for the local Fox affiliate, Derek Strom reports on the launch of a new mobile crisis response team in Jackson County, Oregon, that handles mental health related calls for service:
“Before the mobile crisis response team, police would often have to respond to calls about mental health issues, which they are not trained on… [and the mobile crisis team] has a number of masters level therapists, peer support specialists and others that are better equipped to handle those situations.”
Rick Rawlings, who oversees the mobile crisis response team, told local leaders during a recent public hearing that “one of my main goals with this is that we are able to divert calls from law enforcement [and] that we are no longer needing to have them be the only responders for individuals who are in a mental health crisis that don’t need a law enforcement response.”
3. Albuquerque’s Community Safety Broke Ground On Its New Headquarters Last Week—Showing How Woven Into The City’s Fabric The Department Has Become.
As Jessica Barron reported for KQRE, the city’s CBS affiliate, “The new headquarters will be 10,000 square feet [and] have office space that can be used by the public for safety trainings or community events. The construction is expected to be done by next spring. ACS said they’re also looking into acquiring vacant police and fire stations, such as Albuquerque Fire Rescue Station 14. The substations would be used to set up smaller ACS responders throughout the city.” Here’s a look at a rendering of the finished headquarters:
Speaking of Albuquerque, Safer Cities will be back next week with the final installment of our deep dive into public opinion surrounding Community Safety Departments.
