Three Things To Read This Week
Three years ago, the City of Albuquerque launched the country’s first community safety department. More than a year ago, the department opened its own headquarters. And earlier this year, Albuquerque Community Safety (ACS) announced it had reached a historic milestone—having “responded to over 100,000 calls.” This summer, ACS expanded to a multi-precinct model, similar to how fire and police departments divide a city into divisions, for faster and more tailored response. Now, Albuquerque’s community safety department “responds to over 3,000 behavioral and mental health related calls each month,” and has become a national model for other cities and counties launching these departments.
Safer Cities recently spoke with Jorge Hernandez, the public information officer with Albuquerque's Community Safety Department, to get an update on how the ACS is working.
Here are three takeaways from our interview with Albuquerque Community Safety Department:
1. Albuquerque Police Department To Community Safety Department: “Your Work Is So Much Appreciated And It Does Not Go Unnoticed—Thank You.”
Hernandez told Safer Cities that Albuquerque Police Department leaders often talk about Albuquerque Community Safety Department “and its benefits to public safety.” And at some recent public events, both APD Chief Harold Medina and Major Luke Languit spoke out about their appreciation for the work ACS is doing to enhance public safety in the city and how it has helped the police department focus on serious crimes. Here’s Chief Medina speaking at the ACS responder academy graduation:
Police Chief Medina: “[When] I took over as Chief of Police for the Albuquerque Police Department, I immediately recognized the importance of creating this [Community Safety Department]. I called it getting the right tool for the right situation… At about the one-year mark of ACS being created, myself and the mayor got to go to Harvard University and give a presentation about the effects that ACS had on the police department… we were under consent decree at the time, which we have since [ended] and met compliance [on], but one of the biggest reasons we met compliance was because of ACS. It was sending the right response to the situation at hand…
During that first year, we saw a 53% reduction in the use of force. Why? Because we sent a better response to help people in crisis and we better understood that it doesn’t always take a badge. It doesn’t always take a gun. People can get help in a variety of ways. And to this day, I firmly believe that the uniform itself raises people’s anxiety and creates a reaction that you don’t always get when you have individuals from ACS go and are able to talk to people…
So, I want to thank you all for what you’re about to do and what you’ve been doing because it truly helps the Albuquerque Police Department. We have mass reductions in crime in Albuquerque. Every category is down this year. And one of the biggest reasons is we’re able to send officers to be proactive and enforce the law because a lot of the calls that took a long time for us to respond to, and get resources to, are now being handled by ACS. So you are making a huge difference not only in helping individuals who are in crisis out in the community, but also in helping people be safe because our officers are now diverted to the most dangerous calls…”
Here’s Albuquerque Police Department Major Luke Languit speaking at the celebration marking ACS’s response to 100,000 calls for service.
Major Languit: “Before we had this third branch of public safety, these calls for service would have gone to police and fire… the majority of the calls would have gone to [Albuquerque Police Department]. These are situations where yourselves or your neighbors or our friends and family—they’re having an emergency and they need help, so it's great to have this department that is staffed with the right individuals—the right responders—that have the training to deal with individuals that may be going through a behavioral crisis where there is no crime present.
So to have responders that are equipped to properly come to these situations and provide those resources makes it so successful. I can tell you, with 100,000 calls for service, the Albuquerque police officers that are out here in our community, they’re now able to focus more time on those felony crimes … and we’re able to bring down our crime rates because we have this third branch of public safety taking those calls for service for us. For all the ACS responders out there, on behalf of the Albuquerque Police Department—your work is so much appreciated and it does not go unnoticed—thank you.”
2. What City Leaders Need To Know When Crafting A Community Safety Department.
Strong Relationships, Shared Vision, And Mutual Respect Across All Public Safety Agencies Is “Essential." “City leaders looking to start an alternative response department should involve the community early in the process to ensure the program reflects real needs and builds public trust…strong relationships with Police, Fire, and EMS leadership are essential to create a coordinated and respected response model…. ACS works closely alongside Police and Fire, with a Director whose alignment with the Police Chief and Fire Chief reflects mutual respect and shared leadership across public safety.”
“Maintain Visibility” On The Work, Accomplishments. “A dedicated Community Outreach team can help explain the programming, address concerns, and engage both residents and stakeholders like City Council members, city, and state leaders. It’s also important to attend and table at as many relevant community events as possible to maintain visibility and support.”
Collect And Share Data: “Finally, collecting and sharing impact data—such as the reduction in 911 calls for police and fire related to mental and behavioral health, proven outcomes, and success stories, can help demonstrate the model’s long-term value.”
3. “Early Returns Promising” On Expansion Into A Multi-Precinct Model.
The community safety department has expanded this summer, “dividing the city into two geographic zones… to enhance service delivery, improve response times, and deepen community engagement across Albuquerque’s diverse neighborhoods,” the city announced last month. Like a fire or police department that has multiple precincts that serve distinct districts in a city, Albuquerque's “responders will be dedicated to either the east or west side of the city, allowing resources to be tailored to the unique needs of each zone.”
Hernandez told Safer Cities that the “early returns are promising,” but that ACS will “need additional time to evaluate the full impact of the split… [since the team] moved to the bilateral zone model last month.”
More Cities Growing Community Safety Departments Around The Country:
In Kentucky, “Lexington Opens Community Paramedicine Office, New Building To Help A Growing Team.” For LEX18, Michael Berk reports on the new team, which includes three units—“a drug overdose response team, a Mobile Health team that delivers in-home care to those in need, and a Crisis Response unit to support those dealing with mental health challenges or emotional distress.”
Alexander Jann, a lieutenant with the Lexington Fire Department who oversees the paramedicine team, explained to Spectrum News that the benefit of housing multiple teams each with specific expertise under the same roof: “‘We're going to figure out what you need to solve the problem… we have connections to all these community partners, so we're able to call up somebody and be like, 'Hey, this person needs that.' We're that middleman to get it done.’” Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton, a former registered nurse and champion of the department, explained that the Community Paramedicine team has already “improved patient outcomes, and reduced the burden on frontline [emergency service providers like police, fire and EMS] by responding to individuals in crisis and addressing root causes of frequent emergency service use.” Here’s how the team functions:Quick Response Team: “focuses on post-overdose engagement and substance use intervention, connecting with individuals within days of a nonfatal overdose or substance-related 911 call… [and providing] recovery support, referrals to treatment, and ongoing follow-up.”
Mobile Integrated Health team: “provides in-home visits to individuals with chronic medical conditions, mobility challenges, or frequent emergency service use.”
Crisis Response Team: “provides immediate, on-scene support for individuals experiencing mental or emotional distress… [and is focused on de-escalation, safety planning, stabilization, and linkage to mental health services, all while reducing involuntary hospitalizations and law enforcement involvement.”
In North Carolina, “Fayetteville’s Office of Community Safety Gets To Work.” For CityView, Evey Weisblat reports on the new public safety department the city launched this summer to “strengthen Fayetteville’s public safety ecosystem by addressing the gaps that traditional enforcement and emergency services alone cannot fill.” The OCS teams will serve as the connective tissue between “service providers, and city systems, ensuring that individuals and families in crisis don’t fall through the cracks.” OCS is currently in development on four core teams for the department, with the potential for more teams to come: Community Violence Prevention team, Homelessness Response team, Mental Health Response team, and a youth initiatives program.
Related: To gauge public support for Community Safety Departments as part of a city’s public safety infrastructure, Safer Cities recently conducted a national survey of registered voters and found overwhelming support—82% of Americans say they support their city creating a community safety department that functions as a “separate and coequal department alongside police and fire departments” and 83% say that community safety departments “allow police departments to focus on solving serious crimes.”
