Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space

"A community’s physical form, rather than its land uses, is its most intrinsic and enduring characteristic." [Katz, EPA] This blog focuses on place and placemaking and all that makes it work--historic preservation, urban design, transportation, asset-based community development, arts & cultural development, commercial district revitalization, tourism & destination development, and quality of life advocacy--along with doses of civic engagement and good governance watchdogging.

Monday, February 01, 2021

The opportunity to rearticulate public safety delivery keeps being presented: Rochester New York

Rochester New York's police department was in the news in 2020 for the death of a person in custody, who was having a mental health episode ("Daniel Prude Was in ‘Mental Distress.’ Police Treated Him Like a Suspect," New York Times), and an attempt to cover up the death.

This led to the police chief's resignation and calls for the mayor ("Several Black Lives Matter groups calling for Rochester mayor, police chief to resign," WHEC-TV) to resign.

Rochester's police department is in the news again because "Rochester police handcuffed and pepper-sprayed a 9-year-old girl, body-cam footage shows" (Washington Post).

Clearly the department is proving they are not well suited to responding to mental health matters.  After the Pearl incident, the city created a mental health response unit, but clearly the staffing is inadequate, because they didn't have available personnel to respond to this incident, so the police responded instead.

Defund the police versus broadening the approach to public safety.  It's unfortunate that calls to "defund the police" haven't been termed better in terms of not only moving away from the "warrior policing" approach ("Law Enforcement's 'Warrior Problem,'" Harvard Law Review), which too often results in unnecessary death, but moving towards a new and broader approach to public safety, which goes beyond just having police respond to calls, but having a broader and more nuanced system of response.  

-- "Police response to mental health matters," 2016
-- "Broken windows/collective efficacy: Baltimore; Newark; Grand Junction, Colorado; Pittsburgh; Albany," 2019
-- "Towards a public safety model that is broader than policing," 2020
-- "Creating 'community safety partnership neighborhood management programs as a management and mitigation strategy for public nuisances," 2020

The book End of Policing lays out new ways of thinking about this, although I have some serious disagreements with the author, who seems to believe that it's not just policing, but the need for order that should be called into question.

Having lived in DC in the late 1980s and 1990s when crime was rampant, and having been a victim of multiple crimes, I believe that there is a lot to be said for order and public safety.  Public safety is a primary function of government.

There is no question that the crime drop starting in the mid-1990s was essential to the resuscitation of cities in the 2000s.

Fullerton, California as a counter-example.  Fullerton's police department completely revamped its use of force, training, and other practices after police officers beat a homeless man to death.

While the city paid out a big judgement to his family, rather than accept what happened as "an accident," the City of Fullerton evaluated various police processes and changed them, to reduce the likelihood of injury and death in interactions between the police and the public ("Here's how Fullerton police have improved since Kelly Thomas' death." Orange County Register).

The changes in practice were not limited to dealing with homeless people or people in mental distress, but in how all of the city's police officers interact with the public and how they are trained.

The police department has set a goal of being one of the best police departments in the country for its size, and measures its success through annual independent reviews.  From the article:

The study offers a half-dozen recommendations – compared with 59 in its first review – that range from striving to use the least force necessary to more cautious foot pursuits. 

... Four years ago, OIR Group recommended that officers – when safely possible – employ less force by increasing time and distance, using cover and concealment, creating barriers, and calling and waiting for backup.

“The department,” the document says, “has substantially addressed many of the shortcomings we noted in our 2012 report.” 

First, a new training room was built for officers to practice lesser-force techniques. Then, a video-based interactive training system was installed. It offers more than 200 bad-guy scenarios, and each one can be altered with the touch of a screen. 

“These upgrades in training facilities,” the report concludes, “allow trainers to emphasize the importance of tactical alternatives to force, particularly deadly force.” 

The training may be paying off. Citizen complaints have dropped from a high of 36 in 2014 to a low of 24 last year. 

Still, the new report offers new suggestions. They include requiring incident reports to check off threat perception, least-use-of-force efforts, and adherence to reporting policies. 

The process in Fullerton is appears to be a national model, unlike the whitewashes that seem to be happening in most other cities when it comes to evaluating police departments and officers in terms of excessive force and deaths at the hands of police officers.

--  Fullerton Police Department: Audit of Force Reviews and Internal Investigations, August 2016, OIR Group

Rochester needs to do what Fullerton did: a top-down reorganization and repositioning of the police department and public safety more generally.  I've written that these kinds of incidents and high payouts in settlements for cases of police misconduct are indicators of a need for systematic, structural change.

-- "Breonna Taylor, Louisville Police and the acceptance of "unpreferred" outcomes as a matter of course vs. indicators of a need for change: business process redesign," 2020
-- "Where is the risk management approach to police misconduct and regularized killings of citizens?," 2020

Rochester and other police departments have the opportunity to completely rearticulate their approach to policing as a response to egregious response failures.

Instead of sweep the problems under the rug, transform.

In college, I came across the book Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution, which distinguishes between first and second order change.  I describe the difference as in first order change, it's like moving your socks from dresser drawer #1 to dresser drawer #3, and in turn reversing where your underwear is placed.  Second order change is substantive, transformational, and structural.

Investigation of use of force complaints, even those resulting in death tend to result in findings that the police officer was justified.  Instead, the regular occurrence of such outcomes should be seen as a need for substantive change, just as it was in Fullerton.

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93 Comments:

At 9:14 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://denverite.com/2020/06/08/a-long-planned-program-to-remove-police-from-some-911-calls-launched-as-denvers-streets-erupted-in-police-brutality-protests/

 
At 9:14 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.denverpost.com/2020/09/06/denver-star-program-mental-health-police/

 
At 1:36 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

This article has a number of examples of initiatives around the country, reprogramming money and responsibility away from the police department, to a more rounded approach to "public safety".

https://theappeal.org/traffic-enforcement-without-police/

It goes into greater detail about traffic enforcement and separating it from armed police response, in part because stops can go awry, but also because a lot of the time it is used as a pretext to initiate stop and search.

Berkeley, California is moving towards this kind of separation.

Ironically, for years I've suggested this, but for a completely different reason, that police departments aren't really concerned much about traffic enforcement, when in places with a high amount of pedestrian and biking trips, dangerous operation of motor vehicles can be catastrophic.

Eg., the federal judge just killed in Florida

https://apnews.com/article/new-york-homicide-florida-hit-and-run-courts-d09467714ecb1ea3a34d0f77af0dd416

The article also links to a law review article about how to disentangle traffic enforcement from normal police department operation.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3702680


It also reminds me that law review articles can be a great source for innovative thinking on various urban topics.

 
At 4:04 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-launches-second-firefighter-social-worker-team-to-cover-u-district-ballard/

 
At 5:04 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Another article, about traffic stops specifically:

https://news.yahoo.com/it-is-time-to-take-the-police-out-of-traffic-stops-155835442.html

 
At 10:52 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Detroit Free Press: Detroit residents say neighborhood police make a difference.
https://www.freep.com/mosaic-story/news/local/detroit-is/2021/04/19/detroit-neighborhood-police/7019907002/

 
At 10:49 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

http://www.sierraarevalo.com/

Michael Sierra-Arevalo is a sociologist at U Texas Austin, studying policing.

 
At 4:25 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Jordan Blair Woods, a professor at the University of Arkansas law school and author of a recent law review article titled “Traffic Without the Police,” Stanford Law Review.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3702680

 
At 2:25 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2016/10/03/guest-post-how-to-reinvent-american-policing/

Evidence-Based Policing Playbook, Cynthia Lum, George Mason University

http://cebcp.org/wp-content/evidence-based-policing/PLAYBOOK.pdf

 
At 10:13 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/13/american-gun-crisis-domestic-violence-crisis

 
At 9:51 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

San Francisco Chronicle: Oakland officers found a man unconscious in a car with a gun. Then police reform advocates stepped in.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/local/article/Oakland-officers-found-a-man-unconscious-in-a-car-16178686.php

 
At 10:19 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The Washington Post: D.C. should end the felon-in-possession initiative.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/17/dc-should-end-felon-in-possession-initiative/

 
At 9:54 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The Boston Globe: The public safety benefits of not prosecuting low-level crimes.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/05/17/opinion/public-safety-benefits-not-prosecuting-low-level-crimes/

research, published in a National Bureau of Economic Research working
paper, turned conventional thinking about the need to prosecute petty offenses on its head.

Researchers analyzed 67,500 cases handled by the Suffolk County DA’s office over a 17-year period and found that not prosecuting nonviolent misdemeanors reduces future
involvement with the criminal legal system by 67 percent.

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/criminal-justice/study-finds-not-prosecuting-misdemeanors-reduces-defendants-subsequent-arrests/

https://www.nber.org/papers/w28600

 
At 10:52 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Yes, more policing burdens disadvantaged communities. But it benefits them, too.
Opinion by Megan McArdle

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/23/yes-more-policing-burdens-disadvantaged-communities-it-benefits-them-too/

 
At 6:19 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Really good article. It's the Larry Krasner issue, but for mayor. How do you bring about change when you're resource constrained and other agencies have to be on the same page.

USA TODAY: Tishaura Jones wants to reimagine policing in St. Louis. With rising crime and a push to 'defund,' can she do it?.
https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/politics/2021/06/04/st-louis-tishaura-jones-defund-police-ally-faces-rising-crime-rate/7397972002/

 
At 7:45 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://news.yahoo.com/will-rising-crime-rates-sink-the-push-for-police-reform-194353341.html

The United States has experienced an unprecedented spike in violent crime over the past year, which some experts say could shift political winds away from poli...

 
At 11:20 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2021/police-reform-failure/

 
At 1:21 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

New book by Bill Bratton

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/06/10/metro/bill-bratton-american-policing-challenge-facing-boston-police-department/?et_rid=852154004&s_campaign=todaysheadlines:newsletter#

 
At 10:18 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Crime guns in Minneapolis. After a toughened of laws in Maryland, straw purchases of guns dropped by 82%.

https://m.startribune.com/she-bought-47-guns-last-month-police-are-already-finding-them-in-shooting-investigations/600067591/

 
At 9:14 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

USA Today investigation on gun dealers and sales using ATF data

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/06/11/gun-dealers-let-off-hook-atf-after-inspections-find-violations/7621808002/

Time Magazine story on redefining policing.

https://time.com/5876318/police-reform-america/

"America's Policing System Is Broken. It's Time to Radically Rethink Public Safety" 8/6/2020

 
At 9:51 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

CNN : Chicago is throwing its 'whole government' at summer violence.
http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_topstories/~3/NjVAqUu3HEE/index.html

 
At 4:09 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The Washington Post: A whiff of pot alone no longer airtight probable cause for police to search cars in several states.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/marijuana-police-probable-cause/2021/06/26/9d984f8e-d36c-11eb-a53a-3b5450fdca7a_story.html

 
At 2:49 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

“Chicago’s Civil Unrest And Pandemic Cost Taxpayers $630M In Extra Pay For Police And Fire”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2021/06/28/in-chicago-the-civil-unrest-and-pandemic-cost-taxpayers-630m-in-extra-pay-for-police-and-fire-first-responders/?sh=6f8d792549b0

 
At 10:14 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The New Yorker: The Controversial Floodlights Illuminating New York City’s Public-Housing Developments.
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-documentary/the-controversial-floodlights-illuminating-new-york-citys-public-housing-developments

 
At 7:20 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

WTVC: CPD announces new partnership in effort to improve public safety.
https://newschannel9.com/news/local/cpd-announces-new-partnership-in-effort-to-improve-public-safety

 
At 6:41 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Jones, Bush turn to Denver for public safety reforms that could work for St. Louis.
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/jones-bush-turn-to-denver-for-public-safety-reforms-that-could-work-for-st-louis/article_060bbeea-7d64-50b7-88df-dc4cd806d973.html

 
At 1:15 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-homicides-2021-shooting-murders-guns-20210711.html

 
At 2:44 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

USA Today now has a hard firewall on articles exclusive to subscribers.

This article on Lexipol, "The firm that wrote the book on using force," 6/17/2021, discusses how Lexipol, a police consulting firm, writes manuals about use of force, "biased" in favor of police officers, and many police departments across the US buy the manuals and incorporate the text, as is, into their departmental manuals of procedures.

 
At 1:10 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The New York Times: What Do Police Know About Teenagers? Not Enough..
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/17/opinion/police-teenage-psychology.html

 
At 1:08 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

POLITICO: How a Liberal Michigan Town Is Putting Mental Illness at the Center of Police Reform.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/07/30/police-reform-mental-health-illness-ann-arbor-race-501344

 
At 12:37 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The New York Times: Should My Neighborhood Be Paying an Off-Duty Officer For Security?.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/03/magazine/private-police-ethics.html

 
At 7:57 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Also has some good links to other approaches.

Vox.com: The evidence for violence interrupters doesn’t support the hype.
https://www.vox.com/22622363/police-violence-interrupters-cure-violence-research-study

 
At 8:24 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/09/30/police-killings-oklahoma-underreported-highest-rate-study/5922021001/

 
At 6:39 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Important article on the charging rates and convictions in SF under Chesa Boudin

San Francisco Chronicle: We obtained never-before-seen data on how Chesa Boudin is prosecuting cases. Here's what it shows.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/We-obtained-never-before-seen-data-on-Chesa-16592626.php

 
At 10:23 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Oklahoma City plans to build a new jail, but some citizens are calling for investments in social services instead.

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2021/10/10/oklahoma-county-jail-options-okc-residents-want-community-investment/6010997001/

"The options, one to build an entirely new facility and a second to renovate the existing facility and add an annex, both come with price tags of several hundred million dollars. A new facility valued at $300 million would allow the county to abandon the current troubled 30-year-old high-rise facility." ...

"For you to say that the jail that was built several years ago wasn't built big enough may be the most disheartening thing I've ever heard. It's not that the jail wasn't built big enough, it's that we incarcerate too many people," said Kris Steele, executive director of Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform.

Many residents echoed Steele, citing concerns that building a new, possibly bigger, jail would just lead to county officials trying to fill it, recreating the same conditions that exist in the current jail. Funding instead should be pushed to mental health and addiction treatment centers and increasing use of available diversion programs, several commenters said.

 
At 9:59 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Drug overdose as a public health and public safety issue, not a crime issue.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/12/06/opinion/why-isnt-us-treating-overdose-epidemic-like-public-health-emergency-it-is

"Why isn’t the US treating the overdose epidemic like the public health emergency it is?"

Overdose deaths in 2020 were over 100,000.

====
America’s response, albeit delayed, to the HIV/AIDS epidemic resulted in the HIV Cascade of Care Continuum, which has had extraordinary outcomes at reducing stigma and driving down infection and death. More recently, the response to COVID-19 has been similarly extraordinary. In relatively short order, vaccinations were developed, and our systems of care adapted. Health care providers, from primary care to neurosurgery, quickly trained in the fundamentals of the disease.

Our health care system can react similarly to substance use disorder but has chosen not to. The health care and health insurance systems are a significant barrier to access to treatment and medications. Almost 4 in 5 Americans with the disorder receive no treatment, and even fewer receive medications for treating it.

Shockingly, those with substance use disorder are increasingly more likely to access treatment and receive medications while they are incarcerated than while in the community. That is unacceptable. Access to medication-assisted treatments in the community must be expanded, because we know that those receiving medications have a significantly reduced risk of fatal overdose.

 
At 8:41 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

This article puts the mental health crisis response issue in perspective. The author is on the Peel Region Police Services Board, and there, mental health calls are #1 category of service calls responded to by the police department.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2021/12/10/police-strategy-on-mental-health-should-start-long-before-a-911-call.html

Police strategy on mental health should start long before a 911 call

 
At 8:34 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

NHK's Direct Talk tv program has an episode on the "gang intervention" program Homeboy Industries and founder Father Greg Boyle in Los Angeles.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/tv/directtalk/20210730/2058789/

 
At 9:06 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

"Black Toronto neighbourhoods see more homicides but less support for victims’ family and friends, report finds"

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/01/19/black-toronto-neighbourhoods-see-more-homicides-but-less-support-for-victims-family-and-friends-report-finds.html

U of Toronto The Homicide Tracker
​2004 - 2020

https://www.the-crib.org/homicide-tracker.html

This map was developed to visually depict the devastating, disproportionate prevalence of
homicide in predominantly African, Caribbean and Black (ACB) neighbourhoods throughout Toronto and illustrate the availability of resources designed to assist family ​members and friends of
​murdered victims in surviving the aftermath of unthinkable tragedy.

Social Determinants of Homicide
https://www.the-crib.org/social-determinants-of-homicide.html

https://www.the-crib.org/uploads/1/2/9/6/129649149/social_determinants_of_homicide_011022.pdf (report)

also a previous Star article:

"Never-before-seen shootings data reveals the hyper-local toll of Toronto gun violence"

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/06/03/never-before-seen-shootings-data-reveals-the-hyper-local-toll-of-toronto-gun-violence.html

2. Victim advocates at Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/a/trauma-victims-advocates-philadelphia-temple-university-hospital-20210805.html

 
At 9:09 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/01/19/torontos-first-ever-mental-health-crisis-response-teams-without-police-to-launch-in-march.html

Interesting that there will be four pilots. Each in conjunction with a different nonprofit.

 
At 9:19 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

"Toronto to launch $12M ‘safety and well-being’ plan to combat community violence, support mental health"

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/01/19/toronto-to-launch-12-million-safety-and-well-being-plan-to-combat-community-violence.html

SafeTO Plan
http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2022.EX29.2

https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/public-safety-alerts/community-safety-programs/community-safety-well-being-plan/

 
At 11:15 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Drafting a fresh blueprint for racial justice

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/racial-justice-police-misconduct-book-solomon-jones-20220119.html

There must be systemic change, or there will be another Fanta Bility, another George Floyd, another Tamir Rice, another Sandra Bland.

That’s why I wrote Ten Lives, Ten Demands: Life-and-Death Stories, and a Black Activist’s Blueprint for Racial Justice. It’s my 11th book, but it’s my first on the topic of race.
Published on Tuesday, the book recounts the stories of 10 people whose lives were lost or damaged by a criminal justice system that is undergirded by racism. The inner workings of that system enable police officers and vigilantes to kill or harm Black people with near impunity. But in order to change that system, we must first understand how it functions, and then, before we take to the streets in protest, we must formulate specific demands.

No movement can succeed without demands, strategy, teamwork, and vision. No movement can succeed without faith. It was faith, after all, that allowed me to rebuild my life with little more than prayers, a laptop, and a microphone. Faith that enabled me to rise from addiction and homelessness to become a husband and father. Faith that allows me to speak truth for my community, and use writing as a force for change.

 
At 10:19 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/01/21/opinion/follow-money-sheriffs-campaign-donations-get-much-needed-look

Follow the money: Sheriffs’ campaign donations get a much-needed look
A report from government watchdog organizations finds that an important share of contributions to sheriffs’ campaigns, including in Mass., are ‘ethically conflicted.’

Common Cause and Communities for Sheriff Accountability produced the report, The Paid Jailer

https://www.commoncause.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/CC_PaidJailer.pdf

 
At 3:18 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-gun-violence-homicides-report-city-council-20220127.html

"A Philly committee spent 18 months examining the city’s gun violence crisis. Here’s what they found."


Almost half of the shootings in Philadelphia in recent years were sparked by arguments. Most of the guns used in crimes in the city were bought in Pennsylvania. And both suspected shooters and victims had previously witnessed violence.

As gun violence has reached record heights in Philadelphia — a crisis that has overwhelmingly affected communities of color — thousands of cases remain unsolved, while gun possession prosecutions increasingly fail in court.

Those were some of the findings outlined in a report released Thursday by a host of city officials in response to Philadelphia’s gun violence epidemic. The 194-page study, commissioned in 2020 by City Councilperson Curtis Jones Jr., was designed to provide a variety of perspectives on the issue, and it includes data and insights from police, prosecutors, public defenders, public health workers, and city officials.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KiqU0bUR2AjAfl9mlBfNVbQka6b1Dtu_/view

"Mayor Kenney unveils initiatives to address gun violence"

https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-anti-violence-report-mayor-jim-kenney-homicides-shootings-20190117.html

“The Philadelphia Roadmap to Safer Communities”

https://www.phila.gov/documents/the-philadelphia-roadmap-to-safer-communities/

 
At 2:10 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

"As Violent Crime Falls in Dallas, Answers Go Beyond Policing"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-02-03/defying-national-trend-violent-crime-in-dallas-is-down

... Garcia and other officials in the city of 1.3 million opted to follow a different model than the one emerging out of other big cities like New York and San Francisco, which have doubled down on expanding their police presence. Flooding the streets with cops simply isn’t a long-term solution, Garcia says.

Working with criminologists and crime data, the department crafted a plan to tackle violent crime that deploys resources far beyond the police department. The strategy sends officers to tiny targeted areas that are hot spots for violent crime with a focus on pursuing the most serious offenses. But that’s the “only part of the plan that is police-centric,” according to Garcia.

The goal is to implement a wide-ranging collaboration between city agencies to address apartment complex-specific issues like blight, lighting, park access and homelessness, and a concerted push to engage individuals who are at a high risk of being a victim of a crime or perpetuating one themselves, through initiatives like violence interrupter programs.

“This plan, like any plan, cannot be all about police,” Garcia said. “They’re an absolute integral part of the plan but there are other organizations and other groups that will need to help in order to sustain the positivity.”

At the end of 2021, months after this new effort was finalized, Dallas’s murder rate dropped 13% compared to the last year, while arrests were down more than 11%. That change is especially striking when put in the context of other big cities’ data in 2021, like Philadelphia, whose murder rate passed 500 for the first time since 1990, and fellow Texas city Austin, whose murder rate rose 86%. ...

Slicing Dallas into about 104,000 microgrids, each about the size of two football fields, allows the police department to direct their activity specifically to areas of high crime without being overwhelming or omnipresent. The 47 to 50 grids that officers focus on account for about 10% of the city’s violent crime, Garcia said.

That concentration exists in other cities as well: A 2019 study of 20 cities by researchers in the National Network for Safe Communities at John Jay College found that less than 1% of a city’s population “is generally connected to over 50% of the city’s shootings and homicides.”


====
I have doubts about "violence interrupters" but maybe another way to think of them is as comparable to "neighborhood wardens."

 
At 4:56 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

"https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/28/nyregion/eric-adams-crime-gun-violence.html"

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/28/nyregion/eric-adams-crime-gun-violence.html

"Blueprint to End Gun Violance," NYC Mayor Eric Adams

https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/home/downloads/pdf/press-releases/2022/the-blueprint-to-end-gun-violence.pdf

 
At 3:46 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

"President Biden, don’t ‘fund the police’ until cops do better on telling the truth"

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/police-lies-misconduct-bail-reform-20220313.html


"The hidden billion-dollar cost of repeated police misconduct"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2022/police-misconduct-repeated-settlements/

... the nation’s 25 largest police and sheriff departments paid out a whopping $3.2 billion over the last decade to settle lawsuits or claims of misconduct, often keeping taxpayers in the dark about details.

 
At 1:54 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

KOMO News: New initiative identifies hundreds who have caused thousands of crimes in Seattle.
https://komonews.com/news/local/new-initiative-identifies-hundreds-who-have-caused-thousands-of-crimes-in-seattle

3/16/22

 
At 8:59 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2022/04/10/pittsburgh-police-chief-scott-schubert-shooting-bethany-hallam/stories/202204100187

"Program dispatching social workers rather than police gains traction in Pittsburgh"

The Health, Safety and Violence Prevention Initiative was rolled out in 2021 under then-Mayor Bill Peduto with a request for $5.5 million in funding. It aimed to provide a dual response to complaints about homelessness, addiction or mental health crises — problems that police are often poorly trained to handle.

Since then, neighborhood-based teams from Allegheny Health Network’s Center for Inclusion Health have been partnering with law enforcement and other agencies in answering calls where resolution is possible outside the criminal justice system.

The program has been working in a couple police zones, but plans are underway to expand it throughout the city, Chief Schubert said.

 
At 9:49 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Project Rebound, program with California State University offering higher education access to former felons, started in 1967. Zero recidivism. This year, 150 graduates.

https://www.ocregister.com/2022/04/07/project-rebound-scholars-pay-it-forward-with-new-program-aimed-to-help-juvenile-offenders/

New program in Orange County, working with juveniles.

2. Maryland inmates begin path toward Georgetown degrees

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/04/10/georgetown-university-degree-maryland-prison/

In-person classes at the Patuxent Institution, in Jessup, Md., started Feb. 14 for the 25 students accepted into the program. Officials announced the liberal arts degree program last spring as an expansion of the Prison Scholars Program that Georgetown offers at the D.C. jail. Students completing the program will earn bachelor’s degrees from the university.

“This degree program is a model for how universities can bring transformative education opportunities into prison and support second chances,” Marc Howard, the director of the Georgetown Prisons and Justice Initiative, said in a news release.

 
At 9:09 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/06/26/nation/gun-violence-researchers-bipartisan-bill-is-glass-half-full/?et_rid=852154004&s_campaign=todaysheadlines:newsletter:ns

 
At 10:08 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/social-services/2022/06/14/pittsburgh-stop-the-violence-grant-fund-2022-application-gainey-programs-grants/stories/202206140084

"Applications open for STOP the Violence grants"

The funds will be granted to organizations that are “taking proactive steps with individuals who exhibit one or more risk factors for violent behavior, supporting those individuals to overcome the risk factors, avoid violence, and lead healthy and productive lives,” the city said.

The goal is to include community organizations in the efforts to reduce violence in the city, according to the mayor’s administration.

Applications can range from $15,000 to more than $90,000.

“It’s time to address violence as a public health crisis that is treatable and preventable,” Mr. Gainey said in a statement. “We know that no single organization can effectively eliminate violence on its own, which is why my administration is focused on community partnerships. The STOP the Violence Community Investment Fund will allow us to support community organizations who are committed to a bold vision of ending violence and making Pittsburgh safe for everyone.”

Some of the eligible programs include things like mentoring for youth or adults, family-strengthening activities, parent and guardian support, mental health counseling and programs that help support traumatized individuals, the city said.

 
At 10:37 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/mental-health/what-role-should-police-play-in-mental-health-crisis-calls-seattle

8/7/2022

"What role should police play in mental health calls? Seattle has small, limited crisis staff"


In 2010, SPD also received a federal grant to pilot a program called the crisis response team. It created teams made up of one officer with a gun and one mental health professional who respond to mental and behavioral health-related calls — a model they still have today. The team has since grown to 10 people, and works alongside Health One, a similar initiative from the Seattle Fire Department.

A 2015 evaluation of the program by Seattle University researchers in the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry found some success: About a third of cases were referred to mental health agencies or substance use treatment, and a smaller percentage were administratively cleared, meaning the case was closed without an arrest. While researchers were “hesitant to make policy recommendations,” it was a hopeful window into a new system that diverted people from jail or hospitals. ...

But services remain limited: The team is small, and they don’t have enough dedicated staffing to cover overnight hours or weekends.

“The goal is to have two different parts … the crisis response team would be the one that’s out in the field doing field stuff [and another team] would be doing follow-up cases in the office,” said Binder. “Unfortunately, it’s us doing both of those things.” ...

Often, officers on SPD’s crisis response team have to decide whether to refer cases to designated crisis responders, or DCRs, who are mental health professionals specifically authorized by regional behavioral health care agencies to determine whether someone should be involuntarily committed to psychiatric care temporarily. The law in Washington says people can be committed if they are considered a threat to themselves or others, or if they are “gravely disabled” and cannot care for themselves.

The calls that crisis response teams like SPD’s respond to often are also interwoven with broad societal issues, like housing.

It’s a devastating, self-perpetuating loop, documented by academic studies. In one common example, what starts as a noise complaint or lack of cleanliness due to someone’s behavioral health, leads to a person getting labeled as a nuisance. They get evicted and destabilize even more. Finding housing again becomes harder with an eviction record, which can result in homelessness. ...

-- continued --

 
At 10:37 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Other cities have taken their own approaches to crisis response. Often, the question is whether these teams are set up to respond to psychiatric emergencies in progress — particularly involving weapons or a safety risk — or work more proactively, focusing on lower-urgency calls in hope of preventing larger crises in the future.

For example, CAHOOTS, an often-cited model out of Eugene, Oregon, that’s been around for over 30 years, sends out a mobile crisis team staffed with a medic (like a nurse or EMT) paired with a mental health professional. In some cases they’ll co-respond with a police officer, but in general the calls they respond to are more limited than SPD’s unit. They do not respond to any 911 calls that include criminal activity, a weapon or any kind of physical threat or unsafe setting.

Models like this minimize an armed response by police. Still, Jessica Shook, a designated crisis responder in Thurston and Mason counties and president of the Washington Association of Designated Crisis Responders, said the result is people in acute crisis sometimes don’t get immediate help because the situation is too unsafe for mental health workers. ...

Mental health is not something that exists by itself,” she said. “If someone experiences housing instability … oppression of their sexual or gender identity, all of those things surround an individual. It’s really huge that we start looking at mental health from these larger social contexts.”

She also advocates for alternatives like peer respite services, “Residential places that people can go sometimes for up to two weeks to recover and they’re not locked down,” Starr explained. Research on peer respite programs has shown to be successful in reducing the need for more costly emergency and inpatient services.

“They are places that normalize altered experiences or people who are in crisis. And I think that that’s a major thing — our regular community just doesn’t know how to respond to someone (with mental illness).”

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26314890/

"A descriptive evaluation of the Seattle Police Department's crisis response team officer/mental health professional partnership pilot program"

 
At 10:38 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

"Study Reveals Impact of Evictions on People with Mental Health Disorders"

https://news.utoledo.edu/index.php/02_19_2021/study-reveals-impact-of-evictions-on-people-with-mental-health-disorders

 
At 5:07 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/16/johns-hopkins-police-force

"Johns Hopkins wants to change policing. Many fear it won’t work"

Tension at JHU over creating a campus police force. Student activism. Obviously, I had experience with this at University of Michigan. We were opposed, but a campus police department was created. In center cities, with difficult policing and crime issues, the justification for a police department is much stronger.

OTOH, some universities do a very bad job of it, case #1 being the University of Utah, where two female students were murdered, and various campus units failed miserably.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/07/23/university-utah-zhifan-dong/

"How a university failed a student allegedly killed by her ex-boyfriend"

 
At 10:39 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

"How to Get Cops Out of the Mental-Health Business"

In Denver, a program to reduce police involvement in nonviolent 911 calls also reduced minor crime.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-get-cops-out-of-the-mental-health-business-community-response-initiative-police-nonviolent-denver-social-workers-11657297784

7/8/2022

A small but growing number of cities have introduced innovative programs that screen emergency calls by the type of incident or with the guidance of a specially trained dispatcher. The goal is to identify calls where trained healthcare professionals can support police or directly serve as first responders. Boston, Pittsburgh and Seattle have adopted “co-response” models that allow police officers to query mental-health specialists for guidance or to have their in-person collaboration on field calls.

More ambitious but less common “community response” models forgo police involvement altogether on carefully screened calls. The seminal program, which began in Eugene, Ore., more than 30 years ago, has 911 dispatchers direct nonviolent incidents involving behavioral health to a two-person team consisting of a medic and a mental-health crisis specialist. New York City and Washington began piloting similar community response initiatives last year and more recently have expanded the scale of these operations.

We know far too little about the effectiveness of these programs, the relevance of their design details, and how to meet the challenges of implementing these programs well. Nonetheless, our recent study of a community response initiative in Denver suggests their promise is compelling and extraordinary.

In June 2020, Denver piloted a community response program in the city’s central downtown neighborhoods, dispatching a mental-health clinician and a paramedic in an equipped van to nonviolent emergency calls related to mental health, substance abuse and homelessness. These teams responded most frequently to incidents involving trespassing, welfare checks and requests for assistance. Over its first six months, Denver’s community responders handled 748 calls for service, none of which resulted in an arrest.

Our independent analysis found that in the eight police precincts where the pilot was active, Denver’s initiative reduced targeted, lower-level crimes such as disorderly conduct, trespassing and substance abuse by 34%. These reductions also occurred during hours when the community responders were unavailable, a finding consistent with the evidence that people in untreated mental-health crises are likely to offend repeatedly. We also found the program’s corresponding reduction in police involvement didn’t lead to an unintended increase in more serious crimes.

These results illustrate that the direct cost savings of a community response program can be considerable. We estimate that Denver’s community response program cost only $151 per criminal offense avoided. That amount is only a quarter of the estimated cost of processing lower-level offenses through the criminal-justice system.

 
At 5:14 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Philadelphia police union pretty unhelpful with shifting some jobs from police officers to civilians, so that more police could be active on the street. Union sees it as a jobs issue.

The Philadelphia Inquirer: A win for the police union should not be a loss for Philadelphia | Editorial.
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/editorials/fop-fraternal-order-police-union-violence-civilian-act-111-20221129.html

It's tough to "rearticulate public safety and how it's delivered" when the police union is part of the problem.

 
At 2:51 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.ocregister.com/2022/12/21/seal-beach-police-now-pack-sensory-kits-to-help-those-with-special-needs-in-times-of-crisis

Seal Beach police now pack sensory kits to help those with special needs in times of crisis

Seal Beach police officers now hit the streets with a little extra gear in their patrol cars — backpacks holding “sensory kits,” toys and gadgets to help out those they encounter with autism spectrum disorder or other special needs.

Fidget spinners, headphones, stopwatches — all meant to help calm, distract and comfort them, to reduce the effects of outside stimuli.

“When we’re out responding to an incident, it might be imperative we speak with someone dealing with special needs,” Sgt. Joe Garcia said. “But with all the noise and lights it can be hard to get them to communicate, especially if an officer is not equipped to deal with their behavioral needs.”

 
At 1:23 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2023/01/22/pittsburgh-police-violence-teens-solutions-city-council-curfew-traffic-stops/stories/202301220036

"Experts and research cast doubt about Pittsburgh leaders' efforts to quell recent surge in violence"

“I don’t know why cities keep going back to [the curfew]. It shows a lack of imagination in crime prevention,” said Mike Males, a researcher at the California-based Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. “The research is clear: it’s not a solution.”

In 2016, the Campbell Collaboration, a nonprofit criminal justice policy group, reviewed 12 studies on the effectiveness of curfews for city youth.

https://www.campbellcollaboration.org/better-evidence/juvenile-curfew-effects-on-behaviour.html

Mr. Harris, the Pitt professor, said the data show that this approach [traffic stops] does little for public safety, too.

“Discretion is not a bad thing in itself. It couldn’t be eliminated even if you wanted to,” Mr. Harris said. “But we should want it exercised wisely and with restraint and for good purposes.” ...

“For every 1,000 non-moving violation stops, just over 2% (or 21) resulted in an arrest or the recovery of drugs or other contraband,” researchers wrote. Another 61 stops led to non-drug-related misdemeanor citation, according to the study, and most of those were for driving with a suspended or revoked license.

He said the numbers are clear: “Traffic stops happen hugely disproportionately to people of color given the presence of Black drivers on the road.”

 
At 6:24 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

71 Commands in 13 Minutes: Officers Gave Tyre Nichols Impossible Orders

A Times analysis found that officers gave dozens of contradictory and unachievable orders to Mr. Nichols. The punishment was severe — and eventually fatal.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/us/tyre-nichols-video-assault-cops.html

Police officers unleashed a barrage of commands that were confusing, conflicting and sometimes even impossible to obey, a Times analysis of footage from Tyre Nichols’s fatal traffic stop found. When Mr. Nichols could not comply — and even when he managed to — the officers responded with escalating force.

The review of the available footage found that officers shouted at least 71 commands during the approximately 13-minute period before they reported over the radio that Mr. Nichols was officially in custody. The orders were issued at two locations, one near Mr. Nichols’s vehicle and the other in the area he had fled to and where he would be severely beaten. The orders were often simultaneous and contradictory. Officers commanded Mr. Nichols to show his hands even as they were holding his hands. They told him to get on the ground even when he was on the ground. And they ordered him to reposition himself even when they had control of his body.

Experts say the actions of the Memphis police officers were an egregious example of a longstanding problem in policing in which officers physically punish civilians for perceived disrespect or disobedience — sometimes called “contempt of cop.” The practice was notoriously prevalent decades ago.

... To mitigate the potential for escalation and confusion during police encounters, today’s police training typically calls for a single officer at the scene to issue clear and specific commands. It also requires police officers to respond professionally and proportionately to any perceived act of defiance.

But The Times’s review shows that the officers did the exact opposite, over and over.

- confusing orders
- contradictory commands
- orders not resisted
- impossible orders

Officers continue to issue commands while simultaneously constraining, controlling and beating Mr. Nichols in ways that render it physically impossible for him to follow those commands.

 
At 4:22 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

NJ program to pair mental health professionals and police, "Arrive Together."

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/09/nyregion/new-jersey-police-mental-health.html

“It is common sense,” said Sarah Adelman, commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Human Services. “But it is also radical and system-changing work.”

Each participating officer and mental health screener must participate in an intensive training, where they learn techniques to de-escalate conflicts without resorting to force. There is instruction in the special needs of combat veterans, for example, as well as people struggling with addiction. ...

From March 2022 through January, troopers in Cumberland County responded to 229 calls with mental health counselors. In the past, most would have led to a person being taken to a jail or an emergency room for evaluation — steps Captain Gates said can quickly “go sideways.”

But over the past year, 72 percent of those calls instead resulted in residents remaining at home, often matched with mental health services. There were no arrests, and only two calls led to reportable uses of force, he said. The officer and social worker are also expected to remain in contact with residents whom they first meet on calls — an element doctors say is key to the program’s long-term success.

“This is designed to increase access to care by making the process less stigmatized, a little less threatening,” said Frank Ghinassi, a senior vice president of behavioral health at RWJBarnabas Health who is also the chief executive of Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care.

The two-person teams are called by either a 911 or 988 suicide hotline dispatcher or by a uniformed officer at the scene. Upon arrival, the mental health professional takes charge with backup from the officer in plain clothes, enabling the uniformed officer either to fade into the background or leave altogether, depending on the level of risk.

 
At 10:55 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

article claims that having a preponderance of women police officers makes a difference to the culture and practice of a police department.

"Where more women cops walk the beat"

https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2022/0720/Where-more-women-cops-walk-the-beat

Public demands for reform and a tough recruiting environment are giving female police officers a new foothold – albeit during a time of crisis in the profession. Even so, having more women in the ranks is improving policing practices and community relations.

... y the end of that decade, 3% of officers were women, according to 30x30, an initiative with the goal of achieving “30% women recruits by 2030.”

In many departments, the percentages remain far below that goal. Only 2% of Georgia State Patrol officers are female. A 2019 special report by the National Institute of Justice found that fewer than 13% of law enforcement officers in the U.S. are female.

But here in Savannah, one of the oldest police departments in the country, 22% of the force is now female – 89 of 400. That is a higher percentage than New Zealand, a global front-runner when it comes to hiring female officers.

Three of the city’s four precincts are now captained by women. At one recent incident in downtown Savannah, all four responding cruisers were helmed by women.

... Yet women’s presence is making a difference, most notably in conflict resolution and de-escalation.

Here in Georgia, while the Brunswick Police Department has posted a recruiting video that shows a SWAT team busting down a drug dealer’s door, the Savannah Police Department is taking a different approach. They launched a Ladies of Law Enforcement campaign. Instead of war scenery, one officer pets a dog; another smiles broadly into the camera.

Women officers use less excessive force, they have a better relationship with their communities, they have better outcomes for crime victims, they fire their service weapon less, and they are named less in community complaints and lawsuits. If there was training out there that promised those outcomes, [police departments] would be clamoring for it,” says Ms. McGough, co-founder of 30x30.

 
At 10:57 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

A zero-tolerance drinking and driving law reduced traffic injuries and fatalities in Brazil over the last decade, a new study suggests. Car crashes are a leading cause of death for children around the world, and as many as 37% of traffic fatalities in Brazil are attributed to alcohol. The law was first approved in 2012 but was declared constitutional this year, mandating a blood alcohol level of zero and allowing police officers to test a driver’s blood alcohol level if they notice erratic driving.

Between 2012 and 2019, researchers estimate the law prevented over 400,000 hospitalizations due to traffic collisions and reduced mortality rates for pedestrians, motorcyclists, and cyclists. Its formal ratification “set an important best-practice for other countries, and the big win here is that the law can now be fully enforced,” said Socorro Gross-Galiano of the Pan American Health Organization in Brazil. “By helping deter drink-driving, it will help save countless lives.”

 
At 10:25 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

In William Bratton's latest book, I was surprised to see how he mentions the importance of victim services as an element of a broader approach to public safety.

I immediately thought about that seeing this article.

https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-homicides-2023-police-detectives-investigations-20230426.html

"When homicide victims’ families can’t get ahold of police, some investigate the cases themselves"

In Philadelphia, when someone is killed in a homicide, the lone victims assistance officer in the Police Department’s Homicide Unit helps families coordinate initial logistics such as obtaining death certificates and applying for funeral reimbursement funds. But in the weeks, months, and sometimes years that follow, it’s largely the responsibility of homicide detectives to communicate with loved ones and update them on the investigation.

... Nearly a dozen families of homicide victims interviewed by The Inquirer described a lack of communication from the unit. Many said they call and send emails to detectives, but rarely hear back. Meetings and calls are promised but not fulfilled.

A lack of communication between law enforcement and families of victims is not a new issue, and it’s not unique to Philadelphia, victims services experts said. It represents a widespread reluctance to invest in adequate care for victims, experts said, and there are solutions.

“They don’t seem to have a procedure,” said Chantay Love, founding director of Every Murder Is Real, a support group for Philadelphia families impacted by homicide. “They know there’s an issue but they won’t take it upon themselves to address it.”

The families said they understand the heavy workload, but the communication breakdown exacerbates their trauma and builds distrust in the department. Some mothers said it makes them feel as if no one is actively investigating their loved one’s death, that their child is “just a number” whose case is sitting at the bottom of the pile.

As a result, some families take it upon themselves to investigate the crimes on their own. Desperate for leads, they go to the scene of the crime and search for potential witnesses. They scour social media and question friends. They walk through neighborhoods and hand out fliers.

“From a human dignity perspective, it’s very problematic,” said Heather Warnken, executive director of Baltimore’s Center for Criminal Justice Reform. “But from a pragmatic perspective, this is an essential piece of cultivating relationships to collaborate with the community to investigate and solve cases.”

... "It’s not all just about solving the [case],” said Santamala. “Of course families want it solved, but I think they want that connection, to know that you did not forget their loved one and you did not forget them.”

 
At 10:20 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2023/05/21/addiction-poverty-mental-health-those-are-the-real-challenges-facing-ontarios-justice-system-retired-judge-warns.html

 
At 1:54 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Amsterdam shows why the U.S. criminal justice system is a failure

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/06/19/crime-netherlands-us/

 
At 9:42 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/2769625

Beyond Gun Laws—Innovative Interventions to Reduce Gun Violence in the United States


Although legislative avenues remain a primary strategy to prevent gun violence, there is a rich emerging scientific literature evaluating the effectiveness of interventions and programs that do not depend on state or federal legislation or law enforcement. A scientific review3 of programs in 264 cities showed that every 10 additional nonprofit, community-building programs per 100 000 residents were associated with a 9% reduction in homicide and a 6% reduction in violence. These programs include community-led initiatives, such as youth development, career services, and the arts, that also improve the lives of the citizens in important ways beyond simply reducing gun violence. Another recent scientific review4 evaluated the effectiveness of various neighborhood interventions, such as public transportation and environmental remediation efforts, to reduce violence, including gun violence. Improving housing conditions and green space and generally enhancing neighborhood environments through programs, such as Horticultural Society LandCare Programs, have been associated with successes in reducing gun violence, injury, and death. Moreover, these interventions have cobenefits that go beyond reductions in gun violence. The improvement of vacant land and housing conditions has been experimentally shown to produce community connectedness, feelings of safety, and reduced stress levels among residents.4 Recent research has also found that home foreclosures are linked to rising suicide rates,5 and programs such as the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which was established to provide emergency financial assistance to neighborhoods when rates of foreclosed or abandoned homes begin to rapidly increase, are other neighborhood interventions that may help decrease gun suicides.


Sharkey P, Torrats-Espinosa G, Takyar D. Community and the crime decline: the causal effect of local nonprofits on violent crime.  Am Sociol Rev. 2017;82(6):1214-1240. doi:10.1177/0003122417736289Google ScholarCrossref
4.
Kondo MC, Andreyeva E, South EC, MacDonald JM, Branas CC. Neighborhood interventions to reduce violence.  Annu Rev Public Health. 2018;39(1):253-271. doi:10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040617-014600PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
5.
Houle JN, Light MT. The home foreclosure crisis and rising suicide rates, 2005 to 2010.  Am J Public Health. 2014;104(6):1073-1079. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2013.301774PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref

 
At 1:23 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/25/legalize-fentanyl-overdose-deaths/

The best answer to the overdose crisis might surprise you

To understand the scale of America’s current drug problem, look backward. In 1999, 16,849 people died of overdoses. If that number had grown in line with the population, in 2021, we would have lost 20,048 people.

The actual number was more than five times as many: 106,699. Moreover, this was a roughly 50 percent increase from 2019. To address this crisis effectively, it’s essential to examine not just the scale, but the nature of the problem. Charles Fain Lehman’s recent essay on drug markets in National Affairs makes clear what the numbers show: a radical shift in the drugs themselves.

While rates of addiction have grown since the 1990s, this change has been modest compared with the soaring number of deaths. This is because high-potency synthetic drugs are crowding out agriculturally derived products such as heroin and cocaine. Because synthetic drugs start with precursor chemicals rather than plants, their production is more efficient and harder for authorities to detect. Because they’re highly potent — a kilogram of pure fentanyl is up to 50 times as strong as an equivalent amount of heroin — they’re easier to smuggle. And also because they’re so potent, the user margin for error is smaller, which means spiraling overdose deaths.

All this changes the nature of the drug problem. The old argument about treatment and harm reduction versus enforcement no longer addresses the core problem. Today, the question is not “What can be done about drug addicts?” but “What can be done about drugs that are harder to interdict and easier for users to kill themselves with?”

Lehman’s answer is that government policy should simultaneously discourage addiction and divert people into treatment alternatives. More treatment beds are needed, as is more expansive use of medication-assisted treatment, using drugs such as methadone and buprenorphine. (Unfortunately, no such alternatives exist for cocaine and methamphetamine.) Also needed are coercive mechanisms to ensure those beds are used, such as civil commitment and drug court diversion programs for addicts who become a danger to themselves or others.

=====
https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/how-to-think-about-the-drug-crisis

How to Think about the Drug Crisis

Summer 2023

=====
A commenter made the point that the Oregon decriminalization of drugs initiative has had unintended negative consequences, without going into detail.

But it reminds me of my point about "defining deviance down" as a way of releasing forces of disorder rather than quelling them.

 
At 3:01 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/philadelphia-police-commissioner-danielle-outlaw-resignation-successor-wishlist-20230906.html

As a Black Philadelphian, here’s what I’m looking for in the city’s next police commissioner
Fixing policing in Philadelphia is not about replacing Danielle Outlaw. It’s about drastically changing the racist systems that brought us to this point.

Some really good points.

- law enforcement without racism
- police presence without occupation
- protection without abuse

 
At 4:45 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Mental health and prison: a tragic cycle that repeats itself

When offenders are released, they often face homelessness, unemployment, drug use, lack of mental health care — factors that lead to being arrested.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/mental-health-and-prison-a-tragic-cycle-that-repeats-itself/article_9085abb1-7cfd-5b2c-a223-ea694e9fb89b.html

9/15/2023

 
At 7:08 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.wlbt.com/2022/11/08/new-program-puts-money-pockets-mississippis-non-violent-offenders-aims-reduce-recidivism/

According to a press release, work release participants are able to wear “free world” clothes to their place of employment. Additionally, their wage is distributed as follows:

25% will be to pay off outstanding fines and fees
50% will be placed into a savings account
15% will go on a prepaid debit card for them to order for personal items
10% will be used for administration fees

https://empowerms.org/rankin-county-sheriff-helping-inmates-find-success/

Rankin County Sheriff: Helping Inmates Find Success

1/29/20

“My mindset was lock ‘em up. Once I put them in jail, I didn’t care about them again until the trial came. My mentality was to lock them up and then let’s go back out and see how many more we can get. I wanted to get the thugs off the streets,” he said.

After being elected Sheriff and seeing the inmates inside his jail, Bailey recognized a need to help them.

... we started a Sheriff’s office trustee program.”

The Rankin County program is for nonviolent offenders who serve 1-5 years in the county jail and, at the end of the sentence, plead guilty to time served.

“That way they are kept out of the state system until the very end where they have to get on probation, but they do time here. Some have to do more time than they would in the state system, but the trade-off is the many things offered here to help them get back on their feet plus they are in Rankin County which is usually closer to their families.”

In Mississippi there is a vast difference between jails and prisons. Jails are usually located in each county and operated by the county sheriff while prisons are larger facilities spread out across the state and operated by the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Jails are intended to house people for shorter periods of time, usually those sentenced for misdemeanor offenses who spend less than one year incarcerated. Jails are also used to house people when they are arrested and detained before a trial. Prisons are intended to house people for longer periods of time, usually those who are convicted of felony offenses who will spend more than a year incarcerated.

Rankin County Sheriff's Trustee Program could be model for state's criminal justice reform

https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2022/06/12/mississippi-leaders-discuss-criminal-justice-reform-education/7497273001/

 
At 10:09 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Parole and probation don’t work. Let’s think of a new approach.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/16/supervised-probation-parole-failure/

 
At 12:28 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

The system doesn't deal very well with people with mental health issues. Here, the city was doing stuff, but the Psychiatric Institute released the person, who went on to commit a serious crime, even though a hearing on committing him for a year was pending.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/11/21/dc-preschool-attack-homeless-mental-health/

 
At 9:51 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

We can bring gun violence under control. Here’s one way how.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/11/22/community-programs-reduce-gun-violence/

 
At 12:06 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/a-new-candidate-is-joining-the-baltimore-city-race-for-mayor

A new candidate is joining the Baltimore City race for mayor

She says she is working for change after she’s had six students shot and paralyzed, she wants to end the youth violence.

Bozel says a big part of stopping the juvenile crime is focusing on the schools by improving education and offering programs for kids to learn a trade.

“I see the kids that were victims and the ones that actually caused the crime, and it all comes back to three factors,” said Bozel. “First, every student I pulled records for was two years behind in school, there was no cognitive reason, they could learn fine. The second part is all of them had missed 50 to 100 days of school, so if someone had been checking on these kids prior to them being shot they may not have been shot. Third, we need to work on our graduation rates.”

 
At 2:16 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Toronto has shifted wellness check requests and most mental health calls to a mental health response team separate from the police.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/you-never-know-what-one-phone-call-can-do-an-inside-look-at-how-toronto/article_b54ebe8e-c7d7-5313-9456-77112bd9843a.html

‘You never know what one phone call can do’: An inside look at how Toronto’s newest emergency service tackles mental health crises

12/3/2023

That call is just one of thousands the city’s mental health crisis teams have responded to over the past two years as part of a pilot project — handling wellness checks and reports of people who are in the midst of a mental heath crisis that used to result in a visit from police.

City council voted last month to expand the pilot into a citywide stand-alone emergency service, alongside paramedics, police and the fire department. If there’s funding, the expansion will launch next summer, costing $13 million and requiring 100 additional mental health workers.

... The Toronto Police Service said that addiction and mental health crisis calls make up 10 per cent of the total calls police respond to. Within the first year of the pilot that started in March 2022, police received 37,508 calls involving a person in crisis — 3,596 of which were referred to the new program, known as Toronto’s community crisis response service (TCCS).

... The teams have connections to such supports as counselling, culturally specific programs, access to housing and harm reduction options. They work alongside people to create a care plan with goals and discuss future check-in calls to follow up.

Long-term support like this, which follows up with people for as many as 90 days, hasn’t been possible before, according to Jennifer Chambers, executive director of the Empowerment Council mental health advocacy organization. She said that police departments were the only group with the resources to handle these crises — but lacked the training and capacity to care for people struggling with their mental health with this depth and patience.

... Gerstein is one of four community groups with about 25 staff each, providing these services in different districts of the city. If the expansion goes through, an estimated 57 more partner agencies will help out, fielding calls from across the city.

 
At 12:26 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Failure of police cameras to provide much in the way of oversight.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/13/magazine/police-body-cameras-miguel-richards.html?

 
At 10:02 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Philadelphia City is appointing one high level police official to deal with the drug problems in Kensington.

https://www.inquirer.com/politics/philadelphia/mayor-cherelle-parker-pedro-rosario-kensington-20240111.html

Mayor Cherelle Parker taps a new top police leader to head the department’s Kensington strategy
Pedro Rosario, a new deputy commissioner for the Kensington initiative, is the highest ranking Latino in the history of the Philadelphia Police Department.


Rosario’s appointment was significant in that it makes him a key leader in executing Parker’s public safety vision in Kensington.

... Rosario said police intervention in Kensington will not be the only solution to ending the open-air drug market there. He said police will work closely with other administration officials, including from the departments that oversee public and behavioral health.

“Kensington for a very long time has been not a priority,” said Rosario, who has spent most of his three-decade career in the neighborhood. “It’s important that now, with the leadership that we have in place, we’re moving in a direction to make it a priority.”

 
At 2:27 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.ksl.com/article/50740657/utah-steps-up-post-incarceration-rehabilitation-with-new-treatment-center

Utah steps up post-incarceration rehabilitation with new treatment center

9/29/2023

Utah's approach to post-incarceration rehabilitation is growing with a new treatment center in Utah County, giving adult male parolees opportunities to receive help with getting back into society and getting their lives in order.

The Timpanogos Community Treatment Center is the sixth post-incarceration treatment facility in Utah and the first in Utah County. The center was five years in the making.

"We're going to house people that have support systems in the community, that already have family or employment opportunities in Utah County. We're going to bring them in and help them get settled, and provide some opportunities to get their feet on the ground," said Luke Lassiter, the center's director.

Parolees will have the opportunity to participate in substance abuse counseling while applying for jobs and getting back into doing normal chores, like laundry. The facility will be staffed around the clock.

It will begin housing 33 parolees in mid-November and eventually grow to house up to 82 parolees.

... The treatment center in Orem is different in its design than the other five centers in Utah — its architecture is designed is to make it more like a modern office, as opposed to the other centers appearing like a prison. Utah Rep. Calvin Musselman said the carpeted floors at the Orem facility were far nicer than the concrete floors at the other facilities. The purpose of this design is to help the parolees feel like they are taking steps back to normal life.

 
At 10:35 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/how-training-in-the-trades-is-helping-wa-women-succeed-after-prison/

How training in the trades is helping WA women succeed after prison

1/14/2024


A year after being released from prison, 3 out of 4 people are unemployed. But the day after Brittany Wright, 30, got out in June, she was reporting to work.

Thanks to a program that trains incarcerated women in well-paying trades, she had the skills and connections she needed to start a job at Kiewit, a Seattle construction and engineering firm. Now, six months later, she’s earning $31 per hour working on a light rail expansion project for Sound Transit.

The 16-week state program, called Trades Related Apprenticeship Coaching, or TRAC, helps combat a monumental challenge incarcerated people face when they reenter society: quickly finding jobs with decent wages in fields that will actually employ people with prison records.

... Wright and other formerly incarcerated people have an almost five times greater likelihood of being unemployed than other adults, the Prison Policy Initiative estimates. The unemployment rate among formerly incarcerated individuals is also 27%, greater than the highest general unemployment rate during both the Great Depression and the 2008 recession.

... Formerly incarcerated people who do find jobs earn only around half of the wages of the average worker, with even greater disparities for Black, Native American and Latino people, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. In some industries, such as health care, people with felonies or specific types of convictions are often banned altogether.

 
At 8:41 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Crime in the US is once again falling. Can we rethink policing?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/17/crime-decreasing-trend-police-spending-public-safety-data

In times of plenty, funding for police rises. It rises when crime is high, and it rises when crime is low.’

... Were police just magically better at their job in 2023 than they were in other years? If police do a “good job” and are the sole reason why crime goes down in the years that it goes down, are they doing a “bad job” and are the reason why crime goes up in the years that it goes up?

The insanity of trying to discuss policing in this country is that most policymakers, and many citizens, refuse to accept that those two questions are intractably related. It is intellectually incongruent to answer the first in the affirmative and the second in the negative. Year after year, for more than half a century, the United States has poured more and more money into policing and argued that it does so to keep people safe.

... In contrast, the key lesson of recent decades is that how we approach public safety is utterly nonsensical. If investing billions into police every year doesn’t meaningfully influence whether or not people are safer as they go about their lives, would not our investments be better made elsewhere?

Simon Balto is assistant professor of history at the University of Wisconsin. He is the author of Occupied Territory: Policing Black Chicago from Red Summer to Black Power

 
At 3:23 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

‘No Hose, No Gun’: Police Alternatives for Mental-Health Crises Fall Short

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/police-mental-health-units-911-responses-f80d4369

8/25/23

Dispatchers at the 911 center in Mesa, Ariz., have three levers to pull: fire/medical, police or mental health. The last one is a relatively new addition, adopted by dozens of police departments around the country and aimed at avoiding violent and often deadly confrontations between police officers and the mentally ill.

In theory, the new teams are designed to better help people in distress who pose little if any threat to others. In practice, these teams have struggled to make much of a dent in what remains a chronic problem in U.S. policing.

Getting clinicians to the right place at the right time is proving difficult, local officials and behavioral-health experts say. Cities often don’t have enough of them to make a difference, blaming funding shortfalls. In addition, knowing when to send clinicians involves a large degree of guesswork. Dispatchers often err on the side of sending police, particularly when details of 911 calls are sketchy.

“Unfortunately with only one team, sometimes it means that we’re not available,” said Roger Astin, a San Antonio police officer who is part of a three-member mobile team that also includes a paramedic and a mental-health clinician.

... There is scant comprehensive data on police killings of people with mental-health issues. The available numbers suggest a continuing overreliance on law enforcement, a finding backed up by local officials and behavioral experts.

... “We have to really be dependent on training our patrol officers departmentwide on handling what would be a typical mental-health disturbance,” said Lt. Paul Castillon, who oversees the unit. [San Antonio]

... Tucson has been able to strike a balance between the competing needs of mental-health and crime calls, behavioral experts say.

When police get involved in mental-health calls there, officers can take people to the Crisis Response Center, a nonprofit-run stabilization unit where a handoff to a clinician takes minutes. The center is a better option than a hospital emergency room, let alone jail, officials say. Quick handoffs mean officers can get back on the street faster.

Police dispatchers, and therefore police officers, are often bypassed altogether. In 2019, Tucson placed crisis specialists at the 911 center itself. In nearly all cases, officials say, they either resolve 911 mental-health calls over the phone or dispatch clinicians to the scene.

 
At 9:27 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

More watchdogs won't reform policing. Ousting bad cops will.
Good officers are out there, but we need to remove the warrior-minded officers in their way.

https://www.startribune.com/more-watchdogs-wont-reform-policing-ousting-bad-cops-will/600339092/

1/24/2024

The MPD has many honorable officers who risk their lives to protect and serve, and deserve our highest gratitude. But, as documented in the reports, the MPD has used an ineffective violent racist policing approach for decades, dignified by the name "warrior policing." This approach not only improperly trains our good officers, it attracts bullies enchanted by weapons and force who have long dominated the department and police union. These bullies will not be changed by orders, training or discipline. They must be removed.
Durable police reform requires two things: a new kind of officer and a new policing approach. Highly effective new approaches are available. Called guardian and procedural justice policing, they train officers to de-escalate, avoid unnecessary force and treat all citizens with respect regardless of income and race. De-escalation in these approaches is not just preliminary window-dressing, it is daily routine. Every use of force is debriefed to see if there was a better way.

In the few places where they've been adopted, the new approaches far surpass warrior policing on every goal: reduced crime; reduced death and harm to both suspects and officers; and restored trust and cooperation with communities of color.
The new kind of officer needed is well described by Chief Scott Thompson, the man who in 2013 engineered the successful turnaround of the violent racist police department in Camden. To be sure, unique circumstances allowed him to recruit a new police force from scratch. To get the kind of officer he wanted, they had to pass psychological screening tests, which could and should be adapted for use here in both police departments and training academies.

Addressing his new force for the first time Thompson said: "You will have an identity that will be more Peace Corps than Special Forces. Anyone attracted to this job by the opportunity to crack heads or bully others will be fired immediately."
The people needed to become the new kind of officer are available. Many are in the MPD now, but these honorable officers have ceded dominance to the warrior types. The holdup is inability to remove warrior-minded officers who flout the new approach. Their opposition to de-escalation and false claims that it is weak on crime has stalled adoption of the new approaches. It is warrior policing that has proven weak on crime.

 
At 10:10 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Serious gaps in Salt Lake County on getting people from jail to drug treatment. No one takes responsibility.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2024/01/29/he-was-supposed-get-addiction-care/

A judge said he could go to rehab after jail. Why did no one take him there before he died?

 
At 11:52 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Article about Scot Peterson, the cop at the high school in Florida who didn't go after the shooter during a mass shooting.

It focuses on how being successful at dealing with a mass shooter requires lots of good training, and most cops are poorly trained.

To Stop a Shooter
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/03/parkland-shooter-scot-peterson-coward-broward/677170/


A truism in law enforcement is that officers do not rise to the moment but fall to the level of
their training.

 
At 11:00 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Emergency management class ends in jobs for City Colleges students ‘who want to help other people’
The partnership between the Office of Emergency Management and Communications and the City Colleges of Chicago aims to provide training and a class where students can learn skills required for careers in emergency management, communications and public safety.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/education/2024/1/26/24051996/students-oemc-city-colleges-of-chicago-public-safety

The new eight-week course was first offered at Malcolm X College beginning in fall 2022, followed by additional sessions at Kennedy-King College. The class produced two call-takers, one dispatcher and two traffic control aides, according to the emergency management office.

The partnership between the Office of Emergency Management and Communications and the City Colleges of Chicago aims to provide training and a class where students can learn skills required for potential life-and-death situations, from getting crucial information from panicked callers to coordinating first responders at a scene.

 
At 10:49 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://prospect.org/justice/2024-03-06-spectacle-of-policing/

The Spectacle of Policing
‘Swatting’ innocent people is the latest incarnation of the decades-long gestation of an infrastructure of fear.

“The big issue,” he told me the other day via email, “is fear. We’re constantly telling cops that every call could be their last. We vastly exaggerate the threats they face. Police academies inundate cadets with videos of ambushes after traffic stops, even though such attacks are vanishingly rare. You have these ‘bulletproof warrior’ classes and the sheepdog mentality that tells cops they should be killing more people more often.”

I’ve recently been studying one of the most extraordinary consequences of all of that: a horrifying weapon that some of society’s worst nihilists have invented. It is also one of the most complex weapons humans have ever invented, even though firing it off is the easiest thing to do in the world. The explosive compound at its heart is our institutionalized fear of one another, the same fear that makes cops reach for guns instead of fire extinguishers. And all it takes to set it off is to squeeze a hair trigger: Just call 911.

But it also implicates another hallmark of Republican politics. You know how they’re always seeking to appropriate money for some dread disease once someone close to them contracts it, even if they’re content to let the rest of the health care system rot? A similar narcissism is at work in their newfound attention to the swatting problem. It has been going on for some time now. It’s only the increase in attacks on politicians that is novel. The most frequent offenders, however, are kids targeting their high schools, and even their elementary schools, in places as diverse as rural central Georgia; bucolic Nassau County suburbs; bedroom communities surrounding Washington, D.C.; and in one extraordinary but not unheard-of incident, 30 simultaneous calls across Iowa in one day.

This represents something no Republican ever seems to want to deal with, ever: a deep-seated, society-wide social problem—a problem with the same root as officers pulling guns instead of fire extinguishers when confronted with burning human beings. The swatting stories you’re increasingly reading in the news, driven by self-absorbed Republican politicians warding off an admittedly vexatious irritation, misses the real story: the decades-long gestation of an infrastructure of fear, led by Republicans but abetted by Democrats, that has made unleashing warlike mayhem upon innocents so easy that even a child can do it.

 
At 3:10 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Reducing Violence Without Police: A Review of Research Evidence

https://johnjayrec.nyc/2020/11/09/av2020/

 
At 5:44 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Transit crime is back as a top concern in some US cities, and political leaders have taken notice

https://apnews.com/article/transit-subways-buses-crime-nyc-philadelphia-f26609cb9fda9f9ad32f13481c3d8b6d

Additional State Personnel to Assist NYPD

New Program Bill to Ban Assaulters of Commuters and Transit Workers

Improving Coordination Between Law Enforcement and District Attorneys

New Cameras to Protect Conductors and Staff

$20 Million to Expand the SCOUT Pilot in Addition to the SOS Program

Since January, MTA has deployed a SCOUT team pilot program in partnership with New York City, in addition to the successful SOS teams across the subway system, established and supported by Governor Hochul. SCOUT teams have the capacity to address the most severe cases of mental health crisis within the subway system, and assist New Yorkers in gaining access to mental health treatment and supportive housing. Governor Hochul is directing $20 million to rapidly scale this pilot and bring the total number of SCOUT teams to ten by the end of 2025.

SOS = Safe Options Support

 
At 10:46 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/03/23/metro/returning-citizens-housing-program-boston

Returning citizens find success in Boston reentry program

 
At 10:46 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Manhattan Tries New Approach to Avoid Court for Low-Level Crimes

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-19/nyc-criminal-justice-reform-program-diverts-low-level-cases-out-of-court

The latest move is an expansion of Project Reset, which started in 2016 to offer people accused of petty crimes like shoplifting and fare evasion an opportunity to avoid the court process entirely. By completing a class, participants can avoid fines, jail time and having the charge on their record. While other reform efforts are focused on bail, jail and prison, this initiative catches people at an earlier step in their journey through the criminal justice system.

After eight years and 4,000 participants, researchers have identified pain points that Bragg’s office is looking to remedy: The RAND Corporation found that more than three-quarters of the people eligible for the program never participated, because the nonprofit that runs the initiative wasn’t able to reach them. Instead, they were going to court and pleading guilty or having their case dismissed with conditions, both of which create a criminal record.

Now, the program is trying something new to reach people where they are: When they appear for their first court date, eligible individuals are offered the opportunity to join the program rather than go through court.



 
At 11:30 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.ocregister.com/2024/03/24/rules-of-engagement-shifting-for-police-and-homeless-and-mentally-ill/

Rules of engagement shifting for police and homeless and mentally ill
The OC Sheriff's Department and the Health Care Agency have created a new screening process to help people in crisis and focus police work on crime.

As of this month, if you call 911 and want help from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, you might be asked to take a brief quiz:

“Is the person you’re calling about in immediate danger or creating a safety hazard?”

“Are they committing a crime?”

“Are there weapons involved?”

Answering yes or no to these and a few similar questions will determine if a deputy or a mental health expert will respond to the call. The new screening process is part of a broader, coordinated push from the Sheriff’s Department and the Orange County Health Care Agency to focus police work on traditional crime and social work on helping people who are in crisis.

In one sense, the dual-track response system is just the latest step in a long-running effort by the county’s biggest police agency, and county health officials, to segregate criminal issues and social issues in ways that could benefit all members of the community. Several years ago, the Sheriff’s Department created its Behavioral Health Bureau, which includes three sergeants, a dozen or more deputies and up to 40 civilian mental health workers who respond, in tandem, to calls related to mental illness. It’s unclear if that bureau will expand or respond to more calls, but it’s not expected to be reduced as a result of the new 911-based screening process.

 

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