This city sent mental health help, rather than police to hundreds of 911 calls

Brut America

This program sends mental health professionals and paramedics instead of police to certain 911 calls.   Here's what happened ...

Transcript

00:00People call 9-1-1 for a variety of different reasons, and oftentimes they don't require

00:10an ambulance or a police officer.

00:12Stop!

00:13Get on the ground!

00:14Knock it off!

00:15This was the violent result after Lyndon Cameron's mother called police to request help for her

00:2013-year-old son, who has autism.

00:30We can help people more effectively, we can connect them to the resources that they need

00:43to be connected to, and it's also a force multiplier for the police department and the

00:48ambulances in the sense that they can focus on calls where they're really needed versus

00:53these public health and resource calls.

01:15What I rely on is a lot of harm reduction, a lot of non-judgment, being supportive and

01:20just listening to people and trying to think outside of the box and get creative when we

01:24need to solve a problem.

01:41We've responded to individuals who are experiencing suicidal ideation who are not an imminent

01:46risk, individuals who need to be reconnected to their treatment team or need community

01:51resources such as a day shelter or an overnight shelter.

01:55We have also transported people home if they need just kind of a ride home, they've gotten

01:59stranded somewhere.

02:01We also carry supplies on the van, things like snacks, water, hand warmers, so we outreach

02:07several of the camps downtown and we'll provide those resources as well.

02:13In this case, anyone who just needs help in Denver who isn't in imminent risk or displaying

02:18any sort of aggressive behavior, so I will respond to that call.

02:26People kind of see that their issues or problems can get solved in the moment by a paramedic

02:32and a social worker versus a police officer, and I also think it's really encouraging for

02:39people to see the police request us and sort of say, hey, I was dispatched here, but I

02:44may not be the right person to solve this problem for you, but I'm going to get some

02:48people here who can help you.

02:51So I think that just shows really good community policing as well.

03:05Due to a lack of community resources, these calls were never really supposed to be on

03:10police's plate in the first place, and because of that gap in resources, that's kind of where

03:16they wind up.

03:19Our Denver police are CIT trained and do the best they can, but recognize that they're

03:25experts in law enforcement and not in crisis or in community resources in the same way

03:31that a licensed clinician is.

03:45We started working on this pilot program and developing this pilot program in May of 2019,

03:50so it had actually been in the works long before the events of this summer and the sort

03:56of calls for reform.

03:57Denver was already working on providing this type of response, and we're very lucky in

04:03the city to have such a progressive department that is willing to partner with mental health

04:07clinicians on these types of programs.

04:23There's a great need for more teams and more vans, which was exactly what we hoped to discover

04:29with the pilot program.

04:31I think every city can kind of relate to the fact that calls come through the 911 system

04:38that don't require emergent response or don't require fire, ambulance, or police response.

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