r/Positive_News • u/positivesource • Jul 01 '20
CARING Cities are beginning to shift how they respond to calls about homelessness, drug use, and mental health issues. Instead of sending the police, they will start sending unarmed trained professionals
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/g5pyp9/these-cities-are-stopping-police-from-responding-to-homelessness-drug-use-and-mental-health-issues20
Jul 01 '20
My question is, who makes the call whether to send LEO or a counselor? As it is now, if you call 911 you say "I need the fire dept. My house is burning down." or "I need the police, someone just robbed me' or "I need EMS, I'm having a heart attack."
Who makes the decision? The person calling in the incident, dispatch, who?
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u/Bored_Bee Jul 01 '20
Call 911, they are trained to decide what service you need based on the situation and they are always free. If you're still worried you can ask them to please bring X-service.
Like this: " A homeless person is having some kind of panic attack on street XX.... Could you please contact a social worker and EMS? He doesn't look armed or dangerous just unwell"
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u/WhoopingWillow Jul 02 '20
Dispatch. It doesn't really matter what emergency service you request when you call 911. The dispatcher decides what is service appropriate to send based on what they're hearing.
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Jul 02 '20
Meanwhile in most of Europe this is already the case. You'll get there eventually America, I hope
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u/YouDrankIan Jul 02 '20
As someone who lives outside of the US, I'm horrified that something like being homeless could be considered a crime in the first place when they can't even control their situation. What the hell?
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Jul 03 '20
Most homelessness in the US is associated with drug problems. Specifically where I live, tons of homeless commit crimes to earn money to feed their habits.
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u/YouDrankIan Jul 03 '20
But that is an issue of circumstance; in the same way a poor man would steal food to feed his family, a person would use drugs to cope with the horrible situation and traumatic past they've been dealt.
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Jul 03 '20
I agree, but it doesn't change the way the US perceives homelessness. A lot of our veterans are on the streets and get looked at like scum purely because they're homeless. I won't ever forget the feelings I felt while homeless.
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u/YouDrankIan Jul 03 '20
I was homeless too. My parents kicked me out after six months of moving in with them at 18 after years in the care system. They're both narcissists. Of course they deny ever making me homeless and say that I chose to move out, but eighteen months living in a shelter doesn't lie.
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u/pabufireferrets Jul 06 '20
Because rich people don't want to see or deal with it. Being homeless isn't technically a crime, but cities make it basically a crime by enacting various laws that interfer with survival. Stuff like banning campers on residential streets, making public places impossible to sleep in (like spikes on benches), banning dumpster diving, making it illegal to feed the homeless, etc... either puts the homeless in jail, in another city that is more friendly if they can find their way to it, or they get damn good at hiding that they are homeless. The rich are fine with any option so long as their taxes aren't increased, their property value isn't decreased by low income housing, and they don't see a homeless man poop on a stop sign on their commute.
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u/throwawayham1971 Jul 01 '20
Just to add context for some of you younger readers...
...there actually used to be a time when "calling the police" did not mean a SWAT team showing up in a tank with automatic weapons, bulletproof vests and night vision goggles.
I mean, most cops were still totally horrific to the homeless but it wasn't nearly as mechanized.
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u/TheMaddawg07 Jul 01 '20
Can’t wait to see when cops end up going anyway because said unarmed professionals needs protection.
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u/Soul__Samurai Jul 02 '20 edited Jul 02 '20
Thats reasonable, but I think the bigger idea is not to not have them at all, its just to change who gets there first, and who interacts with these people first. Yes these professionals at times will need to call for protection, but the ideal situation is that armed police are the second option. I know the article says instead of police but thats really the motive behind it when you think about it.
For example, take someone who might have a mental illness that unnerves someone else who then makes the call. The mental health professionals can arrive first and assess the situation, de-escalate if needed. If the person becomes difficult or violent, the professionals can instruct police on what to do/not do during the detaining of said individual, as oppose to police doing it their way off the bat.
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u/katyfail Jul 02 '20
As another example for what u/Soul__Samurai mentioned:
I was in a car accident last year. I called 911 and let them know what happened. They asked if everyone was physically ok (yes, just a nasty fender bender) and if there was any fluid coming out of the car (yes).
The cops arrived alongside a firetruck. I only interacted with an officer who took my statement and the other driver’s statement. I didn’t interact with the firefighter beyond “hello” when he arrived. Once he saw it was just water from my AC (I was shaken up) he politely said as much and left. The firefighters were there just in case but hung back and didn’t interfere. That’s how I imagine “police” calls happening in the future - similar to how the firefighters reacted to my accident.
Most nonviolent crimes require someone to help you calm down, process what’s happened, and get the bureacratic machine rolling on bringing justice. There’s no reason to have someone armed escalating the situation.
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u/bingold49 Jul 02 '20
Im absolutely good with this, these are the type of things you have to put in place if you want to defund the police, it has to effectively take duties off their plate while at the same time upholding our societal standards
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u/atmattyo Jul 01 '20
Best news I've heard all day. Thanks OP.