A person locks himself in a store bathroom and refuses to come out. She is not acting violently. Who are you going to call for help? The police? The firemen? doctors? Or none of them?
Some US cities have found that none of these options is ideal for handling calls that involve mental health crises, substance abuse, homelessness, or domestic violence. Thus, Atlanta, New York, Portland and San Francisco, among others, are testing to create a new model of police department, capable of better handling such situations.
One of the most advanced examples comes from Albuquerque, a city of 560,000 in New Mexico. The ACS (Community Security of Albuquerque) unit was created there. The initiative started in September 2021, on a small scale, and has been expanded. In April, more than 1,600 calls were answered.
ACS currently has 38 members, with varied specializations and experiences. One of the teams is dedicated to situations involving mental health. Another is dedicated to serving situations on the street, such as helping homeless people. They wear gray T-shirts with the program’s logo and civilian clothes.
“One thing that surprised me was how many 911 calls [telefone de emergência nos EUA] don’t need the presence of a police officer with a badge,” he told Sheet D’Albert Hall, deputy director of the ACS.
He says that one of the challenges was to define which situations would be with which department, in alignment meetings with the police and firefighters that continue to be held. “We are working to have a better relationship with the police so they know when to call us and we know when to call them.”
The move frees up security officers for other tasks, such as investigations and crime fighting, at a time when police are lacking in many departments. While guards are trained to neutralize threats, ACS makes approaches to understanding the needs of people in trouble.
“We had a call from a hospital. A woman was in an office, really out of control. We were able to go there, calm her down, talk to her and guide her to the services she needed,” says Hall.
Another common type of call is from people who want to check that an acquaintance is okay. “There are calls like ‘I haven’t seen my coworker in a while, and he was talking about maybe committing suicide.’ Or ‘I have friends who are having an addiction problem.’ We can try to help.”
Long interactions are also important to help homeless people. In one incident in April, agents went to talk to two people who had set up a tent on a city street.
In addition to providing water, food and hygiene kits, there was a conversation to understand their needs. Both said they had stopped using methamphetamines and marijuana, but could not control their alcohol consumption. The ACS indicated treatment programs, and the homeless pledged to adhere.
The movement to create these units gained strength after the death of George Floyd, suffocated by a police officer in Minneapolis, in May 2020. Floyd had mental health problems and was killed after being accused of making a purchase with a counterfeit bill. Protests in the following months called for an end to police violence and changes in the way security forces operate.
Despite the acts, major changes in US policing have not occurred, and the number of people killed in clashes with police remains in the range of 1,000 a year. A police reform bill, championed by the White House, is stalled in the Senate. The proposal, called the George Floyd Act, strengthens punishments for agents in cases of misconduct and limits the use of force, among other measures.
One of the most strident demands was the “defund the police”, a request to take resources from the police, defended by the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, but buried by leaders of the party. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi advocate the opposite: more money to fight crime. At the same time, they also support community policing actions.
The creation of such care units is praised by specialists in public health and the fight against drugs, for being a concrete gesture towards a change they advocate: stop treating drug use and mental problems as a criminal issue and start addressing it. them as a health problem.
For Daliah Heller, researcher and vice president of the NGO Vital Strategies, having police officers attending to mental health events reinforces the idea that people with problems are a threat.
“When someone feels they are being seen as a dangerous person, they feel threatened. And our response, as human beings, is to defend ourselves when we are treated this way or when they try to impose controls on us,” he says. “The solution really is to take away the responsibility of dealing with these social issues from the police and invest in community responses that involve health”, she evaluates.
