Police have been the stalwarts of safety and protection in modern day society. However, when it comes to dealing with mental health disputes or non-violent crimes, we may not be sending the city's best to deal with these particular problems. A community responder program can help save police and ambulances time by responding to low level nonviolent calls that police may not be the most equipped to handle. Colleen Kristich, Senior Researcher for the Partnership of the Public Good, explains why a program like this is needed.
“The great thing about community responders is its teams of health professionals and trained peers or trained community members. They can be called before anything harmful happens, so someone who's sleeping outside on a bench, or someone who might just be having a hard time and maybe is making some noise or shouting or something, community responders can be sent to that situation, talk to that person and connect them to that care before it escalates to the point where 911, is called”
Furthermore, when it comes to dealing with low level disputes with people who have disabilities, not only does the program come with tremendous value, the program becomes more in par with the law.
“[The] government has decided, through investigations of the Minneapolis Police Department and the Louisville police department that sending police to mental health calls is actually a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, because treating mental health needs as a separate category from any other disability is discriminatory.”
Community responder programs are in place all over the country. In October of 2024 State Senator Sean Ryan announced $100,000 in funds have been secured to begin a community responder pilot program. At this time it is still unclear when the pilot program will begin. To hear more of how community responder programs work please refer to the video above.