A much better (and less misleading) slogan than “defunding the police.” Programs like this are a good example of what progressives have in mind when they use that terrible slogan. And it works.
After dispatching mental health pros, instead of police, to 911 emergency calls, Denver boosts successful pilot program with more funding.
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I’d like to see how this approach works on the “crazies with weapons” calls that seem to produce a substantial fraction of the police killings.
Presumably, those are the ones they do send the police to.
Well, the linked-to article says “Since June 2020, the Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) has deployed medical and behavioral health clinicians to respond to over 2,200 low risk calls reporting trespassing, intoxication, or mental health crises involving poverty, homelessness or addiction.” so it doesn’t seem like STAR does much of that. But I do believe I’ve read about similar programs that are more oriented toward “talking down crazies with weapons” and are similarly successful
I do seem to occasionally run into references to “activists” who seem to be motivated by simply reducing police budgets or otherwise simply reduce policing. There was the famous “Capitol Hill autonomous zone”, and I’ve seen complaints that a bunch of the troublemakers in Portland want to abolish the police. And recently, the mayor of Boston proposed a budget reducing the police budget by 1%, and the Globe noted without much comment that some “activists” wanted it reduced by 25% (seemingly a number pulled out of a hat).