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