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Philadelphia is fighting street violence through hospital and doctor visits

Dominique “Peak” Johnson

October 25, 2021 |

WURD |

Radio |

Under 3 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Healing Hurt People helps the survivors of gun violence and other assaults starting bedside in hospitals and continuing during a patient's recovery. The group, partnering with other services providers, treats mental trauma with cognitive therapies led by peer counselors – people with the street credibility that earns trust among the young people who are the target of these services. When people better understand their experience, they can learn from it and find safer, healthier ways to live.

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Dallas PD Expands Controversial, Though Successful, Mental Health Response Program

Hayley Zhao

October 06, 2021 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Dallas, Texas

Dallas' Rapid Integrated Group Healthcare Team dispatches clinicians and social workers with police to 911 calls for mental health crises. Within two days, the team follows up to make sure people received the services they need. In its first three years, the area of the city using the program saw 60% fewer arrests and 20% fewer emergency-room visits among people in mental health crises. Critics argue that the presence of police can needlessly escalate such crises, but the city is sticking with the co-responder model and spending millions to expand the program.

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Tucson police chief says mental health workers in 911 center would ensure callers get the right response

Caitlin Schmidt

October 05, 2021 |

Arizona Daily Star |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Mesa, Arizona

In 2019, Mesa police began diverting calls about suicide threats to a crisis line, where trained mental health professionals could provide counseling or dispatch a mobile crisis unit. Then they placed mental health professionals side by side with police dispatchers to triage 911 calls on the spot. Police now handle many fewer suicide-related crises, saving the city money and giving people more appropriate care. In Tucson, a mobile crisis team operates more independently from police. After two social workers were abducted at gunpoint by a man in crisis, the police chief argued to adopt the Mesa model.

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Red Flag Laws Are Saving Lives. They Could Save More.

Matt Vasilogambros

October 05, 2021 |

Stateline |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have enacted red-flag laws, most of them since the 2018 Parkland, Fla., school shooting. The laws, also called extreme risk protection order laws, allow law enforcement officials or family members to petition courts to confiscate guns from people deemed a danger to themselves or others. Use of the laws has grown and advocates say they have saved lives. But the growth has been slow, largely because of widespread ignorance of the laws among the public and even police. Some states have begun to fund education and training campaigns to rectify that.

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Progress amid the opioid epidemic: New Fall River fire station program seeing results

Meg McIntyre

October 02, 2021 |

The Herald News |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Fall River, Massachusetts

Safe Stations, which operate out of local fire stations, provide a place for people struggling with opioid addiction to walk in and request help. They can be assessed for immediate health concerns, connected to a trained recovery coach and other mental health resources, and get help finding a bed in a detox facility or an inpatient treatment program.

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‘I Don't Want to Hit My Children. I Don't Want to Hit Anybody.'

Rachel Louise Snyder

October 01, 2021 |

The New York Times |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: England

The Respect Phoneline started in the UK in 2004 to give anonymous callers, usually men, a way to seek help for their violent impulses. Rather than putting the burden for resolving domestic violence on survivors and on the punitive tools of the criminal justice system, the hotline approach recognizes that people prone to abusing others are frustrated and unhappy and want to change but need help to figure out how. While the aftermath of anonymous phone counseling can't be tracked, the author observed the process helping many men change their thinking. Similar hotlines have started in multiple places.

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Learning when to be hands-off

Jodi Hausen

September 30, 2021 |

Boulder Weekly |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Boulder County, Colorado

Although several Colorado law enforcement agencies have trained officers on how to de-escalate interactions with people in a crisis, including people with disabilities, the state in 2022 will become the latest to mandate such training for all law enforcement officers. The training is backed by a study that suggests it helps police better recognize and understand the reactions that people with disabilities might have under stress in a confrontation with police. Trained officers in Boulder last year successfully ended one potentially violent incident without serious inury.

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Maybe Cops Shouldn't Handle Domestic Violence Calls

Melissa Jeltsen

September 22, 2021 |

The Cut |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Moab, Utah

The case of Gabby Petito illustrates how decades-old laws meant to make police take domestic violence more seriously can backfire on the people who most need protection. Mandatory-arrest laws require police responding to a domestic-violence complaint to determine who is the primary aggressor, as a prelude to an arrest. In Petito's case, as in many, Moab, Utah, police deemed her the aggressor based on a cursory investigation, and possibly based on ingrained biases against women. This does nothing to get at the root of the problem and get people the help they need.

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Seattle police intervening in fewer mental health calls, data show

David Kroman

September 13, 2021 |

Crosscut |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Washington state legislators imposed new restrictions on the use of force by police, including strict limits on physically restraining someone who is not suspected of committing a crime. At a time when non-police responders to mental health crises are not yet fully staffed, the use-of-force reforms have had the unintended consequence in Seattle of denying some people in mental health crises the emergency care they need. Police believe they are not allowed to restrain someone in order to involuntarily commit them to a mental hospital. Involuntary commitments have dropped by almost half.

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Lake Mary police partnership keeps mentally ill out of ERs, away from police confrontations

Erik von Ancken

September 08, 2021 |

WKMG-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Lake Mary, Florida

The Mental Health Intervention Group is a partnership of hospitals and community social services agencies formed by the Lake Mary Police Department to address mental health problems before they turn into crises. Avoiding crises minimizes the chances of violent encounters with police or repeat visits to hospital emergency rooms. Volunteers and their organizations learn from police or hospitals who needs help, and then they provide whatever is needed, from counseling to food assistance. Nearly all those they've helped have avoided hospital visits afterward.

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