Buffalo News Editorial Board | November 3, 2024

This valuable initiative could help both police and people in need. It deserves a tryout in Buffalo.

A new community responder pilot program will put into practice the concept that traditional police responses are not always ideal for nonviolent, nonemergency situations. The pilot will be run by a coalition of community policy and advocacy groups, led by Partnership for the Public Good.

Over the years, Partnership for the Public Good has been researching, publishing and advocating for improvements to municipal services. This time, the group and its partners want to put some of that research into action.

Buffalo has long needed a better response system to get help to people who are often struggling with mental illness or addiction. According to a report by Colleen Kirstich, a senior community researcher with PPG, 82% of 911 calls in Buffalo between 2020-2022 were not about crime of any type.

Kirstich’s report demonstrates that in cities across the U.S., an effective community-based mental health crisis response system has saved money and freed police officers to focus their attention on higher-priority issues like violent crime.

This is not a revolutionary idea. At least 100 U.S cities – including New York City, Philadelphia, Seattle, Durham, N.C., and Cincinnati – have an alternative crisis response program, and more are on the way. There are also countywide programs, including one in Albany County, N.Y. Though the response programs vary widely from team to team, one thing is common: police officers are not involved. The teams consist of some combination of the following: a medical professional, a mental health clinician or trained crisis worker, a peer and/or a case manager.

One such team, CAHOOTS in Eugene, Ore., has been active for nearly 30 years. Eugene’s Police Department estimates the program saves the city more than $2 million in police salaries by diverting 3% to 8% of service calls that do not require officer response.

In reviewing the situations these teams report, police were clearly not needed. One team in Florida helped a woman with dementia reunite with her daughter. Another in Seattle provided an elderly homeless couple with documentation that allowed them to find housing after 17 years on the street. In San Francisco, a man yelling and blocking traffic was calmed down. After he quietly walked away, a clinician commented, “It just looked like he wanted to get a lot off his chest.”

If it were police handling these situations, we’d say, rightly, “Good work!” But police have other public safety priorities.

Objections to community response teams often bring up the issue of liability. According to the data contained in the PPG report, municipalities are more likely to be found liable for harm caused by a responder than for failing to prevent harm by a third party.

In other words, sending a police officer who causes harm is riskier for a municipality than sending a community responder. Responder teams involve hours of prior training in addition to their existing professional expertise and they are never sent when violence, weapons, serious crimes, or life-threatening medical needs are reported.

The Partnership for the Public Good plans to work alongside other organizations, including the Erie County Restorative Justice Coalition, Little People’s Victory and Black Love Resists in the Rust, for an initial demonstration program focused on Buffalo’s East Side. The program would cover portions of the Cold Spring, Hamlin Park and Martin Luther King Jr. Park neighborhoods. A direct phone line to the program’s offices would deploy a team of three to four workers comprising a mix of emergency medical technicians, social workers and mental health professionals.

Community response systems have already demonstrated successful results throughout the U.S. It’s past time for Buffalo and Erie County to give this a chance.