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Agreed. The other useful proposition I've heard is to make an inventory of all the things we use the police for that really aren't supposed to be a part of thei
by swearwolf 5y ago
Agreed. The other useful proposition I've heard is to make an inventory of all the things we use the police for that really aren't supposed to be a part of their jobs (such as mental health crisis response where there isn't a danger of harm to others), and create separate departments to deal with those. Then you can slowly transition to a point where the police are just doing police things, instead of being the catch-all for all the stuff nobody else wants.
Eugene, Oregon has been running a program called CAHOOTS for several years now, and Portland is starting to mimic it. It's basically a team of mental health professionals who roam the city responding to mental health issues that don't require an armed response. It seems to be working pretty well for them, and I think the model could be expanded.