Columbus officials say alternative 911 response programs show promise

Columbus officials shared statistics Tuesday on what they say has been success so far with programs that reduce the number of instances when armed police officers respond to 911 calls by directing people in a mental- or substance abuse-crisis to resources.

Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin said that as the city goes into the annual budget process in the upcoming weeks, his focus will be "squarely on the future of these efforts," including how to properly allocate resources and ensure accountability for the projects.

Dan Giangardella, deputy director of the city Department of Public Safety, cited what he said was promising development with several programs, including the "911 Right Response Unit," the Mobile Crisis Response teams, and initiatives to engage with people who have suffered overdoses have saved police hundreds of hours of manpower.

911 calls: Shannon Hardin sees big future in non-police 'alternative response' services

Giangardella said he believes Columbus is well ahead of peer cities in developing programs that offer resources other than a police response to 911 calls. Hardin asked Giangardella if he believed the Department of Public Safety and other departments would look into completely non-police response units for certain crisis situations.

"I think you can see that this is where a lot of this work is headed," Giangardella said about non-police responses.

911 calls: Social workers, paramedics help dispatchers determine whether police are needed

In its first year, the Right Response Unit took 1,300 calls, a third of which didn't require any police response, said Marian Stuckey, unit coordinator and Columbus Department of Health neighborhood social work director.

The unit consists of a dispatcher, a Columbus Public Health social worker and a city Division of Fire paramedic who are embedded in the 911 dispatch call center to review and screen calls that might be suitable for a response that doesn't involve police. There are currently two dispatchers working alongside social workers.

Stuckey said 25% of people the Right Response Unit handled were connected with local mental health providers and only 12 people were arrested. No police use-of-force incidents occurred through the RRU, she added.

"We're talking about crisis calls, extremely difficult calls," Stuckey said. "So we want to create infrastructure to support staff no matter what department they work in."

Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther said this year that the city plans to double the manpower and hours of available service for the Right Response Unit program. He called the city's current approach "holistic and expansive," while also acknowledging that police response isn't necessary for all calls for service.

The city also has a Mobile Crisis Response Unit, which pairs a police officer trained in crisis intervention with mental health and substance abuse clinicians. The program has clinicians and officers on the street together for about 18 hours a day, seven days a week, who have responded to about 6,000 calls.

Over the past two years, 74% of mental health crisis phone calls received a response from the MCR Unit or an officer who has received crisis intervention training, which educates officers on how to deescalate crisis situations.

Other alternative response programs happen outside of a crisis situation, including the Rapid Response Emergency Addiction Crisis Team, which involves paramedics, clinicians and police in contacting individuals who are believed to be abusing substances, and the Specialized Program Assessing Resource Connectivity (SPARC), which works with seniors and disabled people to connect them to resources.

Program advocates look forward to budget process

Giangardella said the alternative programs cost the city a total of around $4 million to $5 million.

Columbus City Council Member Nick Bankston asked about the sustainability of the programs as public safety departments face labor shortages and difficulty in hiring candidates. Giangardella said that while the Department of Safety is focusing on hiring candidates, a strong labor market is creating challenges.

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Several representatives from community organizations spoke in favor of alternative 911 responses to crisis situations during the public hearing Tuesday.

Stephen David, with the Columbus Safety Collective, said he hopes dialogue will lead to initiatives that send teams to crisis settings without police officers and incentivizing hiring crisis responders from “high-need neighborhoods."

David said the Columbus Safety Collective has held five meetings at churches across the city, and a common thread he has heard is that people are afraid to call the police because of a fear of contact with the legal system.

Trinity Baptist Church event: Columbus Safety Collective wants to try a crisis response that doesn't involve police

Hardin said he wanted the city to form a community advisory board to communicate effectively with advocates "who want us to go in a certain direction, and an administration who was already going in that direction in a lot of ways.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Alternative 911 response a success, Columbus officials say