Oregon community program shows what defunding the police could look like
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As citizens across the country filled the streets to protest police killings of black people, the violent response from law enforcement has added urgency to a national conversation about police brutality. As cities look for what’s next, there is already a proven system of de-escalation for the high volume of mental health calls that police respond to, which often end in violence.
Mobile, community-based crisis programs employ first responders who are not police to address disturbances where crimes are not being committed. One of the nation’s longest-running examples is CAHOOTS—Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets—in Eugene, Oregon.
Such programs take police out of the equation when someone is going through a mental health crisis, struggling with substance abuse, or experiencing homelessness. When police show up, situations can escalate, and the use of force can be disproportionate, especially toward black people; a 2016 study estimated that 20 to 50 percent of fatal encounters with law enforcement involved someone with mental illness.
Advocates say the CAHOOTS model shows those encounters aren’t inevitable: less than 1 percent of the calls that CAHOOTS responds to need police assistance. The CAHOOTS system relies on trauma-informed de-escalation and harm reduction. This reduces calls to police, averts harmful arrest-release-repeat cycles, and prevents violent police encounters.
This story is part of the SoJo Exchange of stories from the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous reporting about responses to social problems. Read the full, original story here.