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JiubLives t1_jdy041m wrote

Urge your local leaders to pressure dispatchers to change protocols. Stop sending cops for health crises. If no social workers can responds, send fire/rescue.

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Darryl_Lict t1_jdyvwln wrote

From what I understand, this is what the defund the police talks about. Transfer money from police to social workers to de-escalate mental health situations.

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JiubLives t1_jdywr7r wrote

For sure, but it has to be more specific. You can cut police and move that to all the other services in the world, but if 911 still gets cops showing up, what was the point?

Movements and hashtags are important for starting the conversation. The follow up has to be specific. Dispatch protocol is one of the first things that needs addressing. Unfortunately, where I reside fire/EMT actively resist changes that would send them to do welfare checks, mental health calls, and other situations that don't require an armed response.

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mindhypnotized t1_jdzw4zw wrote

I’m sorry, your firefighters and EMTs are armed?

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masterchef81 t1_je0eb31 wrote

No, they are saying that fire/emt don't want to respond to calls that shouldn't require police, thus armed responders is left as the only option.

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mindhypnotized t1_je0ggfz wrote

So the firefighters and emts don’t take any calls that don’t require armed escorts from the police? I’m sorry but neither of you are making sense. It seems to me that a lot of fires or medical emergencies do not require someone to show up with a gun and shoot at it. If my grandma is having a stroke and I call for an ambulance, they just won’t show up because the police aren’t needed?

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masterchef81 t1_je0io6c wrote

No, sorry for the confusion. As an example...mental health crisis shouldn't require police as the first response. But fire/emt won't respond, so police become the default response.

Personally I don't think fire/emt SHOULD respond to mental health crisis. There is a risk of violence there that they are not trained or paid for. But neither should police, whose training is "eliminate the threat" be the first response.

Either way, EMTs would still respond to your grandma having a stroke because that is clearly within their primary job description.

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JiubLives t1_je0odd1 wrote

Of course they respond to calls that don't require armed escort, which is why I want them to respond to MORE calls like that (welfare checks, etc.).

The calls you described, they will go to without escorts. If someone, however, calls about a person passed out on a sidewalk or an elderly person missing an appointment, they will NOT respond. If there's a mental health crisis (no weapon), they will NOT respond. That means police are sent, which for many people, is triggering and makes the situation much worse.

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JiubLives t1_je0nvnm wrote

No. They resist changing dispatch protocol. They don't want to respond to mental health crises or welfare checks (that don't require armed responses, which is why I wish they'd go).

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OldPuebloGunfighter t1_je17yn6 wrote

That will require some big change. Most fire departments and unions have policies and clauses stating they will not respond to armed subjects or mental health crisis without police securing the scene first. I think you'd probably have to give firefighters weapons for them to feel comfortable responding to such situations. At which point we'd probably be right back where started except with people fearing getting shot by fire fighters as well.

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cedarapple t1_je0fxad wrote

That sounds nice but what unarmed crisis worker would want to deal with an unhinged lunatic waving a knife around without armed backup?

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damagecontrolparty t1_je0x8es wrote

It seems like there's a big risk to them going into a situation like that. I would like to hear exactly how the de-escalation is supposed to work so that the worker is kept safe. I never hear any details about how it would theoretically go down.

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TogepiMain t1_je0tg8o wrote

One who knows they're way less likely to get stabbed if the person isn't freaking the fuck out because 3 angry cops are pointing guns at them?

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ArrowAssassin t1_je0u1nl wrote

No unarmed social worker is gonna want to solo an armed person having a mental breakdown. They're gonna request armed officers as backup.

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TogepiMain t1_je0xvky wrote

Got the numbers on that?

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ArrowAssassin t1_je1h3no wrote

The numbers on people not wanting to die? Probs around 7 billion. The average person is not gonna confront someone with a weapon without any kind of safety assurance. This doesn't change just because they put social worker on their resume. They already get paid shit wages and Redditors are now speaking for them saying they should be thrown to the wolves.

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