Mayor Andrew Ginther speaking at Columbus Public Health offices.
Columbus is trying out an alternative response program to steer some 911 calls away from the police.
City leaders have spent months trying to figure out how to tailor response so the right service providers show up after someone calls 911. Over the next six weeks, Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther explains, they’ll be piloting a program to do just that.
“To make this happen, we will have a social worker or mental health nurse embedded in our 911 dispatch center to help triage and redirect calls,” Ginther said.
Erika Clark Jones, who heads up the county’s drug and mental health agency, ADAMH, said many of the calls that come in don’t require police response.