A majority of those who participated in a study commissioned by the city of Columbus believe that social service and mental health professionals could respond to many of the non-violent 911 calls now routinely handled by police.
That conclusion was among the findings presented Tuesday night by a company hired by the city to gauge public opinion on law enforcement and safety. The Saunders PR Group, a Columbus public relations consulting firm, spent weeks gathering feedback from community members through a series of virtual town halls, more than a dozen focus groups, and a community survey with nearly 4,000 participants.
The results were revealed during the latest Reimagining Public Safety” virtual town hall hosted Tuesday by the Columbus City Council. Overwhelmingly, the firm reported, respondents favored investing in community resources that would alleviate the Columbus Division of Police of the burden of responding to every emergency, said Gayle Saunders, founder a
Sending mental-health experts, crisis mediators and other trained civilians out on some 911 calls that police normally would handle helps reduce violence in the community, several experts said Wednesday night during a virtual town hall hosted by the Columbus City Council.
It also would help free up police officers to do a better job at community policing, they added.
The town hall session, titled, “Establishing Alternative Public Safety Crisis Response,” was the first in a series of six such events the city council has scheduled over the next three weeks as part of reimagining public safety discussion on other possible reforms for the Columbus Division of Police.
Saturday mornings were not always relaxed in Mary Howard’s youth.
“My mother would take us to nursing homes to visit residents, so we didn’t always stay in jammies and watch cartoons,” said Howard, the executive director of Ohio State University East Hospital. “It didn’t take long for me to see how those visits impacted their lives, and that really cultivated in me a passion for caregiving.”
Howard is one of seven women being honored this year as YWCA Women of Achievement. In its 36th year, the award is given to women not only for their work, but also exemplifying YWCA Columbus’s mission of eliminating racism and empowering women.