Northampton to Train Civilian Emergency Response Teams
The Massachusetts city will shift some response protocols away from the police to a clinically trained civilian response team that will not carry firearms. The city will spend more than $400,000 on the new department.
May 18, 2021 • (TNS) The city of Northampton is making moves on a historic new municipal department proposed earlier this month that aims to shift some responsibilities away from police by hiring clinically trained civilians to respond to certain emergencies without firearms.
Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz on Monday unveiled the first draft of his fiscal year 2022 budget, which calls for $423,955 for the proposed Department of Community Care. The entire FY operational budget calls for $121,705,839, marking a 4.82 percent increase from last year’s budget.
Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz proposes more than $400K for historic new department of unarmed emergency responders in newly unveiled FY 2022 budget
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Mansfield Police Department Officer of the Year, others lauded
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Call answer times at the city’s Public Safety Communications Center fell short of national recommendations, leaving more than a quarter of 911 callers waiting more than 20 seconds for their calls to be answered in 2019, according to a report recently obtained by The Gazette.
A consulting agency hired by the city of Colorado Springs offered several recommendations for the city’s dispatch center, after an assessment found inefficiencies in the way call takers answer emergency calls from across the city.
Data from the report shows that only 62% of 911 callers reached a dispatcher within 10 seconds or within 3 to 4 rings while 68% of calls were answered within 15 seconds and 73% within 20 seconds. Per national standards, 90% of 911 calls should be answered within 15 seconds and 95% should be answered in 20 seconds or less.