Different police approach favored for nonviolent 911 calls
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) Social service and mental health professionals could respond to many non-violent 911 calls in Ohio’s capital and largest city that are now handled by police, according to a survey conducted as part of an ongoing review of policing.
More than half of respondents said that wellness checks and missing person reports are among calls that both police and trained crisis professionals could handle together, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Nearly two-thirds of respondents felt that mental health crises and suicide threats not involving reports of weapons don’t require any police response, according to the survey conducted by the Saunders PR Group.
Different police approach favored for nonviolent 911 calls
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Different police approach favored for nonviolent 911 calls
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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